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I think of this group as high confidence ethnicities.

I use Pom and Canuck.  Mick might not work with Irish Irish but in my experience it works fine with Irish Americans.  I use gringo too.  Yank I object to on regional grounds.  Only New Englanders are yankees.

I'm not going to call a Jew a kike, but I will say something about Jewfros.

Don't get a lot of chances to use frog.  Don't know how that would play.

I won't call a German a kraut but I will say sommething like "that kraut soccer team is badass."

I don't know if you "can use", so much as it is just pretty antique at this point that it amuses me...

Bohunk.  Slur for someone of central/eastern european ancestry, generally with a "stupid" connotation to it.  And it definitely covered Ukrainians.

I first encountered Bohunk in Hemingway.  Had to look it up.

And I've mentioned this one before.  Not an ethnic slur, but a Canadian prison slang slur.

Goof.

Originated as a term for a child molester.  Generally though just the worst insult you can use to someone in that cultural group.

I don't consider Canuck an ethnic slur. Or any type of slur. Now, Canucklehead, that one's fun.

Rosbiff, Yanks, Boches, Ritals.

Apart from Boches, I think they're all kosher.

I was in a bar a few months back when an obviously Rosbiff douchebag asked if I was a Yid when I cheered as Tottenham scored. I had to google that one.

So sorry Yi if I'm taking the thread in a direction you didn't want to go...

One slur I've encountered since the Russo-Ukrainian war is "khokhol".  It's a russian slur for Ukrainians.  Apparently it has something to do with a cossack hairstyle.

It's no n-word, but it is apparently not okay to use.

Quote from: Barrister on July 14, 2022, 10:10:00 PMAnd I've mentioned this one before.  Not an ethnic slur, but a Canadian prison slang slur.

Goof.

Originated as a term for a child molester.  Generally though just the worst insult you can use to someone in that cultural group.

I don't know if it's current out East, but it definitely is in BC. Surefire way to step a confrontation up a few notches and increase the likelihood of a fight if you fling it at the wrong person.

I think the ones that are still okay to use aren't really slurs... Canuck is not a slur anymore than Kiwi or Aussie is, unless I missed something. Those are just nicknames.

Honestly, thinking about it I don't think I use any slurs anymore... hmm... hadn't considered that. But I can't think of any that I use.

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 12:22:05 AMRosbiff, Yanks, Boches, Ritals.

Apart from Boches, I think they're all kosher.

I was in a bar a few months back when an obviously Rosbiff douchebag asked if I was a Yid when I cheered as Tottenham scored. I had to google that one.

Well to  be fair, Yid is also one of the historical nicknames for Tottenham fans so asking if you're one doesn't necessarily mean he's a douchebag (though other things could, of course, as you'd be best placed to know).

I use kraut and frog which to me feels harmless.

And Orc on the other side of the spectrum.

Quote from: Barrister on July 15, 2022, 12:27:11 AMSo sorry Yi if I'm taking the thread in a direction you didn't want to go...

I's a conversational gambit.  It works if it generates conversation.

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 12:22:05 AMRitals.

Que?

Slang for Italians.

Is Neanderthal an ethnic slur?

Let me see... "gabacho" (Frenchie) I still use from time to time, funnily in SA it is used to refer to yanks (another one I use).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabacho

Also guiri, a very popular one in Spain - for foreign tourists. In particular white ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiri


"Moro" (literally "moor", but it has become a slur nowadays) I stopped using decades ago. I'm now rehabbing for "paki", over here the word doesn't have the legacy it does in the UK, but it's just a little effort.

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 01:56:22 AMLet me see... "gabacho" (Frenchie) I still use from time to time, funnily in SA it is used to refer to yanks (another one I use).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabacho

Also guiri, a very popular one in Spain - for foreign tourists. In particular white ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiri


"Moro" (literally "moor", but it has become a slur nowadays) I stopped using decades ago. I'm now rehabbing for "paki", over here the word doesn't have the legacy it does in the UK, but it's just a little effort.

What about "gitano"?  :ph34r: Offensive slur or proper identifier?

@Yi, most of the ones you mentioned sound endearingly old-fashioned rather than offensive to me.

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 01:56:22 AMLet me see... "gabacho" (Frenchie) I still use from time to time, funnily in SA it is used to refer to yanks (another one I use).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabacho

Also guiri, a very popular one in Spain - for foreign tourists. In particular white ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiri


"Moro" (literally "moor", but it has become a slur nowadays) I stopped using decades ago. I'm now rehabbing for "paki", over here the word doesn't have the legacy it does in the UK, but it's just a little effort.

