# Did you know that "banana" was a slur to Asian Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568 "2017-01-19T20:09:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/81 "2017-01-21T23:32:36Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > When I got the paper back, the professor had written in the margin that saying “native speaker” (meaning a person whose language is the one they were raised speaking and writing) is no longer considered acceptable. I had absolutely no idea. I never asked her why, so I still don’t know the basis for it. I can’t think of what is supposed to replace that term. That may just be your professor’s weird idea. > **[Native speaker](https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_speaker)** > > A native speaker is someone who learned to speak a language as part of their childhood development. A native speaker's language is usually the language their parents speak and/or the language of their country of origin. It is the only language of a monolingual person, and likely the first language of a multilingual person which is acquired naturally in their native environment. It may serve as the basis for their sociolinguistic identity. > A native speaker of a language has the following traits:... [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First\_language#Defining\_.22native\_speaker.22](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_language#Defining_.22native_speaker.22) ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/82 "2017-01-22T00:06:47Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > So, what exactly is “acting white”? Using a fork instead of chopsticks. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/83 "2017-01-22T01:32:10Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > What about white people who act black, white on the outside, black on the inside? I’ve never heard a food metaphor for that. Carrot cake? Snowcaps? Good & Plenty? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/84 "2017-01-22T03:45:36Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Those are “white” things? How? You can google “black folk don’t” to see the web series of things that white people do that black people supposedly don’t. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/85 "2017-01-22T06:11:39Z")
I didn’t know it was a slur, but as someone else mentioned, it could be used as a slur by other Asians i suppose. I know a guy who was adopted as a Vietnamese baby by a white couple, he referred to himself as a banana as all his cultural upbringing was with the white family. I’ve also heard Aboriginals refer to fellow Aboriginals who, in their view, have assimilated too far and lost their culture as Coconuts ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/86 "2017-01-22T15:11:33Z")
I’d heard of it, but can’t say I’ve heard it used IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/87 "2017-01-22T15:17:11Z")
Wasn’t there an air stewardess who got in trouble a couple of years ago for innocently using the ‘eeny meeny miny mo catch a tiger by the toe’ rhyme to choose a seat for a black family? Count me as someone who never heard the offensive version, though my parents were aware of it when I asked, probably its a generational thing. Also never heard of banana being offensive either. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/88 "2017-01-22T16:37:05Z")
The closest I have heard to banana used in this way was on an episode of _American Dad!_, when one of Francine’s parents called Francine (or it may have been actors portraying them on a sitcom) a “reverse banana” - “white on the outside, but yellow on the inside” (Francine is white, but was adopted by a Chinese couple). ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/89 "2017-01-22T19:50:05Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > There’s so damn many slang terms out there - most of them rather esoteric/arcane - that it’s easy to accidentally run afoul of _someone._ > > I knew a guy who occasionally referred to one of his coworkers as “chicken hawk,” because the fellow was short in stature and had some speech mannerisms similar to [the classic Looney Tunes character;](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henery_Hawk) it was good-natured ribbing, but his supervisor had to tell him to stop because (unbeknownst to him) [“chickenhawk” is also derogatory slang for certain gay men.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenhawk_(gay_slang)) “Chickenhawk” was used much in an entirely different way during the various Gulf wars; to describe gung ho administration types who had set records for draft deferments during their own time. I once wrote to William Safire suggesting he tackle this interesting evolution in his New York Times language column. He passed, apparently. As for “banana”, I’m more famliar with “twinkie” (a better choice IMO because their white and yellow are both more permanent than a banana’s) and “egg” even, though never in real life in the latter case, and maybe never in real life in either case. Of course, I’m not Asian. I’m familiar with “Oreo” too and I even heard that used once, though not at me. Of course, I’m not black. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/90 "2017-01-22T19:58:36Z")
> [@Atomic\_Alex](#): > > Wasn’t there an air stewardess who got in trouble a couple of years ago for innocently using the ‘eeny meeny miny mo catch a tiger by the toe’ rhyme to choose a seat for a black family? > > Count me as someone who never heard the offensive version, though my parents were aware of it when I asked, probably its a generational thing. > > Also never heard of banana being offensive either. Southwest Airlines doesn’t have assigned seats. When you board the plane, you’re supposed to just find a seat quickly so the plane can take off. One Southwest stewardess used the rhyme, “Eeny meeny miney moe, pick a seat, we gotta go” as a playful way to tell passengers, “Just sit in the first seat you find.” But some black passengers who knew of the rhyme’s origins got angry and went to the media with their complaints. There are all kinds of racist phrases and stereotypes that are so old, most white people don’t even remember what was supposed to be offensive about them. I’m 55, and had no idea that watermelon and fried chicken had any racial connotations, when I was a kid. To some black Americans, “cotton picking” is a racist phrase. To me, it was just a silly line Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn used. “Banana” and “Coconut” and “Oreo” are racial slurs, but not slurs white people use. They’re used by ethnics against other ethnics they perceive as getting too uppity. This astonishes many people, but some ethnic groups are offended by fellow ethnics who want to move up in the world. A Chinese or Jewish family is typically thrilled when their kids get admitted to elite colleges. A Mexican family often ISN’T. Abuelita (Grandma, the boss of a large Mexican family) is liable to shriek, “Harvard? You want to leave us and move 2000 miles away?” Google for an old joke about “Mexican crabs,” for an illustration of the phenomenon. As I said earlier, “banana” is different from “coconut.” Asians generally DON’T resent other Asians who are educated and successful. But Asian males often DO resent Asian females who find that their perceived “exoticism” makes them irresistible to white boys. “Twinkie” was a slur I only heard form Asian-American males upset that Asian girls were sounding them in favor of white boys. