Gay Dogs Not Welcome, Diner Told

[peter991]

Gay dogs not welcome, diner in South Australia told

Source: PerthNow.com.au

Note: I'm not sure where to post this - in the Gay section, Jokes or General -- but it shows that some things get lost in translation.

A RESTAURANT in a northwest suburb of Adelaide that refused a blind man entry because it thought his guide dog was "gay" was ordered by the Equal Opportunity Tribunal to pay him $1500.

The (Adelaide) Sunday Mail said Ian Jolly, 57, was barred from dining at the Thai Spice restaurant in May 2009 after a staff member mistook his guide dog Nudge for a "gay dog," a tribunal heard this week.

A statement given by restaurant owners Hong Hoa Thi To and Anh Hoang Le said one of the restaurant's waiters said that Mr Jolly's partner Ms Chris Lawrence stated "she wanted to bring a gay dog into the restaurant."

Mr Jolly and Ms Lawrence were refused entry to the restaurant - which displays a "guide dogs welcome" sign - even after providing staff with a guide dogs fact card.

At an Equal Opportunity Tribunal conciliation hearing on Friday, the restaurant agreed to provide Mr Jolly with a written apology and attend an Equal Opportunity education course, in addition to paying him $1500.

"The staff genuinely believed that Nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog," a statement from the hearing said.

Mr Jolly said while he was happy with the result, the embarrassing incident had dampened his enthusiasm for eating out at restaurants. "It gives you some comfort that Equal Opportunity is there," he said.

"But I always have that fear now, when I go out.

"I just want to be like everybody else and be able to go out for dinner, to be left alone and just enjoy a meal."

Thai Spice refused to speak to the Sunday Mail when contacted for comment.

[PeaceBlondie]

Maybe we should move this to our Pets section.

[sbk]

This is the weirdest story I have read in quite some time.

A desexed dog is not gay.... its sterilized. bizzarro

[StreetCowboy]

This is the weirdest story I have read in quite some time.

A desexed dog is not gay.... its sterilized. bizzarro

It's a wierd story of an ordinary event.

Immigrants refuse to admit a man's guide dog. He explains its a guide dog. They mis-hear as gay dog, not guide dog, possibly because the man is a citizen from one of our commonwealth countries, and his English is not up to the same standard as yours and mine. the restaurateurs, being themselves even more recent immigrants, and actually non-native English speakers, don't understand, and assume he means neutered, and explain that is irrelevant, and then it all ends in tears.

And then the courts go off the deep end, and sentence the restaurateurs to obscure political brainwashing, when English lessons would have been more approrpiate.

A durreal tale of everyday life in Australia, and the challenges faced by hard-working immigrants trying to build an economy on a desert island continent and hobbled by bureaucrats and socialists. It must be just like home.

SC

[tombkk]

This is the weirdest story I have read in quite some time.

A desexed dog is not gay.... its sterilized. bizzarro

It's a wierd story of an ordinary event.

Immigrants refuse to admit a man's guide dog. He explains its a guide dog. They mis-hear as gay dog, not guide dog, possibly because the man is a citizen from one of our commonwealth countries, and his English is not up to the same standard as yours and mine. the restaurateurs, being themselves even more recent immigrants, and actually non-native English speakers, don't understand, and assume he means neutered, and explain that is irrelevant, and then it all ends in tears.

And then the courts go off the deep end, and sentence the restaurateurs to obscure political brainwashing, when English lessons would have been more approrpiate.

A durreal tale of everyday life in Australia, and the challenges faced by hard-working immigrants trying to build an economy on a desert island continent and hobbled by bureaucrats and socialists. It must be just like home.

SC

Is it that easy? Even if they misunderstood "gay dog", what is going on in their minds not letting the dog in? And if they thought he was neutered - why would they refuse him entry?

It's certainly a cultural thing and not a language problem. Do people who refuse entry to dogs who they either consider gay or neutered fit into Australian society? Or is "gay" a bad thing in Australia, and even dogs fitting that category have to stay outside?

I am very surprised you consider this an ordinary event in the 21st Century.

[elkangorito]

A statement given by restaurant owners Hong Hoa Thi To and Anh Hoang Le said one of the restaurant's waiters said that Mr Jolly's partner Ms Chris Lawrence stated "she wanted to bring a gay dog into the restaurant."

These are Vietnamese names.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&...earch&meta=

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&...earch&meta=

[SiangDeeMahk]

Isn't it perfectly clear, that Thais, with their verbal proclivity to cut off final consonants of many English loanwords, simply were saying to the diner: "no gui(de) dogs allowed", and the diner simply heard that (with his Aussi-accented ears) as "no gay dogs"?