Moreno is still used in Portuguese for tanned.

Surely by definition if its acceptable to use its not an ethnic slur?

The closest to acceptable ethnic slurs I'd say are where things aimed vs people are racist whilst in other contexts aren't. Jap for instance; not cool when talking about a person...but Japan's standard 3 letter country code that pops up innocently all over the place.

Then I guess there's stuff where its not cool in one language but fine in another. Negro is the biggy that stands out there.

Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 14, 2022, 09:58:25 PMI think of this group as high confidence ethnicities.

I use Pom and Canuck.  Mick might not work with Irish Irish but in my experience it works fine with Irish Americans.  I use gringo too.  Yank I object to on regional grounds.  Only New Englanders are yankees.

I'm not going to call a Jew a kike, but I will say something about Jewfros.

Don't get a lot of chances to use frog.  Don't know how that would play.

I won't call a German a kraut but I will say sommething like "that kraut soccer team is badass."

The original Crazy Canucks and the Vancouver Canucks would be very surprised to learn that Canuck is a slur.

Quote from: Josquius on July 15, 2022, 08:16:50 AMSurely by definition if its acceptable to use its not an ethnic slur?

The closest to acceptable ethnic slurs I'd say are where things aimed vs people are racist whilst in other contexts aren't. Jap for instance; not cool when talking about a person...but Japan's standard 3 letter country code that pops up innocently all over the place.

Then I guess there's stuff where its not cool in one language but fine in another. Negro is the biggy that stands out there.

Well, the word in itself isn't racist, but to call somebody "negro" to his face certainly is. Circumstance and intent matter.

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 08:40:24 AM

Quote from: Josquius on July 15, 2022, 08:16:50 AMSurely by definition if its acceptable to use its not an ethnic slur?

The closest to acceptable ethnic slurs I'd say are where things aimed vs people are racist whilst in other contexts aren't. Jap for instance; not cool when talking about a person...but Japan's standard 3 letter country code that pops up innocently all over the place.

Then I guess there's stuff where its not cool in one language but fine in another. Negro is the biggy that stands out there.

Well, the word in itself isn't racist, but to call somebody "negro" to his face certainly is. Circumstance and intent matter.

I'm not sure in English that it would be all that appropriate to refer to negroes unless talking about a historical moment.

Pretty sure cel is talking about Spanish.

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 09:19:11 AMPretty sure cel is talking about Spanish.

I'm sure he is but I doubt Jos is.

I suppose it's time to cancel the United Slur College Fund.

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 08:40:24 AM

Quote from: Josquius on July 15, 2022, 08:16:50 AMSurely by definition if its acceptable to use its not an ethnic slur?

The closest to acceptable ethnic slurs I'd say are where things aimed vs people are racist whilst in other contexts aren't. Jap for instance; not cool when talking about a person...but Japan's standard 3 letter country code that pops up innocently all over the place.

Then I guess there's stuff where its not cool in one language but fine in another. Negro is the biggy that stands out there.

Well, the word in itself isn't racist, but to call somebody "negro" to his face certainly is. Circumstance and intent matter.

Whats the normal word for black people?
I'd understood negro remained the standard.

Quote from: garbon on July 15, 2022, 09:21:54 AM

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 09:19:11 AMPretty sure cel is talking about Spanish.

I'm sure he is but I doubt Jos is.

:blink:
What am I speaking about then?

Quote from: garbon on July 15, 2022, 09:21:54 AM

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 09:19:11 AMPretty sure cel is talking about Spanish.

I'm sure he is but I doubt Jos is.

QuoteThen I guess there's stuff where its not cool in one language but fine in another. Negro is the biggy that stands out there.

I think he was, given that it's a Spanish word and he was talking about words being a slur in a language and not in others. Just clarifying that certain usages in Spanish are certainly not kosher.

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 09:28:57 AM

Quote from: garbon on July 15, 2022, 09:21:54 AM

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 09:19:11 AMPretty sure cel is talking about Spanish.

I'm sure he is but I doubt Jos is.

QuoteThen I guess there's stuff where its not cool in one language but fine in another. Negro is the biggy that stands out there.

I think he was, given that it's a Spanish word and he was talking about words being a slur in a language and not in others. Just clarifying that certain usages in Spanish are certainly not kosher.

I see. My mistake!

Quote from: Eddie Teach on July 15, 2022, 09:22:07 AMI suppose it's time to cancel the United Slur College Fund.

