Poll: Racism, abbreviation, & Life.

[DevilWithaHalo]

Oi u fookin paki

u wut m8

u startin somethin blood?

Sorry, I love British slang.

And this is why I can't take most slang (British Chav, or American gansta, or whatever) seriously. Some guy could be threatening my life and I wouldn't know what to make of it.

Every time I watch a Guy Ritchie film I'm reminded of this. But God help me I love you crazy Brits and your comedic idiosyncrasies. I have to imagine some people feel the same way with us psychotic Yanks.

 

[SomeBrianDude]

It all depends on the context it's used in. Often, "Paki" is used to refer to anyone of South Asian appearance, and I don't know if everyone's totally aware of this, but not every nation in that region exactly sees eye-to-eye, and that animosity is bitter enough for some people to be offended when incorrectly referred to as being from Pakistan. For example, there are a fair few Indians who would be a little pissed off if you called them a Paki. Even if you don't intend to use it as a slur, quite often it might taken as such.

Regional tensions aside, referring to all people of a certain skin tone as being of the same background is pretty racist, which is exactly what a lot of people who use the term Paki regularly do. My stance - just don't fucking use the word.

Terms like Brit, Aussie, and Yankee are a different matter. In my experience, they're usually used simply as an abbreviation for the nationality to which they refer. I assume they're all used in a derogatory manner sometimes (I know Brit and Yankee are, not sure about Aussie), but again, context. Context is king.

Captcha: glazed donut. That would be amazing, Escapist, fucking amazing.

 

[dyre]

I've heard that Paki is used in a primarily derogatory sense in England, so I guess that's why it's racist. It's like calling someone a Jap. Yeah, it's an abbreviation, but it's only ever used in the context of "fuck those Japs for bombing Pearl Harbor."

Brit, meanwhile, is not primarily used in a derogatory sense.

Neither term is inherently racist, but one commonly carries a racist connotation, and the other doesn't.

 

[DevilWithaHalo]

Oi u fookin paki

u wut m8

u startin somethin blood?

Sorry, I love British slang.

And this is why I can't take most slang (British Chav, or American gansta, or whatever) seriously. Some guy could be threatening my life and I wouldn't know what to make of it.

Haha, I lol'd. Imagined you standing there, in a suit, with a monocle, with 5 teenagers closing in on you. "M8 u beter sho us da chedda m8 geddit?" "I'm sorry sir, I just cannot understand what you are trying to tell me."

I say good sir, cheedar? Are you inviting me for afternoon tea? How capital! Shall we sally forth to the local market to aquire some water crisp crackers and some Earl Gray? Let's take the trolly! Tally ho my good man!

 

[Hazy992]

how does Paki become equivalent to "Dirty fucking stinking Brit"? Its just an abbreviation for Pakistan.

The person being insulted is French (not a Brit) and the intent is to insult/offend via applying negative connotations to the word.

Why are you insulted by being called yank, you are one - right?

Its just an abbreviation though, why be offended by that?

As for the term Yank, whenever I see Europeans use the word, they might as well be saying asshole/prick/moron/ect. Also like I said, it has an association with the American civil war, where the confederates called people from the North "Yanks", and there are still people who live below the Mason Dixie line that call Northerners "Yanks" in a pejorative way.

So if I started calling you 'a dirty fucking Canuck' or something equally pejorative even though you're American you wouldn't get offended?

 

[Biosophilogical]

I give it about 10 more years and it will be an offence to maintain eye contact with anyone from a different race. You will be arrested for "glaring with racist intent".

See, I don't consider myself a racist person (baring the inherent racism that everyone has subconsciously that we all try our best to ignore or suppress), but I always have trouble making eye contact with people of other skin tones, simply because I'm afraid they might think I'm a racist for staring.

 

[Unsilenced]

I've never heard "Yank" used offensively by anyone but really, REALLY southern people. It's pretty dated as insults go.


As for Paki... I don't actually know the history here, but there's no reason an abbreviation can't be offensive. Someone already pointed out that "Jap" is a slur because historically it was used to insult them as our enemies in a time of war. There's nothing inherently insulting about the word, but it's been used as an insult long enough to become one.

 

[Risingblade]

Aussie is offensive? Weird most people from australia I know call themselves aussies...this confuses me

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

how does Paki become equivalent to "Dirty fucking stinking Brit"? Its just an abbreviation for Pakistan.

