Thought of the morning

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1436633]

Comments

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

Aye, I call Will a "bummer" all the time, but my mind very clearly relates that as a different word to when someone says "that's a bummer" as one is from arse, and the other is from hobos in America.

I once got the silent treatment for a long, long time because I referred to someone as "a cracker" This made me an abhorrent racist. Took me f*cking ages to work out why, and apologise...

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

Tell me why too? Cracker seems fine to me...

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

It's offensive in American English, I think my friend thought (incorrectly) it was a term from the slave trade and so as offensive as N-gger.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

oh I see! Christ... in my language it means pretty!

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

well yes, it's technically Yorkshire dialect for a good thing, as in "Cracking cheese Grommit!"

Which just goes to show.. somethinig.. about language and cultures. Paky shop is the slang term for corner shops somewhere like New England (? I think?), and most people there are completely unaware of any racial connections with the word. I can't find an internet link to this, as I just did a google and the results were vastly unpleasant.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

It's local dialect in Sunderland too. An unfortunately very racist local dialect :(

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

It's not racist in Northern England because I think the etymology is completely different - they're two different words, effectively?

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

Oh no, it's racist. 100% racist.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Ayrshire and both Paki Shop and Chinky are in common usage. Yet neither has any racist implications in that area.

I can't deny that they probably did originally, and for sure in many parts of the country they would cause massive offense, but the words have evolved in the locale to the point that the Chinese Takeaway in the village answered their own phone with the words "XXXXX Chinky" and when people use the phrase Paki Shop it means any sort of corner store, no matter that ethnic origin of the owners/staff. Even those owned by Scotsmen are called Paki Shops.

I'm not going to defend this language, but it is used by pretty much everyone who lives there.

[likeneontubing.livejournal.com]

It's used by pretty much everyone in Sunderland too, and unfortunately at least 50% mean exactly the racist connotations by it,

and the others just don't know why calling 'a chinky a chinky' is racist.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

I can't deny that they probably did originally,

There is no "probably" about it and "originally" isn't some point lost in the mists of times, it is a couple of decades ago (at most). That is to say within the living memory of a large number of people. So it is disengenuous to say it has magically evolved beyond having any racist implications, even if the current situation you describe is true.

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yes, at my inner London secondary school people whose families were from Pakistan called them 'paki shops' (and everyone else did too) - a lot of the black students called each other 'nigger', but nobody white ever did, in the same way that I can call my girlfriend a 'filthy queer' or whatever in jest if I want but all the straight people can leave that one well alone, thank you very much. I've never heard Chinky used non-racistly here.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

There was also George Bush's usage of it. It seems to be in America (and India) that it is a friendly abbreviation like Brit. Unfortunately this is not the case in the UK.

[jinxremoving.livejournal.com]

A few years ago I was wandering around Edinburgh with an American friend (from New England, I think) who made reference to the 'paki shop' and then asked, "Wait, what's it called? Paki shop? Packing shop? Why do they call it that?" I said, "Um, they call it that because it's a racial slur." She was mortified. Anyway, the term seemed to be new to her.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

It's only barely offensive in American English, as few people know what it means and those know it mostly intellectually. It's not commonly used and I daresay most Americans wouldn't be able to define it except as a thin salty bread product. Honky or whitey would be more commonly known, but most wouldn't take it as an insult, and ofay is just flat out unknown these days.

In short, it's awfully hard to offend a white person in America by calling them white.

[moniqueleigh]

Maybe that's different depending on where you are in the USA? I know in Mississippi, "cracker" and "honky" are still both seen as extremely offensive to white people. (More so to older folk, but I've seen teens highly upset about usage too.)

"Ofay" is pretty much unknown around here also. I have vague recollections of hearing it spoken, but I can't recall when or by whom.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

I suppose so. I've lived in lots of places in the US, and I currently live in Texas, but Texas isn't really Southern, despite our stance in the War between the States and our relative position to the Mason Dixon line.

Maybe it is more offensive in the parts of the US that are officially "deep South"?