And they saw this misunderstanding as punishable?? What UTTER MALARKEY! The Equal Opportunity Tribunal judge should be ashamed.

For reference, some other Thai-hacked English loanwords:

cow dow (count down)

sky (Skype)

In fact, there's a whole TV thread about Thais' mispronounced "Ingrit" words, and the funny trouble it causes; here's a particularly good post from that thread listing other commonly mispronounced (and therefore confusing) words:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=114868

[samuibeachcomber]

That this got as far as the courts tells more about what aussie society has become today,and the brits thought their country was bad.I agree it sounds like the restuarant staff thought no dogs allowed,and said to the customer "no guide dogs" that sounded to him like "no gay dogs" what a laugh.How would you tell if a dog was gay anyway,by the way it woofed?

[tombkk]

Isn't it perfectly clear, that Thais, with their verbal proclivity to cut off final consonants of many English loanwords, simply were saying to the diner: "no gui(de) dogs allowed", and the diner simply heard that (with his Aussi-accented ears) as "no gay dogs"?

And they saw this misunderstanding as punishable?? What UTTER MALARKEY! The Equal Opportunity Tribunal judge should be ashamed.

For reference, some other Thai-hacked English loanwords:

cow dow (count down)

sky (Skype)

In fact, there's a whole TV thread about Thais' mispronounced "Ingrit" words, and the funny trouble it causes; here's a particularly good post from that thread listing other commonly mispronounced (and therefore confusing) words:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=114868

You are not getting it. Let's assume they genuinely understood "gay dog" (which I believe) and faithfully acted on it.

Why, oh why, would that be a reason to refuse entry?

Edited May 7, 2010 by tombkk

[endure]

Isn't it perfectly clear, that Thais, with their verbal proclivity to cut off final consonants of many English loanwords, simply were saying to the diner: "no gui(de) dogs allowed", and the diner simply heard that (with his Aussi-accented ears) as "no gay dogs"?

As elkangorito points out the owners appear (from their names) to be Vietnamese not Thai.

[SiangDeeMahk]

Isn't it perfectly clear, that Thais, with their verbal proclivity to cut off final consonants of many English loanwords, simply were saying to the diner: "no gui(de) dogs allowed", and the diner simply heard that (with his Aussi-accented ears) as "no gay dogs"?

And they saw this misunderstanding as punishable?? What UTTER MALARKEY! The Equal Opportunity Tribunal judge should be ashamed.

For reference, some other Thai-hacked English loanwords:

cow dow (count down)

sky (Skype)

In fact, there's a whole TV thread about Thais' mispronounced "Ingrit" words, and the funny trouble it causes; here's a particularly good post from that thread listing other commonly mispronounced (and therefore confusing) words:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=114868

You are not getting it. Let's assume they genuinely understood "gay dog" (which I believe) and faithfully acted on it.

Why, oh why, would that be a reason to refuse entry?

No, you're not getting it.

The OWNERS of the restaurant saw a customer enter the store. He had a dog with him. The owners told him "No dog allowed", to which the customer replied "but it's a GUIDE dog".

Now, two possible things happened:

1) The owners, correctly heard the customer pronounce the word GUIDE, UNDERSTOOD it as the word GUIDE, but not realizing that by law, they must permit the animal to enter, replied back to the customer "you cannot bring gui{de} dog in here"; mispronouncing the word "guide" by dropping the hard "d" at the end of the work, and the customer misunderstood it as "you cannot bring gay dog in here", got pissed, and pressed charges.

2) The owners, INCORRECTLY heard the customer pronounce the word GUIDE (or couldn't comprehend it), understood it to be GAY, but still not wanting a dog (of any kind) in their restaurant, replied back to the customer "you cannot bring gay dog in here" (pronouncing the word "gay" as they'd comprehended it from the mouth of the customer). The customer understood it as "you cannot bring gay dog in here", got pissed, and pressed charges.

In the second example, why might the owners have misunderstood the customer?

When westerners say the words "GUIDE" and "DOG" together as a single word (as most english-speaking people do), the "d" of guiDe and the "d" of Dog merge into a single "d". If you're an asian restaurant owner, and not already familiar with the compound word "guide-dog" (which is how it SOUNDS when we say it, since we don't pronounce the first "d" sound, pause, and then again pronounce the second "d" sound), you might not know that the single "d" sound represents the ending "d" in guide and the beginning "d" in dog, at the same time! You might very well mistake "guide-dog" for "gay dog", especially when it's being twisted by an Aussi accent.

And finally, your assumption is wrong. They didn't refuse entry because it was gay. Even if they thought it was gay, they didn't want it to come into the restaurant. They didn't care if it was a gay dog, or a guide dog. They only cared that it was a dog that they didn't want in their restaurant. Period.

