[Closed] Casual racists

[quote=loum]Try not to be offensive......

[quote=loum] those who make a career out of doing the opposite, like the [b]ex-comedian [/b]Stewart Lee

Stuart Lee may find that comment quite offensive.

But then again, it was supposed to be really wasn't it ? 😉

You're off to a cracking start.

This always makes me laugh..

We were sat in a Manchester pub and I overheard a Gas/Plumber bitching about Polish workers coming in and driving down his prices due to oversupply......then he started reminising about the good times in the building boom in 80's Germany when he and his mates went over and.....took work off Germans there... 😆

In which case, it doesn't apply to anyone, so no-one's affected by it. Everyone's a winner.

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I reject the idea that some folk are walking around trying to be offended

TBH, they're more likely to be at home on a computer forum 😉

According to Magda in my office Pole isn't offensive to her and wouldn't be to any of her countrymen/women. Her response was "Why would it, it's just a shortening of Poland or Polish. In our language it just means stick".

I went through secondary school being predominantly called "the gora".

"the gora".

Did you take the time to learn some Punjabi? It amazes and warms people to no end if you did you know. I did.

I went through secondary school being predominantly called "the gora".

Forgive my spelling as I've only ever heard this spoken, but the only context in which I've heard that term is "gora rami" which, as far as I can glean, translates as "white bastard".

(I'm not sharing this in order to be controversial, just anecdotal; it was a fairly common insult at my school)

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IGMC...

The 'offended-by-proxy'/'terminally offended' etc is the same as getting pissed off at 'money making speed cameras' when a speeding ticket is received - caught out doing something wrong but can't possibly be at fault.

gora rami

Glitchbumperama

I reject the idea that some folk are walking around trying to be offended

There are a lot of people with a very immature concept of being "offended", i.e. many seem to get "offended" simply because they can't cope with opinions different to their own, as opposed to something that's [i]actually[/i] offensive (like racism).

There was no rami added to it, just "the gora's" so basically being called "the white". So in contect "the gora has done his bloody homework".

Hora - I didn't actively try to learn punjabi, but I did ask what things meant, mainly swear words and parts of the anatomy. Most of the kids at school only spoke punjabi when they were swearing or being offensive about someone and spoke English the rest of the time. We had a reasonable level of multilingual profanity at school, given that just less than 50% of kids at my school were from families that had English as their first language at home. I've forgotten most of it now though. Predominance was Punjabi and Italian, we generally didn't get much info out of the Urdu and Bengali speakers.

Throughout college I was the only white person in a group of friends. The majority were Asian (****stani descent), couple of black guys, two chaps of Moroccan descent, one was half white, half ****stani and a Chinese friend. We all still very close 15 years later but sometimes it was tough being the minority.

I never experienced any racism from within our group - aside from a bit of casual ribbing - but there were occasions when we'd meet other groups of exlusively Asian guys who would absolutely point blank refuse to acknowledge me. I'm talking about everyone doing a round of hand shakes and they would all deliberately refuse to shake my hand despite me offering (this has happended numerous occasions over the years). I have been to club nights and beaten up being called a fing gora, a sweat, white b**d etc. Not a nice feeling to be singled out when the people don't know a thing about you, but then the people dishing it out had probably experienced similar or worse.

The worst was the grief I would get from some old white friends from the estate who would ask why I hang around with packies. I would also get similar inferences from family, although not as blatant.

Racism is ugly full stop. Language has the capacity to hurt people no matter what the old axiom says, so we should be a bit more sensitive with what might offend. That isn't PC gone mad it's called empathy and one of the good things about being human.

hammerite - sure I thought it just meant 'white'. Not 'the white'.

Kala sounds quite cruel/crude but its not- don't forget Punjabi is quite a rougher language compared to Urdu.

Hora, you boasting that your Mrs spat in someone's face for saying the word "chinky" unravels any point you're trying to make imo.

Hora, you boasting that your Mrs spat in someone's face for saying the word "chinky" unravels any point you're trying to make imo.

Late night - central London, 3/4 blokes in a Kebab shop suddenly mrshora spits and says how ****ing dare you call me a chinky. Now I don't know what else was said but I was ready to defend her honour. The fact is his friends wants nothing to do with the dick and thought rightly so that he was bang out of order.

Late night - central London, 3/4 blokes in a Kebab shop

Amputees or just 25% shorter than average ? 🙂

or just 25% shorter than average

According to Magda in my office Pole isn't offensive to her and wouldn't be to any of her countrymen/women.

That's very nice to hear, but you should probably put it away now anyway

Growing up in a white working class environment in an industrial town, this kind of racism was all around me when I was young. It's still there in many of my parents generation and I am sure somewhere deep in my psyche it will have had an effect on me. I try bloody hard not to let it do so now and would die of shame if I did ever cause offence (am sure I have, but luckily I still have all my fingers).
Not sure what I am trying to say, just that some of us may not have had the best start in dumping all parental influence of this kind but we are trying, nonetheless, to be better than they were. So bear with us. 😀

I think often people don't realise that the terminology the use is not entirely appropriate, often brought out when they are out of their environment. Having said that, few racist actually believe they are racist, often seeing themselves as folks who aren't afraid to tell it like it is. Many think that their view is widely shared.

If someone i knew used the word 'chinky' in any sense, I'd tell them it wasn't a very nice word. Perhaps it's not as heavily loaded as 'the N word' but still. I was introduced to a fella recently who used the term 'spade' as a racial grouping, I waa slightly surprised but did not do anything, merely listened warily for any other indications of ignorance. None were forthcoming so I let it slide. I didn't find it particularly offensive, but I'm pretty sure I'll not be becoming his friend. Not so much because he was racist, more because I think he was gay.

