Ling and bling

My Sydney cousin posted this photo on Facebook. She felt the line "You ling, we bling" was either a grammatical error or a rather racist statement. I can't blame her. In today's politically correct world, we really shouldn't be playing up stereotypes.

Well, as it turns out, Miss Chu wrote a very clever tagline and has won a copyright for it! (How do I know? One of my cousin's friends said so.)

While I am all for good grammar, proper spelling, and absolutely NO LAUGHING at someone's inability to pronounce English words correctly, my first thought when I saw the line "You ling, we bling" was more a play up of stereotypes to create maximum impact in marketing and promotion. In this case, it is an Asian (Vietnamese, to be specific) making fun of Chinese people who find difficulty in distinguishing between "r" and "l". Does that make it forgivable? Maybe.

Since the owner of this place is far from offended by this stereotyping, I can safely say the rest of us should not take offence either. After all, she does have a court-approved document to use her tagline!

In the name of fun, why don't "you ling" for some bánh cuốn (Vietnamese rice rolls) and Miss Chu will gladly "bling" them to you. Just make sure you have cash handy to pay for it.

Bon apetit!

Note: This post was entirely inspired by the photo. I have never been to Miss Chu, nor tried the food there; neither have I been paid to write this post.