The person being insulted is French (not a Brit) and the intent is to insult/offend via applying negative connotations to the word.

Why are you insulted by being called yank, you are one - right?

Its just an abbreviation though, why be offended by that?

As for the term Yank, whenever I see Europeans use the word, they might as well be saying asshole/prick/moron/ect. Also like I said, it has an association with the American civil war, where the confederates called people from the North "Yanks", and there are still people who live below the Mason Dixie line that call Northerners "Yanks" in a pejorative way.

So if I started calling you 'a dirty fucking Canuck' or something equally pejorative even though you're American you wouldn't get offended?

I get what your saying but tbh I have no idea what a Canuk is.

 

[Thaluikhain]

There's no particular reason for "Paki" to be offensive, other than people have chosen to use it that way. There's nothing inherently insulting about the word, I mean, in of itself it doesn't refer to a stereotype or anything.

It's also used very loosely to mean various different brown people, whereas Brit or Aussie refers to specific nations.

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[Total LOLige]

Paki is offensive when the person being called a paki isn't from Pakistan. I heard somewhere that Pakistan means land of the pakis. Does anyone else think Asian is too vague? asia is a big place and skin tone varies from very dark to tanned. I should probably make it clear for non-british escapists that 'asian' is the PC term for people from southern asia. And not people of chinese and japanese race.
I'm not offended by the word brit, I don't see why I should be unless it's a slur.

 

[Craorach]

Words have power dependent upon how they are used. Words can be used as a weapon of intolerance and hatred.

Innocent words, used with hateful intent, can very quickly become a slur... and hateful words, although it is difficult, can become compliments.

Look at the words Nerd and Geek. When I was young they were pretty much exclusively used to bully people interested in "nerdy" hobbies, the quiet, the intelligent, the bespectacled. Now we wear them as badges of pride.

The word Queer went from meaning something "odd" to a slur for homosexual, and certain groups within that demographic have adopted it as a symbol of pride.

The word Paki might simply be an abbreviation meaning "person from Pakistan".. but the intent that it has been used with, by so many hateful people, means that it has adopted the further meaning of "filthy, dirty, stupid, person who should just go back where they came from". Brit and Aussie have not been used in such a way by a wide enough number of people to gain that kind of meaning.

 

[Jason Fayers]

What makes a word offensive is how it's used, heck cu*t used to be polite now it's the worst word because apparently girls are gross, or something?

Language is funny.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Really? I'm the first to say that all three are offensive?

Frankly, I find all this horrible slang quite distasteful. I'm offended by anyone who is incapable of finishing a word and has to trail off half way. I am not an 'Aussie, moit', I am a goddamn Australian.

 

[Hexenwolf]

Paki is generally used as a slur word.

Some people use it in the same way as "Brit", "Aussie" or "Yank".

Then again I have seen some Americans get offended at the whole "Yank" things. I don't know if it's a British thing or what have you but it's a general term for American over here.

Yep I hate it when UK or Australians call us Yanks. It is offensive over here and you sound like some confederate loving southerner when you use the term.

Really? It doesn't bother me at all. I mean, yeah, that's what the Confederates called the North, but the Civil War was so long ago, and obviously the British were obviously not involved in it, so I know that's not what they're trying to reference at all.

Maybe it's a regional thing, since I live in Southern California, so the war and confederates and whatnot are basically never thought about. Where are you from?

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Really? I'm the first to say that all three are offensive?

Frankly, I find all this horrible slang quite distasteful. I'm offended by anyone who is incapable of finishing a word and has to trail off half way. I am not an 'Aussie, moit', I am a goddamn Australian.

I don't understand why you would find that offensive though. Are you saying you use absolutely no slang words at all? I find that hard to believe. Slang is a part of language, I don't see what makes you think you're so special that EVERYONE has to conform to your version of the English language.

Here in Scotland many things are shortened to Scots this or Scotch that, there's nothing offensive about it. You could call someone from Scotland a Brit aswell, nothing offensive about that, Scotland is part of Britain.

However calling someone a Paki could be considered racist because

1. you're assuming they are from Pakistan, when they could be from India or any of the other countries near there. It would be like calling a Scottish person English, they'd be offended by it. It would also be like calling a Canadian a (US) American or a New Zealander an Australian.

And 2. At least here in the UK there are racist connotations connected to the word much like Negro/****** in the US...So the word almost never gets used in any way other than trying to insult or degrade someone.