Being British Born Chinese myself I can put my hand on my heart and say I have never been called a "Chink". Wasn't really bullied at school, just the odd chav acting hard but not because of my race. I have grown up in Surrey though and I went to a state school.
I was the only Chinese in my primary and junior school, and they were both next to council estates where the local riff-raff were from.

I've never heard anyone use the term "chinky" to describe a Chinese takeaway.

plop, how old are you?
We had a Chinese kid in my school, he was always called chink, chinky, Charlie Chan, Fu Man Chu, Chinese Detective. Even the teachers picked it up.

Was he offended? Not hugely, he didn't like it but he didn't really have many options

PlopNofear - Member
and they were both next to council estates where the local riff-raff were from.

...and a new type of discrimination (racism) appears. But this is acceptable, no?

I'm not sure "riff-raff" is a race, you know.

[url=

"blank" in one's armour...[/url]

(How DO the stupid video links work FFS!!!??)

I'm not sure "riff-raff" is a race, you know.

They're from the planet riff.

I'm not sure "riff-raff" is a race, you know.

I'm Riff-Raff on my mother's side. So I would politely ask you to refrain from such cruel taunts.

@klumpy

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. None were forthcoming so I let it slide. I didn't find it particularly offensive, but I'm pretty sure I'll not be becoming his friend. Not so much because he was racist, more because I think he was gay.

Surely another little test here to see who's paying attention? 😕

We had a Chinese kid in my school, he was always called chink, chinky, Charlie Chan, Fu Man Chu, Chinese Detective. Even the teachers picked it up.

I worked in a factory quite a few years ago, everyone seemed to have nicknames there.

One guy, who was Chinese had the nickname Kato

It wasn't used as any kind of insult, he didn't mind the nickname, he was well liked and had no problems in that respect.

But someone in management decided that was Racist, and decided that anyone using it would earn themselves a written warning.

Oddly enough, there was someone posting on this thread earlier who has chosen Kato as his forum name, and from what he said, he sounded like he could well be of Chinese heritage ?

I got pulled up a little while ago for using the word "coloured" as it's apparently racist. Made me vexed because I used it specifically to try and avoid using any potentially derogatory language.

Then I got to thinking, you know, whilst I don't agree that country contractions are inherently racist (compare ****, Brit, Scot, Pole, Iti, etc), I'm happy to avoid using them as I understand that some people find them offensive (rightly or not). However, when we're getting into the realms of "black / brown / white / coloured" now being offensive, I really don't think the the problem here lies with the speaker. What next, differently pigmented? We're running out of words.

Fundamentally, we're heading towards a situation where words are becoming viewed as 'racist' purely because they're used to describe a demographic and racists speak the same language we do. So we start saying (for example) "coloured" to attempt to safely refer to someone non-caucasian, then the racists start using the same word, hey presto it's suddenly a 'racist' term and we've to find something else. It's a race condition we can't win unless we force racists to start speaking Esperanto or something.

Lunacy.

If you want to be as inoffensive possible just use African, Caribbean etc. Simples. At any place I've worked at we've never used the term "the black lad over there" in any conversation to describe someone we work with.....we'd use "the African lad over there" or the Caribbean lad over there". All you have to do is make an effort to find out where they are from.

Why the hell is this shite being discussed on a pushbike forum?

I'm offended.

But someone in management decided that was Racist, and decided that anyone using it would earn themselves a written warning.

Or, actually he did mind and didn't feel able to say so, so discretely complained to management.

Or, actually he did mind and didn't feel able to say so, so discretely complained to management.

I very much doubt it, I knew him fairly well and he wasn't that sort of bloke, if he didn't like it, he wasn't the sort of fella to keep quiet about it.
And when I started there, he introduced himself as Kato and said his real name wasn't easy to pronounce.

I have an Arab mate, we call him Rab. He is also a Celtic fan and a Catholic, so we sometimes call him Bobby Sandals.

At any place I've worked at we've never used the term "the black lad over there" in any conversation to describe someone we work with.....we'd use "the African lad over there" or the Caribbean lad over there". All you have to do is make an effort to find out where they are from.

but not quite enough effort to know their name? 🙄

I enjoy referring to a saffer at work as 'the African'. It drives him insane which is a constant delight to me. Mind you he's only over here because 'the blacks have ruined his home'. I think he was expecting to be welcomed into a modern version of bless this house/love thy neighbour. My favourite quote from him is one about why black people are shit at cricket - 'they can run, but they can't catch'.

but not quite enough effort to know their name?

Names aren't that useful when you are pointing someone in the right direction for the person they are looking for.

"Excuse me, can you tell me who Stephen is, I've got a package for him"

"Yes of course, it's the bloke called Stephen in that room full of people over there"

"Erm...... Ok... thanks ?"

"The one sitting down"

"The one on the end"

"The one by the water cooler"

"The one in the white shirt"

"The tall guy in the corner"

There's many other ways without trying to be so false about being PC.

One of my bestmates is called/nicknamed Bolo...

He seems to think he has a likeness to Bolo Yeung...

"The one sitting down"
"The one on the end"
"The one by the water cooler"
"The one in the white shirt"
"The tall guy in the corner"
There's many other ways without trying to be so false about being PC.

There are many ways of doing most the things.

I was just pointing out, that "not finding out someone's name" was irrelevant.

Also, saying "yes he's the black guy just down there on the right" isn't racist.

One guy, who was Chinese had the nickname Kato

As I do. It's not something I find offensive. However, I don't like being called a chinky. I had enough of that at school

As I do. It's not something I find offensive. However, I don't like being called a chinky. I had enough of that at school

This seems to have mutated somewhat though hasn't it.

It's changed a bit from someone referring to a restaurant as a chinky.

Which I presume is different isn't it ?

(I don't do either personally, but I can see a difference)