Wow, is this really THAT hard to figure out, people?

Funny extra: Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling had a whole routine where he'd bring up compounded words, that, (if you didnt already know the "right" place to split up the phonemes) could be interpreted to have a very different meaning.

A perfect example; read these words:

Hoof-hearted, ice-melted.

or

Liquor in the front, Poker in the rear.

Think accents don't muck things up even further? Try this in Ireland:

Whale Oil Beef Hooked.

Did it sound like they could be misunderstood as some OTHER words??

[tombkk]

Isn't it perfectly clear, that Thais, with their verbal proclivity to cut off final consonants of many English loanwords, simply were saying to the diner: "no gui(de) dogs allowed", and the diner simply heard that (with his Aussi-accented ears) as "no gay dogs"?

And they saw this misunderstanding as punishable?? What UTTER MALARKEY! The Equal Opportunity Tribunal judge should be ashamed.

For reference, some other Thai-hacked English loanwords:

cow dow (count down)

sky (Skype)

In fact, there's a whole TV thread about Thais' mispronounced "Ingrit" words, and the funny trouble it causes; here's a particularly good post from that thread listing other commonly mispronounced (and therefore confusing) words:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=114868

You are not getting it. Let's assume they genuinely understood "gay dog" (which I believe) and faithfully acted on it.

Why, oh why, would that be a reason to refuse entry?

No, you're not getting it.

The OWNERS of the restaurant saw a customer enter the store. He had a dog with him. The owners told him "No dog allowed", to which the customer replied "but it's a GUIDE dog".

Are you making this up? Because the article doesn't say so. It says the dog was refused entry because it was assumed to be gay.

Now, two possible things happened:

1) The owners, correctly heard the customer pronounce the word GUIDE, UNDERSTOOD it as the word GUIDE, but not realizing that by law, they must permit the animal to enter, replied back to the customer "you cannot bring gui{de} dog in here"; mispronouncing the word "guide" by dropping the hard "d" at the end of the work, and the customer misunderstood it as "you cannot bring gay dog in here", got pissed, and pressed charges.

2) The owners, INCORRECTLY heard the customer pronounce the word GUIDE (or couldn't comprehend it), understood it to be GAY, but still not wanting a dog (of any kind) in their restaurant, replied back to the customer "you cannot bring gay dog in here" (pronouncing the word "gay" as they'd comprehended it from the mouth of the customer). The customer understood it as "you cannot bring gay dog in here", got pissed, and pressed charges.

The second is what has been confirmed. Why are you mentioning this?

Here is a quote from the original article in Perthnow.com,au: ".A RESTAURANT in a northwest suburb of Adelaide that refused a blind man entry because it thought his guide dog was "gay" .."

... not because it was a dog, and there is no mentioning that there was a sign saying "no dogs". If you have other info, let us know where you got it from.

[SiangDeeMahk]

Are you making this up? Because the article doesn't say so. It says the dog was refused entry because it was assumed to be gay.

Dude...

I'm not "making it up"; I'm (obviously) detailing what I believe ACTUALLY happened at the restaurant.

Logically, do you think some S.E. Asian restaurant owners in Adelaide were intentionally discriminating against a "gay" dog, or was there just a misunderstanding of the word "guide-dog"? Logically, what do you think is the most likely thing? Homophobic fear of gay animals, or an (incidentally unlawful) "no dogs allowed, including guide dogs" policy that was mis-understood.. and then continued to go horribly, horribly wrong in the court?

Enough of this already.

I have people to do, and things to see.

reason for edit: typo

Edited May 8, 2010 by SiangDeeMahk

[StreetCowboy]

It's enough to make you take elocution lessons, isn't it.

Remember, newspaper journalists and editors can hypothesise as to what might have happened, same as we can; but when they then print that hypothesis, without the caveats that those more focussed on honest discussion add to our hypotheses, those stories get accepted as fact by the innocent, naive and unsuspecting; and adopted as fact by those with a chip on their shoulder

SC

[tombkk]

It's enough to make you take elocution lessons, isn't it.

Remember, newspaper journalists and editors can hypothesise as to what might have happened, same as we can; but when they then print that hypothesis, without the caveats that those more focussed on honest discussion add to our hypotheses, those stories get accepted as fact by the innocent, naive and unsuspecting; and adopted as fact by those with a chip on their shoulder

SC

Well, you have a point. Let's assume you and SiangDeeMak are right and the article is just incomplete in order to sell more papers.

EOT.

[elkangorito]

No Asians.

This is an interesting clip & not racist.

[Chonburiram]

^