The G-Word

In the course of the normal news reading that I do in the morning, I came across an article from The Age, a daily newspaper out of Melbourne, Australia.  The article quotes a prominent member of the Australian-Chinese community named Jieh-Yung Lo.  In talking about the upcoming Team Bondi project "Whore Of The Orient", Mr. Lo objected to one of the words being used in the title of the game.  The Age gives the following quote from Jieh-Yung Lo:

''It's the use of the word 'Orient', more even than the word 'whore', that is the issue.''  ''The O-word is very similar to the N-word for African-American communities. It's a 19th century racial-colonial conception and it's especially painful for older people in the communities. That was a very bad time in China, and people don't want or need to have that dragged up.''


After reading this article, and the apparent outrage being felt among members of the Australian-Chinese community, I feel the need to speak out about something I saw recently as a part of my normal grocery shopping experience.

Late last year, the Salt Lake valley saw the opening of it's first Trader Joe's location.  I went to this store, located in downtown Salt Lake City, and saw a great amount of intriguing products. And then I saw this:

You are seeing that right, Fresh G-Word.  This is something that hit me deeply.  I am aware that the G-Word is something that doesn't have much of an impact on most people, but this word has a deep impact on me.  The sight of that word brought back memories of Junior High, High School, College, general internet experiences, South Park, and even experiences I've had at work.  As I tried to put away those memories from my mind, I ran into other uses of this most troubling word.

I had to quickly leave Trader Joe's in order to not have a public breakdown at the frequent and flagrant use of the G-Word.  People need to realize the impact that the G-Word can have.  In certain communities, the G-Word can have the same impact as the N-Word, the O-Word, the R-Word, and the X-Word in the communities to which those words refer to.  I would strongly advise Trader Joe's, as well as other retailers, to cease their use of the G-Word, and instead use the more proper term, Zingiber officinale.  I look forward to once again shopping at Trader Joe's once this issue is resolved.