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/91 "2017-01-22T20:18:05Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > The co-worker is from the Texas panhandle (and talks like it) but is clearly of Asian descent from his appearance. He informed me that “banana” is a derogatory term for someone like him that is “yellow on the outside and white on the inside”. I had no idea and gave him my explanation. Less obviously, it’s racist against whites, since it casts being white in a bad light. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/92 "2017-01-22T22:23:34Z")
I haven’t heard the “egg” one, but “banana” is one of the things they talk about, or did twenty seven years ago, when you adopt Asian babies. AFAIK no one ever tried it on my kids, but if they did I doubt if they would care. At least not enough to mention it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/93 "2017-01-22T23:11:05Z")
I never heard of that banana thing at all. Or the apple thing. I guess there’s a lot in life I don’t know. What about calling somebody a “nut” or a “fruitcake” or “koo-koo for cocoa puffs”? You could assign a connotation to anything. I do recall somebody getting bent out of shape at work because a co-worker, who is bad at gift wrapping, brought in her secret Santa gift and in a self-deprecating way, said, “I feel sorry for whoever gets this one! It’s ugly as a mud fence!” Somebody thought it was a racial insult, and the party went downhill from there. And as a white person, I admit the whole “acting white” is something that in the grand scheme of things I get, in the context of the way non-white people use it to each other, yeah, yeah, I understand. BUT in my own head, I am always thinking, well that could be any number of dozens of different behaviors, so whatever. Poor white people often admonish their friends and family who have risen in social status through education, career, marriage, etc…as trying to “rise above their raisin”" and thinking they are better than everyone else, or “Oh, she’s too good to come around us now”. Same thing, just without the food that is “white on the inside”. What would poor white people use as an insult to call such a person? Usually they just say something like, “Oh, doesn’t she just think she poops gold bricks!” ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/94 "2017-01-22T23:38:22Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > I do recall somebody getting bent out of shape at work because a co-worker, who is bad at gift wrapping, brought in her secret Santa gift and in a self-deprecating way, said, “I feel sorry for whoever gets this one! It’s ugly as a mud fence!” Somebody thought it was a racial insult, and the party went downhill from there. There’s another one I’ve never even heard of. At first I thought it was just something the person made up, but I looked it up and it is a derogatory term for a physically unattractive person. No racial implications whatsoever. The only thing I can think of that even comes close is the term ‘mud turtle,’ which is a derogatory term for a black person, and if I understand it right (I’ve only heard one person ever say it in my entire life) suggests that black people are unwilling to work. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/95 "2017-01-22T23:50:10Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > There’s another one I’ve never even heard of. At first I thought it was just something the person made up, but I looked it up and it is a derogatory term for a physically unattractive person. No racial implications whatsoever. The only thing I can think of that even comes close is the term ‘mud turtle,’ which is a derogatory term for a black person, and if I understand it right (I’ve only heard one person ever say it in my entire life) suggests that black people are unwilling to work. No, “ugly as a mud fence” is one of those old Southern sayings, like “She fell out the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Bless her heart.” I always thought the person was offended because somehow there was an indication of brown=ugly. But I am unsure, as we tried not to dwell on it too long. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/96 "2017-01-23T16:31:21Z")
I think we need a corollary to Rule 34. If it exists, someone will be offended by it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/97 "2017-01-23T18:54:55Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I think we need a corollary to Rule 34. If it exists, someone will be offended by it. See I cant answer that poll. Yes, it would be derogatory to CALL a Asian American a “banana”. It is in now way a slur to use it in ordinary speech to refer to the fruit. I have lots of Asian American friends and they said it would be ridiculous to avoid using that word to refer to the fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/98 "2017-01-24T20:03:17Z")
Of course I knew. It was discussed on that great documentary “King Of The Hill”. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/99 "2017-01-25T04:06:33Z")
banana aka xiangjiao aka 香蕉 is used extensively in Taiwan (or at least it was very common when I lived in Taiwan in the 1980’s). And it was not a complement. Depending on the context it could have been a neutral descriptor, but usually negative and never a complement. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568/100 "2017-01-25T16:36:33Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Oreos, crackers, bananas, twinkies, brownies, apples. No one is safe. They had Diversity Training yesterday here at work. Woulda been kinda awesome if that was the spread of snacks on the table. 😃 Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-that-banana-was-a-slur-to-asian-americans/777568.md?page=6)