I'm not sure how that deviates as it's name is from a historical moment.

Quote from: The Larch on July 15, 2022, 07:15:12 AM

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 01:56:22 AMLet me see... "gabacho" (Frenchie) I still use from time to time, funnily in SA it is used to refer to yanks (another one I use).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabacho

Also guiri, a very popular one in Spain - for foreign tourists. In particular white ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiri


"Moro" (literally "moor", but it has become a slur nowadays) I stopped using decades ago. I'm now rehabbing for "paki", over here the word doesn't have the legacy it does in the UK, but it's just a little effort.

What about "gitano"?  :ph34r: Offensive slur or proper identifier?

@Yi, most of the ones you mentioned sound endearingly old-fashioned rather than offensive to me.

Proper identifier, surely? Hell, its usage is pretty ubiquitous. I.e. https://www.gitanos.org/

garbon-American.

Quote from: Razgovory on July 15, 2022, 11:25:48 AMgarbon-American.

That's not a slur. That's an honorific.

Is negro, or coloured, really a slur though?

I mean I know they're not the preferred terms.  I do not use them.  But they do have a positive historical usage (like the NAACP, or UNCF).  I agree that people,  or groups, should be called by the term they preferred to be called by, which is why I wouldn't use those words.  But just because they aren't preferred does that make them a slur?

Quote from: Zoupa on July 15, 2022, 12:22:05 AMRosbiff, Yanks, Boches, Ritals.

Apart from Boches, I think they're all kosher.

Rital used to be extremely offensive but less nowadays. I can't say Italians around here like it nor do I use it. That's the province of the beauf if I may say so.

Boche still is but mostly old-fashioned. Got to use the German translation (!) thanks to Syt  :P , i.e Piefke.

Yanks/Amerloques/Ricains are colloquial, specially the last one, same for Rosbif, hardly the worst ones (Godons is more old-fashioned).

Thanks to Tamas, I have used infrequently Balkantard, but less so nowadays.

I don't use many ethnic slurs actually. Bezerro (Portuguese for North African) is the only one I can think of.

Quote from: HVC on July 15, 2022, 07:22:58 AM

Quote from: celedhring on July 15, 2022, 01:56:22 AMLet me see... "gabacho" (Frenchie) I still use from time to time, funnily in SA it is used to refer to yanks (another one I use).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabacho

Also guiri, a very popular one in Spain - for foreign tourists. In particular white ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiri


"Moro" (literally "moor", but it has become a slur nowadays) I stopped using decades ago. I'm now rehabbing for "paki", over here the word doesn't have the legacy it does in the UK, but it's just a little effort.

Moreno is still used in Portuguese for tanned.

You're mixing up Mo(u)ro e moreno.  :D Same as in Castilian.

As for negro in Portuguese it's the preferred form cf. Não sou preto, sou negro!
Preto is colloquial as a matter of fact and may be resented.

Quote from: Barrister on July 15, 2022, 11:51:51 AMIs negro, or coloured, really a slur though?

I mean I know they're not the preferred terms.  I do not use them.  But they do have a positive historical usage (like the NAACP, or UNCF).  I agree that people,  or groups, should be called by the term they preferred to be called by, which is why I wouldn't use those words.  But just because they aren't preferred does that make them a slur?

I didn't say it was a slur, just that outside of historical things, generally not a term that should be used.

Quote from: garbon on July 15, 2022, 11:54:58 AMI didn't say it was a slur, just that outside of historical things, generally not a term that should be used.

Fair enough.  I agree with that assessment. :hug:

I don't think I use any really - but I don't think I ever really have :hmm:

Quote from: Sheilbh on July 15, 2022, 01:47:12 PMI don't think I use any really - but I don't think I ever really have :hmm:

Thinking back to my childhood, I recall a number of slurs that were commonly used idioms.  Examples - people would often refer to getting a lower price as "Jewing them down".  I also often heard people say "don't be an Indian giver".

I generally use disparaging slurs about inferior people from other states. Okies, hillbillies, white-trash inbred hicks, yankees, Floridians. You know.

All in good fun. Except Floridians, that cuts deep.

Is Yankee disparaging?

Quote from: crazy canuck on July 15, 2022, 03:29:23 PMIs Yankee disparaging?

When used as a proper noun it refers to a very evil baseball team, so yes.

Otherwise yeah it kind of means you are a rude, selfish, piece of crap like everybody born north of Maryland is supposed to be. Your BBQ and Mexican Food sucks. Also you don't like college football. Just the worst.

