Where I grew up in lily-white southeastern Idaho, “nigger” was a favorite schoolyard insult.
I think so. When I was in grade school, two boys were teasing me, and they either called me a kike or a cunt. I didn’t knew either word at the time (which is why I’m not sure which it was) so partly I was just confused. But mostly I knew from their tone of voice that I had just been gravely insulted. I walked away, and they didn’t follow me.
Having lived abroad in places where I’ve been conspicuously foreign, I’ve been called all kinds of things.
Usually it’s a minor annoyance, but sometimes it stings. I remember once being in a Chinese city notorious for being a tough place for foreigners to catch a taxi. After 45 minutes of fruitlessly trying to hail taxi after taxi, with countless empty cabs passing me by, I finally found a ride. En route, we got stuck in a traffic jam. A cab driver next to us chose to lean over and let out a racist tirade, castigating the poor guy for picking me up.
It just felt shitty. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about being foreign.
Muzungu! Tubab! 
Last year before the Scottish independence referendum I got a lot of comments about my ‘posh voice’ and there were other instances of petty racial discrimination, and during this year’s election, the unionists were called Quislings.
I have been called many many things and it doesn’t stop. Usually its a group of white woman making the comments. Been called a worthless nigger, ape, gorilla, savage, donkey, burnt, charred, disgustingly black, black big foot, blackie the clown, slave, rapist, on food stamps, poor, that I should be castrated, hung, chained, humiliated. I want to fight, get pissed, angry, hateful. I’ve had all type of physical harm damage done to me. So yes, I have been.
I’ve been called polack and hunky before, but they were done jokingly by family and friends.
Yes. When we moved to Toronto in 1976 (I was 12) I was called, “Patty the Paqui” by some awful girls in my class. They thought that I was from Pakistan. They were racists bitches; it wouldn’t have mattered where I was from. They followed me home one day and sang it over and over again then threw a half eaten apple at me. Some people suck.
To be fair, some Japanese, even young Japanese who should be more aware, simply don’t know that gaijin can be taken as disparaging, or an insult, and defend it as simply a shortening of gaikokujin, which it really is.
I have been called towelhead, raghead, and dothead, even though I am not of any of the ethnicities typically disparaged with these terms, and don’t wear a turban or headdress of any kind and, as I am not a woman, don’t wear a bindi.
I have also been called wetback even though I am not a descendent of Central Americans.
My being multiracial and looking it was a huge issue for many people I came across in my childhood, teens, and twenties. Now, in my 50s, the only people who give me a second glance to consider my ethnicity are TSA agents in security lines at airports.
Hang on, you’re white? I figured from your Doper name that you were an African-American woman who knew her history and folklore.
Gotta say, mind just slightly blown.
I have been called a kike to my face once, by a guy I am fairly certain was trying to start a fight. I have been called a heeb and a yid by people who thought they were being funny by saying offensive things.
The only time I have really been bothered was when I was at a party and a guy who was pretty cool sober got hammered and went on a fifteen minute long tirade against the Jews. He didn’t know I was Jewish. He was really upset about it after, and apologized a lot. You see it wasn’t his fault, “you don’t look Jewish.” Tons of fun.
I once had a boss who I am fairly certain was a Klan member out in rural PA, I didn’t work for him long. He didn’t know I was Jewish either. He had a bad habit of calling other people by offensive racial slurs behind their backs.
That particular piece of work got himself banned eventually anyway, so all’s well that ends well. Well, assuming we’re thinking of the same time/poster.
As a matter of interest, what is their concern? Is it just a general attitude that foreigners shouldn’t be helped, or some more specific concern? My experience is that usually cabbies are more than ready to pick up foreigners because of the prospect of being able to successfully overcharge.
I’ve been called both a cracker and honky. My reaction to the latter was bemusement – never have understood how that’s an insult. To cracker was, meh.
I honestly have no clue. It happens in other cities on occasion, and I always write it off as them not wanting to worry about a language barrier. But with this on ecity in particular, it seems to be the norm- you’ll see free taxi after free taxi drive right by, only to pick up a Chinese passenger down the road.
My only guess is that there are a fair number of foreigners there to take language classes, and maybe there have just been too many bad experiences. Large groups of young people abroad can be pretty obnoxious at times.
Chinese taxis don’t do a ton of overcharging-- at least not to foreigners who speak Chinese. The one time someone truly tried to pull a fast one was in this city.
Nope. I don’t live in a diverse community. There majority would have to use a term against themselves, and the tiny minority are not too keen to point out the difference.
I was shocked when my mom told me there were going to be a handful of black students at her school this year. And that was such a big change that they mandated diversity training for everyone for the first time.
Terrible! Its all too common. Me being black, easy target.
When I returned to Beijing in June 2014, my plane landed rather late due to a delay. The taxis lined up at the airport were refusing foreigners and Chinese alike unless the driver liked the [del]customer’s[/del] mark’s destination. The only other option was to pay a ridiculous price to the so-called “black taxis” (unlicensed taxis). Apparently, enough people complained about that crud to the police. Returning to Beijing in October 2014 from my next vacation, it was amazing how well the taxi line was handled! Nice policewoman asks the [del]mark[/del] customer the destination; she looked it up and said what the fare should be. About halfway through the line, another cop asked the customer the destination, looks it up and informs the customer the likely fare. Finally, when the customer got into the cab, a third cop asked the destination, then informed the cabbie and pointed at the meter. I was thrilled to be paying the metered 38元 instead of being gouged for the 200元 I had to pay the previous trip. The cabbies at Beijing Capital Airport don’t screw around now: they get you to your destination and they don’t overcharge, and there aren’t three cops in the line now either. Let’s hope this holds true when I return to Beijing next week.
What I have experienced far too often in town, though, is refusal to go to a destination. Of course it’s illegal, but it’s getting better. It seems that more people now are not just taking that crud silently. They’ll take a photo of the cabbie card and actually make a report.
It’s also illegal to refuse a fare, but it’s kind of hard to tell if the cabbie’s doing that now thanks to all the taxi hailing apps in China–the driver very likely is on the way to pick up someone who hailed him.
On the other hand, I have had some rather decent cabbies do the extra mile, so to speak, off the meter when they’re unsure of the destination and had to call for directions.
ETA: The requirement now for taxis in Beijing to have “black boxes” might have something to do with the lack of overcharging.
I have been inaccurately called an ethnic slur. I was hanging out in a park in Queens Village and five young white guys ambled in, surrounded me, and started asking if I were a Jew. I said I was not and asked why they wanted to know. They didn’t believe me and called me other variations on “Jew” and said shitty things about Jewish people and tried to start a fight.
At the time, I was a formerly-homeless person ensconced in a condescending program for such people, and lived across the street on Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital grounds. I thought it odd that they didn’t accuse me of being a mental patient instead. It was scary but I got out of there intact.
Usually its been from friends and in the course of the usual joking around people will do; no harm and no foul. When its been done in anger my normal response is more like “You don’t have to call me names - you want a fight just bring it”.