IS IT OFFENSIVE TO CALL PAKISTANIS PAKIS AS U MAY CALL AMERICANS YANKEES OR
CANADIANS AS KAYAKS FOR EXAMPLE?
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
not offensive in the US.... mildly offensive in Canada....very offensive in the UK
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
It's not offensive if a brown person says it. It is offensive if a non-brown person says it.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
no actually calling pakistanis paki....is not a big deal...my all college mate says me a paki...i dont make a big deal out of it, and when i ask why they are calling me such way they says that its the abbreviation of pakistani, so i think that considering paki an offensive word will actually one become an offensive word for all pakistanis, if u just ignore it, its not gonna bother u...
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
oh crud, I see that word so much here I began writing it in my posts, is this true??? I didn't mean to put people down. I don't want to offend people......... I may have to apologise to a lot of people..........
Also about the Yankee thing, I am a Yankee from New England in US. Calling a New Englander a Yankee is not offensive, but anyone else it SHOULD be a compliment, but sometimes they take offense because people call all Americans Yankees out of ignorance as opposed to knowing where the term came from.
In other words, it is not a slur by an American, but by other countries it could be because they tend to lump everyone under the term Yankee. It would be like my calling all Pakistani Punjabi or Pashtun, it's just not true and someone will be offended.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
eh no big deal..
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
Well, “Yankee” may well have been intended as an insult, originally started off as a racial slur against Dutch people, and later as an insult by the British against New Englanders in the British Army.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_260.html
The origins of “Yankee” have been fiercely debated throughout the history of the Republic, and to this day the Oxford English Dictionary says the source of the word is “unascertained.” Perhaps the most widely accepted explanation was advanced by H.L. Mencken, the well-known newsman-scholar, who argued that Yankee derives from the expression Jan Kaas, literally “John Cheese.” This supposedly was a derogatory nickname bestowed on the Dutch by the Germans and the Flemish in the 1600s.
The English later applied the term to Dutch pirates, and later still Dutch settlers in New York applied it to English settlers in Connecticut, who were known for their piratical trading practices. During the French and Indian War the British general James Wolfe took to referring derisively to the native New Englanders in his army as Yankees, and the term was widely popularized during the Revolutionary War by the song “Yankee Doodle.” By the war’s end, of course, the colonists had perversely adopted the term as their own. Southerners used Yankee pejoratively to describe Northerners during the Civil War, but found themselves, along with all other Americans, called thus by the English during world wars I and II.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
Mad_Scientist - people are adaptable, the english made the mistake of underestimating the Yankees and making fun of them and so did the south. So, we wear the term with pride, regardless of whether it started out as a term of derision. But that just backs up what I said above. Not all Americans are Yankees, so to call all Americans Yankees (esp Southeners) can be considered an insult. The same as I pointed out above - call all Pakistani Punjabi's or Pashtun's and someone will get upset and insulted.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
Whats so offensive calling Pakistani as Paki in UK or England ?
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
Kayak?
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
psst Fraudia - think he means canuck not the boat, lol
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
Lets not make an issue out of a non-issue.
There is nothing offensive about “Paki”; it is only an abbreviation of Pakistani and means “pure”.
Even as a Pakistani I find Pakistani hard on the tongue and prefer Paki, just as people from Afghanistan are called Afghani or Uzbekistan Uzbek, we’re called Paki.
I think the reason why it became offensive wasn’t because of the word itself but rather because of the racist tone and context in which it was used by the white British against our first generations who migrated here.
I’m trying to do my bit on reclaiming it. There has been the odd occasion where people have said it to me with malicious intent and I’ve just turned around and said “too right I am”, it’s a compliment to me, I’m never offended by it, it’s my pride.
One thing I find annoying is though when anyone from Turkey to Bangladesh becomes a “Paki”, it’s very ignorant and I’d rather not that our identity be used for anybody else just as I’m sure they would prefer being known by their own respective countries.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
well anything when said in a racist way can become offensive even its meaning is not that bad, its the look and the way its said.
"oye you bloody paki" or "paki" is really offensive in UK and one can get jailed over this saying in Public.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
yes canuk is said for canadians. thanks for correction.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
as calling us hindoos kafir:D
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
I dont call Hindus Kafir, I just dont call them.. Well, unless they want me to:)
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well kafir is common for all non belivers and yes we r non believers there is no point denying that.and we dont take offence of being called kafirs its the muslims who take it offensive coz kafir for them is a slurr:D
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
all of you missing point, had it not been a hate related name in past, it can be ok to call pakis, but this world has been related to racist hatred to call Pakis basically to any asian or asian looking people in the past. thats why in UK it became a racist word to call anyone a "Paki" and a crime.
so its not same calling yankees or rockies or similar.
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
kisi ko gadha kahane se wo gadha thode hi ho jayega:D
Re: Calling Pakistanis Pakis!
yea true, but thats out of context.