Wonton font

A wonton font (also known as Chinese, chopstick, chop-suey,[1] or kung fu font, typeface or lettering) is an ethnic typeface with a visual style expressing "Asianness" or "Chineseness".

The Korean War Memorial in Veterans Memorial Park, Auburn, New York uses wonton font to imitate brush strokes.

Styled to mimic the brush strokes used in Chinese characters, wonton fonts are often used to convey a sense of Orientalism. They are frequently viewed as culturally insensitive or offensive.

Controversy

Some Asian Americans find the use of wonton fonts amusing; others find them offensive, insulting, or racist,[2][3] particularly when paired with caricatures which hark back to the Yellow Peril images of the late 19th century and 20th century. In 2002, the clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch experienced a public relations disaster when it produced a series of T-shirts with buck-toothed images and wonton font slogans.[4] The Chicago Cubs were hit with backlash from the Asian community after a similarly offensive T-shirt was produced by an independent vendor in 2008.[5] The questionable use of such fonts was the subject of an article in the Wall Street Journal by cultural commentator Jeff Yang.[6]

References
  1. Quito, Anne (April 8, 2021). "Karate, Wonton, Chow Fun: The end of 'chop suey' fonts". CNN. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  2. Shaw, Paul (June 17, 2009). "Stereo Types". Print Magazine. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  3. Fernández, Nichole (November 19, 2015). "StereoTYPES". It Ain't Necessarily So. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  4. Strasburg, Jenny (April 19, 2002). "Abercrombie recalls T-shirts many found offensive". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  5. WITTENMYER, GORDON (April 18, 2008). "Fukudome doesn't find racist T-shirts in Wrigleyville funny". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  6. Yang, Jeff (June 20, 2012). "Is Your Font Racist? - Speakeasy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.