That's a great story! and hilarious!

I call “bs” on that whole story.

This reminds me when I did a "MORNING" Breakfast Show for a group of Japanese Children - I started it with(phonetic) "cone-knee-chee-wa"- the Kids laughed ?? after the Show -(they DID enjoy) was told I said "Good AFTERNOON" - Now. I always try remember the translation.

Re: the OP's story, this is how most people are. Most aren't looking for reasons to be offended. Funny is funny. That words in one language can be put into an order that makes it similar to an English phrase is funny. Now, any kind of humor can be used with bad intent, but the OP used it with good intent, and his audience loved it. And of course, it had ZERO to do with the worth or value of any category of person.

I recall a news story a number of years ago, a caucasian girl's prom dress plans went awry, and she ended up going in a beautiful Asian-style dress.

She got a lot of hate ("How dare you wear that? That's cultural appropriation!" etc...) from some who saw themselves as the arbiters of diversity.

You know who she got a lot of love from? Actual Asian people. They thought it was great! Because it was. And yes, the story is real. I remember it very well.

BTW:

Foo, Ling, and You (Yu) are all completely rooted in real Asian—specifically Chinese—words. Depending on how they are written in Chinese characters, they have long-standing histories as real vocabulary words, names, or cultural concepts.

My doctor is Chinese. His name is Yu. He also loves magic!