Why is Le Thanh Ton called "The Ghetto"?

Hi,

My friend just talked with me about this area yesterday. This area gathers a lot of Japanese who has lived in VN for 5-6 years and Ghetto means a crowded area which has a significant peoples living in.

Ah, so it's called that just because there are many Japanese living there?  Webster's dictionary defines a ghetto as "a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group or groups."  That area doesn't seem like a slum area to me.  Do people think of it as a slum?

(slum -- noun -- a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people.)

It isn't a slum.

There are many nice restaurants there.

Yeah, I agree.  In California, we would call that area Japantown, just like we have Chinatown, and Little Saigon.

Actually I am confused somehow about those places. Like Phu My Hung.. it gathers a lot of Korean but there are also a lot of korean living near the Tan Son Nhat airport. Seems there are 2 places for Korean in HcM.

Ghetto doesn't mean a crowded area with a significant amount of people living in it. If that was the case, every financial district in the world that have a lot of people living in it such as Toyko or Melbourne or Singapore would be considered "ghetto". Although I'm sure you could apply that term to the outskirts,  that definition is incorrect.

Dan, I your definition is correct. Although I have never heard of LTT being called ghetto. I would think that the backpacker area would be called ghetto

JVo18 wrote:

Dan, I your definition is correct. Although I have never heard of LTT being called ghetto. I would think that the backpacker area would be called ghetto

Yeah, I agree with you there.  LTT is a much nicer area than Pham Ngu Lao, to my eyes at least.  But I think the difference is saying an area is "ghetto" (an adjective) versus "The Ghetto" (a noun).  I think perhaps LTT got the name "The Ghetto" years ago and it stuck.  That doesn't mean it's "ghetto" (i.e., low class), but that's just what people call it.  That's my best guess.

Screw it.  I'm going to call it Japantown.

Woo hoo.  300th post. 



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JVo18 wrote:

Ghetto doesn't mean a crowded area with a significant amount of people living in it. If that was the case, every financial district in the world that have a lot of people living in it such as Toyko or Melbourne or Singapore would be considered "ghetto". Although I'm sure you could apply that term to the outskirts,  that definition is incorrect.

I meant different. Since there are a lot of Vietnamese here so everywhere is Vietnamese.. just some places have a lot of Japanese or Korea... and they are call Ghetto.

By the way. I see vietnamese doesn't use English in a correct meaning. Just a half of the meaning.

Dejavu.dot wrote:

JVo18 wrote:

Ghetto doesn't mean a crowded area with a significant amount of people living in it. If that was the case, every financial district in the world that have a lot of people living in it such as Toyko or Melbourne or Singapore would be considered "ghetto". Although I'm sure you could apply that term to the outskirts,  that definition is incorrect.

I meant different. Since there are a lot of Vietnamese here so everywhere is Vietnamese.. just some places have a lot of Japanese or Korea... and they are call Ghetto.

By the way. I see vietnamese doesn't use English in a correct meaning. Just a half of definition.