And may I just say that I only now understand why they used to call police vans “Paddy Wagons”? Because the stereotypical American city police officer from the turn of the 20th century was an Irish guy named “Officer Patrick O’Brien” or something similar.
Not sure of any serious foreign slang that is derogatorily aimed at Americans specifically, but I understand that the Japanese “Gaijin” for “Outsider” can be used as such in context. I’m trying to remember if any such slang existed in Mandarin when I was learning it, but if anything exists, our instructors were careful not to teach it to us (though they did slip up and teach us how to call somebody a half-wit: “Erbaiwu”, which translates literally as “Two Hundred and Fifty”.
A German poster might be able to verify but I believe the term “Ami” is something just pejoratively in Germany for American. “Go Home Ami” was a common slogan at one time I think.
Most of all, many USAians (like many Australians) have difficulty in detecting understated wit as opposed to broad humour. They literally don’t know when Europeans are joking.
is this a whoosh, Paddy?
I heard it a few times visiting in Australia, and more with Australians abroad. As noted above, at least in my personal experience, “seppo” was *generally *used endearingly or in a good natured piss taking way. One bloke in King’s Cross certainly was using it as a slur.
That one is very common but less so than it was 20 years ago. The “ghost” part is what makes it clearly a bad term as “ghost” in Chinese *always *has a negative connotation.
Chinese dialects are full of slang. Taiwanese (especially little kids) can refer to foreigners as “pointy nose.” The Shanghaiese call everyone a “target” as in the kind of target you use for target shooting. You’ll hear Shanghaiese saying “Japanese target” “American target”, etc and it implies they aren’t a local so fair game.
Yes, Ami is a colloquial term for Amerikaner that can serve as a pejorative epithet - but depending on context it can be neutral-colloquial or even affectionate.
My only knowledge of the term comes from the 12th Man records. The Pakstanis injure themselves after mucking up a high-five, which Richie scornfully describes as “just a bit of Seppo bullshit that the West Indies have introduced into the game”
I’m living in France as well right now and I hear this term often. Like you say though (and this has been my experience in many of the countries I’ve lived in) when foreign people talk about Americans, it’s usually more dismissive than anything, not malicious. But I’m Canadian so perhaps they figure I’ll share the sentiments.
I have worked for a US corporation for many years. I previously worked for an Australian corporation for many years. I have travelled all over the world in my six decades of life.
I guess have probably met several thousand USAians and Australians, and got to know hundreds of them personally at work and socially.
Of course, every country has a huge range of personality types. However, it is definitely my experience that persons from those two countries have a different sense of humour from the European norm. It’s a perfectly valid sense of humour, just based on different cultural expectations. It’s broader humour, and often less subtle.
At meetings and social gatherings, they seem to miss witty comments, which seem obviously humourous to Europeans. This can lead to serious misunderstanding and unhappiness, when wit is taken as serious comment. Sometimes you can be divided by the same language.
