# In British slang, are people from India included in 'Pakis'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355 "2020-08-17T23:57:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/61 "2020-08-27T18:34:30Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > > [@DPRK](#): > > > > [Sure it’s a word.](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%BE%D8%A7%DA%A9) > > > > Pak = pure > > Not sure if this was meant tongue-in-cheek, but in context I obviously meant the word “Pak” has no meaning in (British) English. It may be a pun [based on the etymology of Pakistan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan#Etymology). > [@](#): > > The name Pakistan literally means “land of the pure” in Urdu and Persian. It alludes to the word پاک (pāk), meaning “pure” in Persian and Pashto.[40] The suffix ـستان (-stān) is a Persian suffix meaning the place of, and also recalls the synonymous (and cognate) Sanskrit word स्थान (sthāna).[41] > > The name of the country was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never,[42] using it as an acronym (“thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN”) referring to the names of the five northern regions of British India: Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan.[43][44][45] The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation.[46] So Pak could be referencing pure, Pakistan, and Punjab/Afghania/Kashmir. j ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/62 "2020-08-28T04:20:03Z")
Yes, I would assume that “pak” would be an abbreviation of pakistan, or intended to mean pure. However, what I said was, that it is not a word in British English, do you dispute this? “Hong” is also not a word in English, even though it appears in “Hong Kong” and means fragrant in Cantonese. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/63 "2020-08-28T10:29:53Z")
It’s possible to be mislead by the presence of one store to think that some ethnic group must be concentrated close to that store. A store just opened several months ago within a half mile of my home that sells basically Pakistani food. That doesn’t mean that there are a lot of recent Pakistani immigrants (or of recent immigrants from South Asia in general) in my area. There certainly aren’t. However, there certainly are enough recent immigrants from Pakistan within a circle of thirty miles from my home to sustain a single store (and probably several stores). The Washington D.C. area has lots of recent immigrants from all over the world. The people who run this store near me probably just decided that they could open a store with Pakistani food somewhere in the general area and the potential customers would have no problems driving thirty miles to shop at their store. I suspect that the space in the local mall that they are renting is quite cheap by the standards of this area, and that’s why they chose it. But having shopped there, I found that there are some Pakistani snacks that are quite tasty. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/64 "2020-08-28T11:11:14Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Yes, I would assume that “pak” would be an abbreviation of pakistan, or intended to mean pure. > However, what I said was, that it is not a word in British English, do you dispute this? […] Not at all - just adding something to the debate. j ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/65 "2020-08-28T13:17:15Z")
Sorry, I don’t think that’s a good example - PAK is simply the standard three-letter abbreviation for Pakistan, and might be used in textual form only, where space is limited (e.g. a cricket scoreboard). You wouldn’t hear anyone (to my knowledge) referring to “the Pak cricket team”. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2020, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/66 "2020-09-01T12:12:33Z")
Yes, PAK is used by the IOC, FIFA, and ISO. So you’ll see it in, among other places and events, the Olympics and the World Cup. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355/67 "2020-09-02T01:07:56Z")
But it’s always “PAK”, never “Pak”. And of course it’s pronounced “Pakistan”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-british-slang-are-people-from-india-included-in-pakis/918355.md?page=3)