There’s a new article out on Vice by Katie Way that argues “Americanizing someone’s name to make your life easier is at best lazy and at worst racist”:

But it’s actually worse than the tweet above. What she’s complaining about are nicknames:

Stop Assigning Nicknames to Your Friends with ‘Ethnic’ Names

An example:

When Róisín (pronounced Row-sheen) moved to the United States from the United Kingdom for a job (she currently works for i-D in London), she found herself in possession of a new nickname as soon as she started spending time with people in social settings. “When I first moved [to New York], I was kind of embarrassed at being different in any way, so I just ran with it and was like, ‘Haha, yeah, whatever, it’s fine, I’m cool!’” she said over Twitter DM. “I didn’t wanna feel like a square or just come across as a dickhead. Now that I’m older, I’m like, ‘Guys, that’s not how you say my name, please, for the love of God, learn!’” Some of her American acquaintances still call her “Rowsh,” which she said she’s grown to like, even if she doesn’t love the logic behind it. “I know it’s because they can’t say Róisín and I did not consent to that!!!”

And if you thought the writer’s name sounded familiary, it’s because she’s the one behind that Aziz Ansari hit piece a few years ago:

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So, which is it Katie?

Hey, this model worked for Babe.net:

That is, until Babe.net went out of business:

Everyone is racist!

And we’ll end it with this:

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Tags: racism