Every time I offer my mother-in-law some Brazil nuts, she recounts in hushed tones the name by which, during her childhood, they were called. Nigger's toes.
Back then, of course, "nigger" was the term du jour. It may not have been acceptable to refer to a black person, nay a person of African-American descent, in this manner, but it was common. (Think of the children's chant Eeeny, meeny, miney, moe ... catch a nigger by the toe. Now of course, the nigger has been changed to tiger, but that's not the original version). Those who were more cultured, like my mother-in-law, referred to them as being "coloured" (no doubt while they secretly thought of them as "niggers)..
Now, while I privately express shock and dismay at either of these terms, I had to wonder last night if I wasn't guilty of the same crime.
I have a nightly ritual with my children. They each like having me come and spend a couple of minutes in bed with them. I'm not allowed to just lie there though; I have to come prepared with a funny story. At the end of the story, we then kiss and hug. My daughter's kiss-and-hug routine takes place in four parts: we kiss, hug, bump heads and then Eskimo kiss.
Last night, my eldest son pointed out that Eskimo is an outdated and unacceptable term. Inuit was the correct word. Of course, I know this, and never refer to an Inuit as an Eskimo, but somehow, I never extrapolated that term and carried it over to "Eskimo kiss". Should I have?
Similarly, when referring to the lovely Oriental carpet in my parent's home, should I be calling it an Asian carpet? Growing up, we always referred to ourselves as being Oriental, but now that's not the PC term. But where does that leave the carpets?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
I don't really worry about the terminology I use, unless someone tells me it's offensive.
I don't really use 'Oriental', but I wouldn't have thought it racist. Just out-of-fashion. It isn't offensive, is it?
And I often use 'Black', as Af-Am is just too many syllables. Nobody has ever said that it was offensive, just out-of-fashion.
Oh, and I know 'nigger' is offensive.
I call women 'chicks' knowing it offends some, but they're just uptight.
This comment brought to you by a Limey, Pommy Pouf.
I think its ok to still call it an oriental rug, as long as it was made by children in mexico. If not, I think we should ask the sheep in which the wool was extracted to see what they deem offensive.
Dickey: Hmmm ... blacks, chicks and pouf ... you are old-fashioned, aren't you?
Greg: I try not to talk to the sheep. It just doesn't look good ... they always think I'm after something other than their wool.
Inuit kisses just doesn't cut it.
Okay, I'm going to sound way too PC and uptight here. I had never thought about the phrase Eskimo kisses and used to say that too, but I probably wouldn't use it anymore. We work with an Inuit group and I would be too horrified to say Eskimo in front of them in any form. I know! So uptight, but I find eskimo such an offensive term.
As for the rugs, my parents have an extensive collection, and I think we used to say Oriental carpets, but now we refer to them as Persian. I'm not sure if that's PC or just more accurate for my parents' collection - I think most of ours are from Iran. Does anyone know where the vast majority come from? Regardless, like Greg noted, many of them were made by underage children so I guess it doesn't really matter what you call the product...
Sister: I guess that's my point. Sometimes you just don't think what you are saying has any reference racially. It is horrible when someone points out a term you've been using innocently, is actually offensive.
Coffeedog: I agree, but then I have to wonder if my MIL wonders the same thing about referring to someone as being "black" as opposed to "coloured", etc.
Snooze: I don't think you're being uptight at all. I worry that maybe I'm just being hypocritical. I don't know anyone Inuit, but that doesn't make it okay to employ a term that is offensive.
I have a thing for Asian carpets too, but not the kind on your floor. (I'm a whole other kind of politically incorrect.)
First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with oriental carpet - you are talking about a thing, first of all, and it is a thing whose origins are from the Orient. There is nothing PC or un-PC about that.
As for Eskimo, I'm in the camp that says that we've taken this PC thing way too far. I agree that you don't address an individual that way - they may (or may not) take offense, and you don't want to give license to people who whould use the word disparagingly. If the choice of term is racially motivated, or borne of ignorance, narrow-mindedness, or belittlement, then it's wrong to use. But an old term that people recognise universally that has never in any way been disparaging? I have no problem with it - it's only a word. I used to like 'Eskimo Pies' as a kid. Trust me when I tell you: That wasn't a hate crime.
Bottom line: With all this PC stuff, we seem to have forgotten that the whole point was to deal with ingnorant or malicious intent, not make language a minefield - and therefore an impediment to actual communication.
I know that any minute a post will magically appear. Preferably one about boobies. ...Thank you
TITS!!!!!!!!!!
just for greg...
Interesting post and you know I have a lot to say on this. I see several sides to this. Firstly, using words that historically have a negative connotation such as nigger, chink or faggot, carry with them a shitload of racial baggage. So logic would suggest that you not use those terms. If someone were to call me Oriental I would tell them otherwise, as I am not a place nor thing, It is an adjective that gives description to a general geographical area known as East Asia. The same applies to the word Occidental (meaning the West) but we do not refer to Europeans or North Americans as such. The word Oriental rather, holds a distinct association to early European references to Eastern countries as exotic, and sexual. Oriental was used as a descriptive term to refer to things of the Orient.
So yes, with that reference, I object to being called an Oriental. I am Chinese, not a rug or piece of furniture.
Do I have issue with Oriental being used to describe furniture? No. The process with which we determine what words are and are not appropriate is a personal thing. It is a direct result of Cultural relativism. In otherwords, we try to understand the social and cultural structures of society by comparing it to our own. If someone doesn't like a word, don't use it around them, but it does not mean everyone feels the same way about that word.
The problem with PC-ness is that it tries to push itself on every person and it creates further polarisation of cultural or ethnic groups.
Epi and Dan: Your comments are intelligent and well thought out and give one pause for thought. Thanks for speaking up. The whole PC issue is such a pain in the ass sometimes and often defeats the purpose when we have to worry about the smaller, insignificant issues versus the big picture.
Greg and Dickey: I love how you guys can write about tits freely when Epi and Dan are pondering on the political correctness of the world! I promise to somehow satisfy the masses with a booby piece in the near future ... or maybe even a fab pic like Snooze had.
Sweet! and Thanks St D :)
Thanks for pointing out my faux pas.
So for the other boys...
DICKS!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Post a Comment