Quote from: Valmy on July 15, 2022, 03:34:21 PM

Quote from: crazy canuck on July 15, 2022, 03:29:23 PMIs Yankee disparaging?

When used as a proper noun it refers to a very evil baseball team, so yes.

Otherwise yeah it kind of means you are a rude, selfish, piece of crap like everybody born north of Maryland is supposed to be. Your BBQ and Mexican Food sucks. Also you don't like college football. Just the worst.

 :D

Quote from: Sheilbh on July 15, 2022, 01:47:12 PMI don't think I use any really - but I don't think I ever really have :hmm:

You've obviously never been really mad :D

Quote from: HVC on July 15, 2022, 04:31:27 PM

Quote from: Sheilbh on July 15, 2022, 01:47:12 PMI don't think I use any really - but I don't think I ever really have :hmm:

You've obviously never been really mad :D

This is actually true. I am a very relaxed laid back person - have the odd moment of rage (normally at rudeness) but otherwise pretty chill  :ph34r:

So I am guessing you don't drive much  :D

Quote from: Josquius on July 15, 2022, 08:16:50 AMSurely by definition if its acceptable to use its not an ethnic slur?

My thesis is that descriptors can start out as slurs and then over time, combined with laughing indifference of the target group rooted in self confidence (or whatever is the opposite of defensiveness), the terms become defanged and innocuous.

A great example not from the ethnic sphere is "queer."  I'm not sure about Canuck but I believe the others I mentioned at one point or another were intended as insults.

What is the derivation of Rital?

Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 15, 2022, 05:03:46 PMWhat is the derivation of Rital?

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rital

I'm French, but basically R.ital was the abbreviation for "refuge italian" after ww2

Quote from: HVC on July 15, 2022, 05:08:42 PMI'm French

Wanting to be and being French are not the same thing.  Just ask Valmy.

Quote from: crazy canuck on July 15, 2022, 05:12:03 PM

Quote from: HVC on July 15, 2022, 05:08:42 PMI'm French

Wanting to be and being French are not the same thing.  Just ask Valmy.

Lol stupid phone. Should read In

Interesting.  So somewhat on the same theme as Wop, which was an acronym standing for without papers.

Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 14, 2022, 09:58:25 PMI think of this group as high confidence ethnicities.

I use Pom and Canuck.  Mick might not work with Irish Irish but in my experience it works fine with Irish Americans.  I use gringo too.  Yank I object to on regional grounds.  Only New Englanders are yankees.

I'm not going to call a Jew a kike, but I will say something about Jewfros.

Don't get a lot of chances to use frog.  Don't know how that would play.

I won't call a German a kraut but I will say sommething like "that kraut soccer team is badass."

I sometime use Canuck but not as a racial slur.
The same with Yankee.

Aside that, I'm not strong on nicknames and racial slurs.

EDIT:
There's an expression in Quebec, much less used today, but more in vogue when I was a kid: "working as a n*", meaning you worked really, really hard.  I never took it a racial insult, but apparently it is.  And I've often used it too.

Quote from: Valmy on July 15, 2022, 03:34:21 PMOtherwise yeah it kind of means you are a rude, selfish, piece of crap like everybody born north of Maryland is supposed to be. Your BBQ and Mexican Food sucks. Also you don't like college football. Just the worst.

I'm not entirely convinced people born south of Maryland have better culinary traditions... :P
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Deep-fried_butter_at_State_Fair_of_Texas_2009a.jpg/1280px-Deep-fried_butter_at_State_Fair_of_Texas_2009a.jpg)

Quote from: viper37 on July 15, 2022, 06:25:36 PMEDIT:
There's an expression in Quebec, much less used today, but more in vogue when I was a kid: "working as a n*", meaning you worked really, really hard.  I never took it a racial insult, but apparently it is.  And I've often used it too.

Travailler comme un nègre (trabalhar como um mouro for HVC  :P ) is beyond the pale (pun intended). Nègre is not necessarily a slur, unlike négro, but avoided most of the time. Even nègre blanc, a former synonym of albino(s) is not heard nor heard.

PS: came upon a Québec dub of a Lorenzo Lamas late '80s DTV (masterpiece for you Viper  :D ) where bamboula was quite liberally used. Dubbing "poetic license" or was acceptable back then? Pretty un-PC nowadays.
Movie:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102950 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102950)

Snake Eater II: the drug buster / L'indomptable II : l'anti-drogue

"work like a Negro" is a reference to slavery, hence the expression (also used in Spain) being pretty racist.

the only one I use, and am conscious of it, is when I say something like "That guy gypped me."

