Michael: Chinita

Running from the moon
Is a useless endeavor
that feels radiant.

October 28, 2017

There are aspects of the culture here I’m sure I’d never understand no matter how long we stayed here or how well I learned Spanish. But there are bits and pieces that intrigue me and one of those is how the Chinese are treated here.

Yesterday, for example, while we were at a panderia run by Chinese immigrants, a lady waiting to pay for a drink called out, “Chinita” to get the clerk‘s attention. Now I know from experience, including the childhood experience of being called “Miguelito” at elementary school because there were three Michaels in the class, that the “ito/ita” suffix literally means “little” but I always thought that it sometimes had the connotation of liking or being familiar with.

So I found it curious that this woman would call out for the Chinese woman who ran the store using, “Chinita”. It seems both paradoxically nice and prejudicial. But in the states if you were to try getting a person of African American’s attention by calling out “little black person,” I’m sure it wouldn’t be taken as a term of endearment or as a harmless call like, “Excuse me, Miss”, would be.

Fortunately, Kimme does speak Chinese and she’s promised to ask the Chinese clerk how she feels about it. And as soon as we take up Spanish again with our teacher, I’m going to get her take on it as well.

Note: The night of the day I wrote this I was watching PBS News Hour on you tube and saw a report that stated that the Houston Astros first baseman, after hitting a homerun off a pitcher of Chinese descent, made slanted eyes with his hands and referred to the pitcher as “chinito.” This was reported as a derogatory term.