# Offensive - food name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851 "2013-06-25T05:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/1 "2013-06-25T05:15:07Z")
In Australia we have a brand of lolly (that’d be sweets to USAians), called Chicos. They are essentially a jelly baby, but are chocolate rather than fruit flavoured. You can see a picture of them [here](http://www.chocablog.com/reviews/chocolade-chicos/) They’re quite tasty. Anyhoo, in a news article I happened to see today, the ‘journalist’ suggested that the name may have racist overtones, to those of “Latin-American descent” 😕 Anyone wish to clue in this clueless Aussie? ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/2 "2013-06-25T05:28:48Z")
I’m clueless on this one as well. I’ve seen restaurants named “Chicos”, and clothing among other things, but nothing offensive. Hell, it was even in the title of an american sitcom. Now [Puto](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puto) on the other hand… delicious phillipino treat, or [something else entirely](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_profanity#Puto) ? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/3 "2013-06-25T05:32:18Z")
They worry about that and not Coon cheese? ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/4 "2013-06-25T05:37:58Z")
I don’t think it’s the name - I think It’s the name/pic of black baby. Not saying it is racist, but wouldn’t be my first choice. Also [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-382419.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-382419.html) ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/5 "2013-06-25T05:42:14Z")
If Chico Babies are suddenly racist or offensive, I don’t want to know what the hell the Chiko Roll is all about.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/6 "2013-06-25T05:44:26Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > If Chico Babies are suddenly racist or offensive, I don’t want to know what the hell the Chiko Roll is all about.:eek: Doesn’t count. It’s not actually food. 🙂 ---
**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:** [June 25, 2013, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/7 "2013-06-25T06:18:53Z")
^ I was going to try to argue that one but… Well played.😃 ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/8 "2013-06-25T06:21:40Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > They worry about that and not Coon cheese? Coon cheese was mentioned, along with Redskins, along with a couple of other things, but I knew the context behind most of them. But Chicos was kind of a what the? The actual story is [here](http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/redskins-and-chicos-survive-despite-racist-overtones/story-fneuz8wn-1226666868983) just in case you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/9 "2013-06-25T06:37:33Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Anyhoo, in a news article I happened to see today, the ‘journalist’ suggested that the name may have racist overtones, to those of “Latin-American descent” 😕 Anyone wish to clue in this clueless Aussie? Chico is a generic nickname used for Hispanic men. It’s the equivalent of calling somebody Mac or Buddy. It may not be inherently racist but it is racial because it’s essentially only used for Hispanics. So people who don’t like Hispanics use Chico as a derogatory term and say something like “I don’t like parking my car on the street if there’s a bunch of Chicos hanging around.” ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/10 "2013-06-25T07:00:11Z")
These kind of questions make me shake my head and despair for the fate of mankind. We have become WAY too sensitive to things that really, really don’t matter. Shoot someone? That’s bad. Rape someone? Really bad. Take money from someone who earned it and give it to a lazy welfare queen? Very bad indeed. But call something by a word that means “a person” in someone else’s language? I just can’t get upset about that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/11 "2013-06-25T08:10:21Z")
Sounds to this Hispanic like the reporter is one of those definitely-not-Hispanic-folks who think that Speedy Gonzales is offensive to Hispanics… Chico means, literally, “boy”. It doesn’t have negative connotations in Spanish, there are locations where it’s a normal form of address between grown-ups and others where it would be condescending to address a grown-up that way, and I personally don’t find it offensive. “Topically typical”, if you want, but that doesn’t offend me. What’s next, not being able to call a Chinese restaurant “Great Wall”? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/12 "2013-06-25T15:04:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Chico is a generic nickname used for Hispanic men. It’s the equivalent of calling somebody Mac or Buddy. > > It may not be inherently racist but it is racial because it’s essentially only used for Hispanics. So people who don’t like Hispanics use Chico as a derogatory term and say something like “I don’t like parking my car on the street if there’s a bunch of Chicos hanging around.” It actually translates “boy.” The derogatory part is calling an adult male “boy.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/13 "2013-06-25T18:36:30Z")
I remember that in the 60s, Pillsbury came out with a line of flavored drink mixes called [Funny Face](http://theyalwayscomeback.blogspot.com/2008/01/funny-face-drink-mix.html?m=1). Each flavor had a character associated with it that was intended to appeal to kids, for example, Goofy Grape and Freckle-Face Strawberry. They had commercials featuring those characters. [Funny Face commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujip5DxwGQw). They made the unfortunate decision to call two of those characters Injun Orange and Chinese Cherry. They were stereotypical cartoon representations of Native American people and Chinese people. After protests, those characters were renamed to Jolly Olly Orange and Choo Choo Cherry. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offensive-food-name/661851/14 "2013-06-27T07:08:14Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > These kind of questions make me shake my head and despair for the fate of mankind. We have become WAY too sensitive to things that really, really don’t matter. > > Shoot someone? That’s bad. Rape someone? Really bad. Take money from someone who earned it and give it to a lazy welfare queen? Very bad indeed. But call something by a word that means “a person” in someone else’s language? I just can’t get upset about that. What? You want a cookie? You’re not supposed to commit murder or rape. But you don’t get to congratulate yourself and stop there. You’re also not supposed to commit theft or adultery or assault or traffic violations. And you’re not supposed to be racist.