Is it offensive to refer to someone form the Society of Friends as a Quaker? It is my understanding that this term came to be used because members of the Society of Friends would physically tremble (or quake) when receiving the “invward light.” Is it making of members of the Society of Friends to call them Quakers?
Is it making fun of members of the Society of Friends to call them Quakers?
No. It was intended as insult, but the Quakers embraced it.
All of the Quakers I know (all three of them) initially introduced themselves to me as Quakers. They don’t seem to have a problem with the name.
The term gets the point across better than “Friend” (ambiguous) or “a member of the Society of Friends” (too long and people don’t know what it means anyway.) I just tell people I’m a Quaker. I have never run across anyone who as objected to the name.
Like some have said, many Friends refer to themselves as Friends, mostly among themselves, but Quaker is also used, accepted and embraced.
I went to a Friends school. None of the Quakers had a problem with the name and often reffered to themselves as such.
Same here. The Quakers I know all call themselves Quakers.