Matt the Jap is dead

Pet · 03-12-2007 06:32PM

Boston wrote: »

The ironing is delicious!!

The phrase is in relation to this particular type of situation, and this thread. Saying bad things about the recently dead serves only to make you look like an inconsiderate, loudmouthed jackass.

b.ie polar, the people I refer to are moaning the loss of his character, but in the guise of mourning the loss of him as a person. Also, there's a big difference between Matt and Princess Diana. The logic referee calls you on your incomplete comparison.

Tricity Bendix · 03-12-2007 06:50PM

Pet wrote: »

b.ie polar, the people I refer to are moaning the loss of his character, but in the guise of mourning the loss of him as a person.

Ah, so. I haven't met any of these people. But, yes I agree with you that they are muppets.

Also, there's a big difference between Matt and Princess Diana. The logic referee calls you on your incomplete comparison.

The comparison is silly, but I've never been too fond of logic. The point still stands: people can mourn for, or get highly emotive about, a character who they have never met or engaged with. The point is entirely moot given what we've both said above, however.

Boston · 03-12-2007 07:00PM

Pet wrote: »

The phrase is in relation to this particular type of situation, and this thread. Saying bad things about the recently dead serves only to make you look like an inconsiderate, loudmouthed jackass.

I'm sorry for your loss pet, I didn't mean to saying anything that would upset you as much as my comments clearly have. I understand you a Matt where very close and this is a difficult time. I suggest the chaplaincy as a safe place to turn to in your hour of need. Again I'm sorry for your loss.

Agent Smith · 03-12-2007 08:30PM

Any idea when this service is?

wowy · 03-12-2007 08:39PM

Thursday at 5.30 in the Ed Burke.

Crash · 04-12-2007 12:56PM

Boston wrote: »

I'm sorry for your loss pet, I didn't mean to saying anything that would upset you as much as my comments clearly have. I understand you a Matt where very close and this is a difficult time. I suggest the chaplaincy as a safe place to turn to in your hour of need. Again I'm sorry for your loss.

Boston cop on. There was no need for that at all.

cuckoo · 08-12-2007 10:49PM

Ah, poor old Matt.

Being around him was a little like walking in traffic - you quickly learnt to get out of the way.

I thought it was one of the nice things about the Trinity community that there was a place for him in it.

How many of those people who fundraise to go abroad to help the kiddies (aka 'pay for my holiday somewhere warm and exotic so i can bore everyone in the Pav next year about how i connected with those hungry children as i taught them ross o'carroll-kelly speak english for 10 days') then complain about the allowances made for someone like Matt who had such an obvious need?

De mortuis nil nisi bonum.

I hope wherever he ended up there's a plentiful supply of Irish Times, coffee and books. Oh, and Bloody Marys as well - he wasn't a cheap guy to buy a drink for.

Grolschevik · 10-12-2007 02:30AM

I first met Matt in 1989, specifically as the cranky guy who'd walk through the Lecky with a rustling, empty plastic bag, and who would go through the bins there for god knows what reason. No bad experiences with the man, nor good ones. He was already a known campus character in the late '80s, and, as such, he was part of my and everyone else's university experience. I didn't know him -- think I might have interacted with him twice at most -- but I was sad to hear of his death. Nostalgia, doncha know.

Whatever about that, another campus character at the time (early 1990s) was the now assistant junior dean, Joe O'Gorman, who gave a eulogy for Matt. The rumours at the time were that he'd been completing his PhD in engineering for the 10 years before that, and he's been in Trinity ever since in some sort of capacity: CSC, tour guide, whatever.

Does this mean that if you hang around long enough (and I was technically registered as a student, in various incarnations, for 17 years), you get an administrative position? If so, Matteo could have made Provost some day!

Moorsy · 10-12-2007 02:55AM

wrong message

kowloon · 10-12-2007 03:22AM

I remember that fellow from a few years back, i always assumed he was one of those postgrad for life types.

