Ton That

Anthony Le wrote:

I've been receiving this message from a number of

different people regarding the "Ton That" family name,

so I thought I'd forward it to VSG members for your

enjoyment. (Sorry I haven't had the chance to

translate to english).

Phan dau boi nhieu doi, cuoi cung dong ho Ton That

cung co duoc nhung vi tri chu chot trong xa hoi. Chugn

toi tran trong gioi thieu:

- Bo truong Bo GD & DT: Ton That Hoc.

- Bo truong Bo Lao dong, thuong binh va xa hoi: Ton

That Nghiep.

- Bo truong bo Y te: Ton That Duc.

- Bo truong bo Quoc phong: Ton That Thu.

- Bo truong bo NN&PTNT: Ton That Bat

- Bo truong bo Ngoai giao: Ton That The

- Bo truong bo ke hoach va dao tao: Ton That Sach

- Bo truong bo noi vu: Ton That Sung?.

- Bo truong bo tai chinh: Ton That Thu

Phấn đấu bao nhiêu đời,

cuối cùng dòng họ Tôn Thất cũng

có được những vị trí

chủ chốt trong xã hội. Chúng tôi

trân trọng giới thiệu: - Bộ

trưởng Bộ GD&ĐT: Tôn Thất

Học - Bộ trưởng Bộ Lao

đông, thương binh và xã hội: Tôn

Thất Nghiệp. - Bộ trưởng

Bộ Y tế: Tôn Thất Đức -

Bộ trưởng Bộ Quốc phòng:

Tôn Thất Thủ - Bộ trưởng

bộ NN&PTNT: Tôn Thất Bát - Bộ

trưởng Bộ Ngoại giao: Tôn

Thất Thế - Bộ Trưởng

Bộ KH&ĐT: Tôn Thất Sách - Bộ

trưởng Bộ Nội vụ: Tôn

Thất Sủng - Bộ trưởng

Bộ Tài chính: Tôn Thất Thu

Dear All and Anthony,

I could not find anything enjoyable at all in this message. I am afraid that I find it very mean and rude to those who have Ton That as their last name.

Thanh Nguyen

Instructor of Vietnamese Language and Culture

Mission College

Santa Clara, California, USA

Hi,

I myself am a descendant of this family line, but I

don't find it at all offensive. Though no expert on

political satire, I believe the point of political

cartoon/satire is to look at the intention and the

commentary rather than focusing, in this case, on the

personal dimension of the name. In Vietnam, many

common people have made numerous "jokes" about leaders

such as Pham Van Dong, Do Muoi, Ho Chi Minh by playing

words with their last names. In this case, ought the

people with last names "Pham", "Do" and "Ho" ought to

feel offended? I think the people who possess these

family names, including "Ton That" is smart enought to

realize the difference between whether the

satire/cartoon is directed at them or at something

else.

Cheers,

AL

Agreed with Anthony. In fact "Ton That" folks should be very proud when you guys' names are topic for joking :-) How many people have that honor :-) ?

(Ho Chi Minh, Do Muoi,

I remember, few years ago, there was a famous satirical sentence that list Poliburo and Central Committee Members of Communist Party of Vietnam.

Muoi Anh Nong Dan Cam Binh Huong Sang My Cau Luong (10 peasants bring the altar vase to America asking for salary :-)

Do Muoi, Le Duc Anh, Nong Duc Manh, Tam Dan (Le Duan), Nguyen Thi Binh, Le Minh Huong, Truong Tan Sang, Truong MY Hoa, Cau (???), Tran Duc Luong

Well, something for the weekend.

Toan