From: Talswapr <Talswapr@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:52:30 EST
To: pmak@cs.dal.ca
Cc: fanfic@fanfic.com
Subject: Re: [FFML] [Question] Shampoo's Speech

In a message dated 98-01-14 00:50:45 EST, you write:

<< I have a question about Shampoo's speech. Does she ALWAYS refer to 

herself

as Shampoo in the dubbed version? Or does she use the words 'I' or 

'me' on

occasion? In the Japanese version I heard her use 'watashi' sometimes 

but

I'm not sure about the English version.

Any other guidelines anyone can give me regarding writing dialogue for
Shampoo would be appreciated. >>

<snip thoughtful analysis>

Now, it seems to me that an analogous portrayal of Shampoo is possible, 

using

comedy stereotypes of Chinese/Asians attempting to speak English, e.g.,
mixing up R's and L's, referring to everyone as "honorable," saying "Ah 

so"

all the time.  The question then arises, would use of these stereotypes 

in fan

fiction be offensive?  Probably.  But why doesn't the "baby-talk" 

imposed on

Shampoo by Viz and fanfic authors offend?  

Simple.  Her poor grammar (baby-talk, as you put it), is appropriate for 
a "new" speaker of any language, from any culture, while the alternate 
proposal you make would be targeted to a specific culture.

Illogical, perhaps, but reactions to this kind of thing are based 
heavily on emotions, not logic.  And sometimes, it is just as important 
to respect people's emotions.

Taleswapper

Seen my home page?
http://members.aol.com/talswapr/index.html

--Freemage

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