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Q: Who's the third man?
Being born in Britain I was raised to believe that it was rude to speak about people in the third person when they are present. In China this is all too common, but is it only with westerners or do the Chinese do it amongst themselves too? I know that the staring thing is not exclusive to foreigners as the Chinese will casually stare at one another, and I don't find this a negative thing. In Britain people walk the streets afraid to take an interest in each other for fear of causing offense, and so I don't take the staring thing as a rudeness, but rather a relief from living in a paranoid society where staring is deemed an act of aggression. But when i'm standing in a shop and the fella next to me says in Chinese "All foreigners are tall" or "There are more and more foreigners here every year" or "Good Lord, that man's hung like a bull", am I out of line to pardon him to kindly refrain from speaking about me as if I were not there, or should I just accept it as the way of things amongst all people in China, and just put my clothes back on and leave?
Do you normally find yourself standing in a shop with your clothes off, next to other dudes?
It's rude.
What you had in shops was probably because they assume you don' t understand Chinese. But I guess that's what people all over the world do, not just Chinese. A friend of mine heard people talking racism comments regarding Chinese in Spanish, while she (Chinese) was right besides them. That happened in Vancouver. Guess they just assumed Asians living in Canada don't speak Spanish. Fortunately, or may be we should say unfortunately she grew up in Argentina. So she talked back to them in Spanish and asked them to stop.
Talk to them back in Chinese and joke about their comment, hopefully they will learn their lesson. But try not to argue with them too much, coz then you might be seen as a rude foreigner, and Chinese are good at generalizing negative comments to all foreigners, like most people in the world.
Gaohao:
True true true true true, generalizing is the most common trait of the ignorant mind, and it's common of all nationalities.
It's rude and yes, you should say something to the Chinese talking like that. You shouldn't even have to come on here and ask. Incorrect, the staring is also improper and rude. "But I............Chinese." Wrong, it's done mainly by ill-
mannered,inconsiderate,backwards and disrespectful Asians. I know this because I've done a lot of traveling. "But try...............rude foreigner." That's b.s.
Alright well, first, spoilers. The third man is Harry Lime. You think he's dead for most of the movie, but at the end you see him and its Orson Wells. Great movie. Great book, too. Graham Greene is really under appreciated.
About the other thing, we can't all be as polite as the British. We'd be fools to even try.
Gaohao:
You'd be bigger fools to succeed. Sorry. Erm, I mean please. Thank you. Sorry. Please. Sorry. Please. Thank you. Sorry. Aaaaagh!
Also, the question was about the third person, as in the grammatical term. Or maybe you knew that and were being ironic. In which case sorry. I mean thank you. Please. Thank you. Sorry. Please. Sorry. Aaaaaagh!
