Man With VERY Unfortunate Name Tries To Prove Name Is Real After Facebook Bans Him


File this under “Let’s All Be Thankful We’re Not Him”: A man named Phuc Dat Bich keeps getting banned from social media for having an obscene name.

It would be sort of hilarious if it were a made up name, but I get where Zuckerberg is coming from in banning it. The problem is, it’s not made up. This Australian man’s parents, Mr and Mrs Bich, decided that the best name for their precious bundle was Phuc Dat. It is hard to see how they missed that. But I guess it happens.

Social media platforms have algorithms for detecting swears, and also for detecting clever misspellings of blue language. Bich’s name falls into the latter category. Facebook has shut down his account three times.

Bich took to Facebook to decry his treatment:

“I find it highly irritating the fact that nobody seems to believe me when I see that my full name is how you see it [with a photo of his passport]. I’ve been accused of using a false and misleading name of which I find very offensive. Is it because I’m Asian? Is it?

“Having my fb shut down multiple times and forced to change my name to my “real” name, so just to put it out there. My name.

Yours sincerely,

Phuc Dat Bich”

I have to admit, I am holding back a giggle as I write this. It seems we never really get over being fifth graders snickering when the teacher says something that we take as a dirty pun.

Yet I can appreciate that frustration that this young man is feeling. His identity feels like it has become a laughingstock, and he feels that in part, people are laughing at his cultural heritage. I hope that, despite the massive inconvenience to his social life, he can see the humor in it, and maybe embrace the awesome hilariousness of his name.

 

Featured image by Marco Gomes, available under this Creative Commons license.