>When semi dinosaurs ruled the world, back in the 1980s, the nightclub comic movement was in full swing. I was living in Cincinnati at the time, of all apparently safe places, but still they came there telling their jokes. One of the best I saw was a Korean-American guy named Henry Cho. He had grown up in Nashville and spoke with a southern drawl. "I know what you're thinking," he said. "Why's that Chinaman talking like a redneck"? He had a nice delivery, about 8 parts southern to 2 parts Asian. (He really grew up in Tennessee). One of my favorite bits was why Chinese restaurants display Chinese symbols over their entrances. "You don't know what that s**t means," he said. "It could mean 'We hate round eyes.' It could mean 'Chinese slop house.'"

There's an old joke, probably older than our cumulative age, about a British lady first in Hong Kong, who was simply enchanted by the beauty of the ideograms displayed by the door. She had them copied down, and then embroidered on her dress. Later, walking the dress downtown, she noticed many are staring at her decoration and straining to suppress laughter. When she finally got it translated, it turned out to mean "this dish doesn't look much, but just dip and you'll lick your fingers".