Posted on 01/12/2009 12:09:25 PM PST by AJKauf
Prince Harry of England has been forced to apologize for calling an army comrade a “Paki.” His reference to “our little Paki friend, Ahmed” — captured in a video recorded three years ago, when Harry was attending Sandhurst military academy — was almost universally denounced.
When I declared on my blog that I was unaware “Paki” had attained slur status in England — “How does the omission of two syllables change this from a description of someone’s nationality to a racist epithet?” — a commenter retorted: “There’s no way an American would use the word ‘Jap’ to describe a Japanese, or ‘Chink’ for Chinese.” Good point. One observes that, as with the condensation of “Pakistani” into “Paki,” both “Jap” and “Chink” have the effect of abbreviation, and perhaps there is a derogatory intent implied in depriving these groups of an extra syllable or two....
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Paki ping
“There’s no way an American would use the word ‘Jap’ to describe a Japanese”
Not true, when I was 6 years old, I called them Japs because we were at war with them, and they were not an admirable country.
Things can change.
Hmmm I hate the PC police as much as anyone, but I think I’ll let a guy who is filthy rich for no reason other than he was a Prince— I mean are you joking? What is this the 14th century? I think I’ll let a guy who has an even poorer work to wealth to fame ratio than Paris Hilton fight his own battles. Thanks.
Wanna bet?
Don’t forget some people used “kraut” for the Germans during WWII as well.
We’ll always have Paris................
What is and is not an epithet is arbitrary. Sometimes they’re (more or less) clever jokes, like Wetback. Sometimes they’re shorter versions of perfectly acceptable names. Nigger is no more than a shortened Negro. Paki, Spic, Chink, Jap, etc. are racist, but Brit is A-okay, for some reason. There’s no sense trying to understand the process.
Both sides, the slurrers and the offended, try to determine what is and what isn’t acceptable. The slurrers grab ever new and more demeaning words once the old ones get worn out. The offended have two very strange tactics. First, they dub words that used to be perfectly fine, like Negro and midget, and suddenly declare them racist. Second, they steal words that used to be insults and start using them to refer to eachother, like Gay and Nigger. We do that here on FR, too. Capitalist began as an insult, now it’s a badge of honor.
“Don’t forget some people used ‘kraut’ for the Germans during WWII as well.”
Which is exactly why I think Jap is perfectly okay to use. You can always insult a nation that you went to war with, in my opinion. The Japs and Krauts, likewise, can call me whatever they want.
Brits however have a generalized dislike/distrust for the Pakistanis that live in Great Britain. In GB only, the term "Paki" has evolved to take on that dislike/distrust and is no longer the friendly term it used to be.
Now, if my Brit friends, after 250 years, would stop referring to Americans as "Colonials"........ I can live with "Yanks".
No, Harry isn’t a bigot; he was speaking among friends about another friend. Anyone who says he hasn’t engaged in this kind of back and forth good-natured banter among friends of different backgrounds is full of crap.
I doubt its a slur.
Jap isn’t really a slur. There ARE slur words for Japanese and Jap isn’t one of them. And “Chink” IS a slur and certainly NOT an abbreviation for Chinese like Jap or Pali is.
Just another case of the Muzzies (is that a slur?) seeing how far they can make the Dhimmis (I think THAT is a slur) crawl to please them.
We care about the end product of three centuries of inbreeding...because.....help me out here folks...because....why?
Sheesh.
When I heard about this, I thought he sounded like most military I know....they need to get over themselves....
Got a surprise for him ~ best thing to ever happen to England since the battle of the Somme was the blitz, Fur Shur.
Didn’t know “Jap” was an abbreviation for “Chinese” ~ boy will the folks down at the sushi joint be surprised at that one!
Now everyone is has to be p.c. Enemies are enemies. All being cordial gets you is blown up.
This is about the dumbest story I have ever seen.
Why can’t the British press just accept the fact that the prince is a couragous, patriotic young man with a charming personality and move on.
Dunno. I doubt whether the remarks of a royal frat boy in the service must be weighed the same way as they are in everyday life. Normally I am not a big fan of the ‘victim’ deciding how ‘grieved’ he or she is by a remark - it’s a bit of a license to kill, metaphorically speaking. But I did not hear yet if the ‘offended’ party took the remarks at face value or if there was just some ornery teasing going on. Anyway, I think the issue got way too much coverage, as if are not any more important things going on... like Hamas getting a good old and well deserved pounding.
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