I am thinking about the parallels between a T-shirt that says
It's a black thing. You wouldn't understand
and
It's a language thing. Let me explain.
There is a whole raft of things to say here about how the label "language poet" might or might not resemble the label "woman poet" or "black poet," but you'll just have to wait for the book on that one.
Meanwhile, I guess my T-shirt would have to say
It's an Asian thing. I would explain, but I don't speak English.
5 comments:
That slogan is one I've said (or wanted to say) in different forms. But it'd be great to wear it on a t-shirt that saves me the trouble of having to say.
Yeah. It's like this time I was in Taiwan with my dad and we were out walking our dog. This white American guy stops us and asks (in Chinese), "Is he a Rottweiler?" My dad, not thinking, says (in English), "Yeah." The white guy does a double take and says to my dad (still in Chinese), "Do you speak English?" My father, having realized his mistake and deciding he doesn't want to have a conversation with this guy, says (in Chinese), "No."
I like the language thing message. Ever hear of threadless? http://threadless.com/submit
I was watching a doco on TV the other night about chinese identity in New Zealand, and one of the girls they were interviewing was wearing a shirt that said
"Thank you. Your english is very good too."
I'm thinking about getting one for myself
I can see the fun emerging like an Asian American Magritte painting or something. :)
Or else one that says: "Oh, I'm sorry, this shirt says something unbelievably offensive in your language, doesn't it. But the words look so neat, I don't care..."
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