Tuesday, March 17, 2020

pronouncing "ChiCom"

I don't like the derogatory term "ChiCom" (or "Chi-Com," or "Chicom," or "Chi-com," etc.) very much, not because it's insulting to the Chinese, but more because it sounds intellectually lazy and undeveloped, like a five-year-old's attempt at talking about some supervillains he saw on an animated cartoon somewhere. But if you're going to use the term (and to be fair, I've used shorthand like "Norks" before, and that was long before I knew a "nork" was Aussie slang for a tit), at least pronounce it correctly.

WRONG: chee-kahm
RIGHT: chigh-kahm (rhymes with "Bye, Mom")— / ˈtʃaɪˌkɒm /

The term comes from the expression CHI-nese COM-munist, hence its pronunciation.

Alles klar?



1 comment:

John Mac said...

Damn, I am so out of touch! At least now I know how to pronounce a word I've never used and likely never will. I'm old school, I'd just say "fuckin'Chinese commie bastard!"...