Categories

We learn how to group into categories in kindergarten, or even before. It amazes me how my daughter, 2 months after coming home from the orphanage, would toddle over to a pile of my shoes, pick one out and then find the match to the pair to bring over to me. I don’t think her process of selection was based on 1) I have a left shoe. 2) the left shoe is brown. 3) therefore I need a right shoe that is brown to match this one 4) of all of the right shoes, only 3 are brown 4) I have a 1 in chance of picking the correct shoe.

Rather she selects 2 of the ‘same’ and doesn’t even know the difference between left and right.

Sorting apples from oranges and bananas is a common activity that teaches sorting. It also starts sometime in school based on ‘girls on this side’ and ‘boys on this side.’ ‘Line up, tallest to shortest.’ Whites over there, blacks over there. What?!!!

I don’t think it gets verbally expressed that much these days, but people do THINK it. How about this one? My wife asked me if my daughter is a fob or abc. Fob is what abc’s call F.O.B.s (Fresh Off the Boat(s)). And abcs are American Born Chinese. There is a difference. I replied, well, technically, she CAN’T be an abc, so therefore she must be a fob. Even though as a very young immigrant, she will be raised almost entirely as an abc, by abc parents.

There are some ABCs who are striving to be up-to-date on Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong culture, so these are called Fob-a-bees (a FOB wanna-be).

Where do you line up? Oh, and if you aren’t Asian or Asian American, you shouldn’t go up to an Asian-looking stranger and ask them if they are a fob.