Degsy · 12-12-2007 05:53PM

notjim wrote: »

"Jap" is an ethnic slur, that is a fact and while Wikipedia is not definitive, the Wikipedia article reflects this truth. Any Japanese person living in the west will recognize "Jap" as a term of abuse; you can check. It is unfortunate that that name was used for Mr Matubara. Of course, it is unlikely the use of an offensive term was intentional, it was almost certainly a mistake and a symptom of the ignorance of the issues and sensitivities regarding race, ethnicity and national identity in this country twenty years ago. In short, the fact he had an offensive nickname doesn't necessarily show he suffered intentional racist abuse but it does show that when he arrived we did not in this country have experience in living in a ethnically and nationally mixed society and the name is a symptom of the sort of isolation he may of felt.

The term "Jap" is an abbreviation of the word "Japanese".Is the term "Dub" in relation to a person from Dublin also profoundly racist and evil and offensive?

Voodu Child · 19-12-2007 01:47AM

Just heard about this now (:o), RIP Matt

Snickers Man · 16-01-2008 06:00PM

Grolschevik wrote: »

I first met Matt in 1989.... He was already a known campus character in the late '80s, and, as such, he was part of my and everyone else's university experience. I didn't know him -- think I might have interacted with him twice at most -- but I was sad to hear of his death. Nostalgia, doncha know.

Late 80s? He was around before that. He was already a fixture when I was there and I left in 1984.

Mind you, we knew him then not as "Matt the Jap" but as the "Japanese Ambassador". We didn't know his name until he accosted me in a drunken state in the pav one night and initiated a conversation through the medium of scribbled notes.

I had a few run ins with him, nothing serious but he could be crotchety even then but I was still a little sorry, even if only in "Nostalgic" way, to hear that he had passed on.

Maybe it's just the realisation that I am "moving up the queue".

RIP Your Excellency

Thirdfox · 16-01-2008 06:16PM

Degsy wrote: »

The term "Jap" is an abbreviation of the word "Japanese".Is the term "Dub" in relation to a person from Dublin also profoundly racist and evil and offensive?

"Jap" was used by the American soldiers during WWII to describe the Japanese soldiers and used in a derogatory fashion (similar to "gooks" to describe the Vietcong)

I can see how this term can be hurtful to someone of Japanese origin but I am pretty sure those who call him by this name didn't mean it like that.

Degsy · 21-01-2008 01:15PM

Thirdfox wrote: »

"Jap" was used by the American soldiers during WWII to describe the Japanese soldiers and used in a derogatory fashion (similar to "gooks" to describe the Vietcong)

I can see how this term can be hurtful to someone of Japanese origin but I am pretty sure those who call him by this name didn't mean it like that.

Who cares?He's brown bread and thats the main thing.

Stargal · 21-01-2008 01:36PM

Degsy wrote: »

Who cares?He's brown bread and thats the main thing.

Jesus Degsy, give it a rest. That's too much.

ApeXaviour · 21-01-2008 03:10PM

Degsy, why? You were warned and banned already. This time it's for a month.

Chunky Monkey · 22-01-2008 09:34PM

"Jap" was used by the American soldiers during WWII to describe the Japanese soldiers and used in a derogatory fashion (similar to "gooks" to describe the Vietcong)

Reading through this thread for the first time, was about to say that but you got there first. Anyway, I saw him a couple of times when I went to Trinity. Heard different versions of his 'story'. To be honest, just the very fact that he was hanging around I thought he may not be 'all there'. You tend to make excuses for people when they aren't and there's nothing wrong with that. I have one view of the world, he has another. Didn't seem like the type to justify some of the horrible and frankly unimpressive comments on this thread.

orestes · 28-01-2008 10:41PM

Anyone see an article about this in the News of the World yesterday? Apparently the cheeky begger had 40,000 euro in cash in plastic bags in his house when he died! Haha!

stolenwine · 03-02-2008 06:47PM

I don't get the outrage towards people on this thread who are irreverant towards matt. For example when princess Diana died I couldn't give a **** but you can't say that oh no because you might offend someone who didn't know them from Adam...

I'm both interested and bemused by the stories about Matt but I wouldn't prevent others from expressing their indifference.

Boston · 03-02-2008 07:05PM

How about we close this thread? As this argument is intensely boring the fifth time around.

ApeXaviour · 03-02-2008 07:25PM

good idea

Matt the Jap is dead

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