Quote from: Duque de Bragança on July 16, 2022, 07:17:14 AM

Quote from: viper37 on July 15, 2022, 06:25:36 PMEDIT:
There's an expression in Quebec, much less used today, but more in vogue when I was a kid: "working as a n*", meaning you worked really, really hard.  I never took it a racial insult, but apparently it is.  And I've often used it too.

Travailler comme un nègre (trabalhar como um mouro for HVC  :P ) is beyond the pale (pun intended). Nègre is not necessarily a slur, unlike négro, but avoided most of the time. Even nègre blanc, a former synonym of albino(s) is not heard nor heard.

PS: came upon a Québec dub of a Lorenzo Lamas late '80s DTV (masterpiece for you Viper  :D ) where bamboula was quite liberally used. Dubbing "poetic license" or was acceptable back then? Pretty un-PC nowadays.
Movie:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102950 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102950)

Snake Eater II: the drug buster / L'indomptable II : l'anti-drogue

Haven't seen this one.  I believe I have watched most of Chuck Norris, JCVD and Seagal Movies (well, not the post 90s ones), but not Lamas 80s movies.

Quote from: Duque de Bragança on July 16, 2022, 07:17:14 AMPS: came upon a Québec dub of a Lorenzo Lamas late '80s DTV (masterpiece for you Viper  :D ) where bamboula was quite liberally used. Dubbing "poetic license" or was acceptable back then? Pretty un-PC nowadays.
Movie:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102950 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102950)

Snake Eater II: the drug buster / L'indomptable II : l'anti-drogue

QuoteHaven't seen this one.  I believe I have watched most of Chuck Norris, JCVD and Seagal Movies (well, not the post 90s ones), but not Lamas 80s movies.

Bottom of the barrel, with some intended humor however. Campy would be charitable.
For some reason it got a the trilogy got a full blu-release in Germany.  :D

I still use izo, knee-knockers, rigoree. punkle, pie-faced, and skink-eater.

I don't think any ethnic descriptor is appropriate to use. It defeats the purpose of one world one people to use words to describe us by our most identifiable differences.

Grey Fox? They are a person, with visible skin, hair and eyes. They are several feet tall, and a hundred pounds or maybe two. Under 100 years old, I think anyway.

Quote from: Eddie Teach on July 17, 2022, 12:38:53 AMGrey Fox? They are a person, with visible skin, hair and eyes. They are several feet tall, and a hundred pounds or maybe two. Under 100 years old, I think anyway.

Would you be any further ahead in being able to identify him if you were told he is a French Canadian?

Quote from: Grey Fox on July 16, 2022, 03:53:41 PMt defeats the purpose of one world one people

one fuhrer?

Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on July 18, 2022, 11:24:31 AM

Quote from: Grey Fox on July 16, 2022, 03:53:41 PMt defeats the purpose of one world one people

one fuhrer?

Well once we make the all-knowing world-wide AI that will always know what is best for us. :worthy:

Quote from: crazy canuck on July 18, 2022, 11:13:09 AM

Quote from: Eddie Teach on July 17, 2022, 12:38:53 AMGrey Fox? They are a person, with visible skin, hair and eyes. They are several feet tall, and a hundred pounds or maybe two. Under 100 years old, I think anyway.

Would you be any further ahead in being able to identify him if you were told he is a French Canadian?

Perhaps, if I heard him talk.

Quote from: Eddie Teach on July 18, 2022, 06:23:12 PM

Quote from: crazy canuck on July 18, 2022, 11:13:09 AM

Quote from: Eddie Teach on July 17, 2022, 12:38:53 AMGrey Fox? They are a person, with visible skin, hair and eyes. They are several feet tall, and a hundred pounds or maybe two. Under 100 years old, I think anyway.

Would you be any further ahead in being able to identify him if you were told he is a French Canadian?

Perhaps, if I heard him talk.

There are a few people in the world who speak English with a French accent - that might not actually be all that helpful.

Quote from: crazy canuck on July 18, 2022, 06:47:22 PMThere are a few people in the world who speak English with a French accent - that might not actually be all that helpful.

True but GF certainly isn't one of them. He isn't French.

I was in Jersey a few weeks ago and a guy referred to himself and his son as guineas... first time in a long time I heard that slur.  As a non-Italian-American I don't think it's ok for me to use that term (and maybe it never was?)