# Semi-Offensive Terms? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065 "2010-10-14T00:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/41 "2010-10-15T12:54:32Z")
> [@ColdPhoenix](#): > > > [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > > > I understand that Oriental is not considered offensive in the UK, but it still makes me twitch. > > Why is that? I live in the UK but tend to use “South-East Asian” as I’ve gathered that “Oriental” is frowned upon in the US and even though I don’t see the problem with it, I don’t want to cause offense to anyone. > > But “Oriental” is shorter and I don’t understand where the offense comes from. I’d prefer to use Oriental!! It’s the traditional connotations of the word - the “Orient” has this image of exoticism, where people drink tea while sitting on the floor and cut the hands of people they don’t like. It’s a word that emphasizes the “otherness” of those cultures. Plus it ties a bunch of Asian countries into one idea, like we’re all indistinguishable from each other. Seeing as we hate each other we’d rather not be associated with each other, thankyou. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rostfrei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7bcc69/32.png) [@rostfrei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rostfrei)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/42 "2010-10-15T14:02:54Z")
I stopped at a yard sale a few years ago in rural Virginia. While looking around, I started chatting with the lady who was having the sale. She was very nice and very southern. Anyway, an asian man and woman pulled up in their car with a very young (probably 6 months old) baby. The lady holding the sale immediately started fawning over the baby and saying how beautiful she was, and made the comment to the parents, “She’s so beautiful, she looks just like a little china doll”. I could tell the parents were slightly offended, but they were cool about it. I think the parents probably realized that the lady who said this meant no disrespect. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/43 "2010-10-15T14:12:19Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Dutchman: Dike plugger, tulip sniffer, herring choker. Hahah. I’m going to use “herring choker” from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/44 "2010-10-15T15:34:06Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > Yankee is meant to be insulting. It has no other purpose than to piss y’all off. Admittedly it’s pretty much a white Southern thing, but still. It’s a more blunt way of calling somebody tacky. > > How about being called Yanks (no matter which part of the US you are from) by the Brits? I don’t know. I am not British. I am from Tennessee. When a white Southerner calls a white Northerner “Yankee,” he generally means “asshole.” ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/45 "2010-10-15T15:36:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@amarone](#): > > > > How about being called Yanks (no matter which part of the US you are from) by the Brits? > > I don’t know. I am not British. I am from Tennessee. I am asking how Americans feel about being called Yanks, so you qualify to answer. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/46 "2010-10-15T16:12:55Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > It’s the traditional connotations of the word - the “Orient” has this image of exoticism, where people drink tea while sitting on the floor and cut the hands of people they don’t like. It’s a word that emphasizes the “otherness” of those cultures. Plus it ties a bunch of Asian countries into one idea, like we’re all indistinguishable from each other. Seeing as we hate each other we’d rather not be associated with each other, thankyou. 🙂 I think this is right on. it doesn’t merit outrage or anything like that, and the origin may not be malicious, but it’s anachronistic at best and slightly offensive at worst. Sort of like calling someone a “negro” in America. The connotation kind of implies that I’m laying on my floor smoking opium on the other side of the world somewhere while my elephant lounges around outside. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/47 "2010-10-15T16:23:26Z")
> [@ReticulatingSplines](#): > > I think this is right on. it doesn’t merit outrage or anything like that, and the origin may not be malicious, but it’s anachronistic at best and slightly offensive at worst. Sort of like calling someone a “negro” in America. The connotation kind of implies that I’m laying on my floor smoking opium on the other side of the world somewhere while my elephant lounges around outside. You see we are just jealous that you guys all have pet elephants while all we have are stupid cats and dogs with the occasional pig. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/48 "2010-10-15T16:26:32Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > I don’t know. I am not British. I am from Tennessee. > > I am asking how Americans feel about being called Yanks, so you qualify to answer. Ah! One of my best college friends was the son of a British couple. They’d call his friends her Yanks indiscriminately, and I never had the sense that they meant it as anything other than a colloquialism for _American_. It is my impression that Britons generally mean it that way, so I see no reason to be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/49 "2010-10-15T16:39:53Z")
> [@Tahssa](#): > > You see we are just jealous that you guys all have pet elephants while all we have are stupid cats and dogs with the occasional pig. Yeah, but everytime I’m walking the elephant and it poops on the neighbor’s lawn, I have to call in a truck and manual laborers to pick up after him. Damn pet laws. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/50 "2010-10-15T17:50:46Z")
> [@rostfrei](#): > > I stopped at a yard sale a few years ago in rural Virginia. While looking around, I started chatting with the lady who was having the sale. She was very nice and very southern. Anyway, an asian man and woman pulled up in their car with a very young (probably 6 months old) baby. The lady holding the sale immediately started fawning over the baby and saying how beautiful she was, and made the comment to the parents, “She’s so beautiful, she looks just like a little china doll”. I could tell the parents were slightly offended, but they were cool about it. I think the parents probably realized that the lady who said this meant no disrespect. This is pretty funny. A [china doll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_doll) is not a toy representation of a Chinese person; it is a doll made out of glazed porcelain. If the Asian couple had known that, maybe they wouldn’t even have been ‘slightly offended.’ ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/51 "2010-10-15T18:25:14Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > Yankee is meant to be insulting. It has no other purpose than to piss y’all off. Admittedly it’s pretty much a white Southern thing, but still. It’s a more blunt way of calling somebody tacky. > > How about being called Yanks (no matter which part of the US you are from) by the Brits? Never really bothered me. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/52 "2010-10-15T18:36:52Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@amarone](#): > > > > How about being called Yanks (no matter which part of the US you are from) by the Brits? > > I don’t know. I am not British. I am from Tennessee. > > When a white Southerner calls a white Northerner “Yankee,” he generally means “asshole.” I dunno; I usually use the term in a non-perjorative manner to describe people from up north. I do, however use the term perjoratively sometimes, but then it’s usually prefaced with Damn or Fucking and succeeded by Carpetbagger. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/53 "2010-10-15T23:06:41Z")
BTW, I reckon Carpetbagger could be considered semi-offensive, though the term is usually deserved. What’s the ruling on earned perjoratives? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/54 "2010-10-16T00:14:16Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > it ties a bunch of Asian countries into one idea, like we’re all indistinguishable from each other. I don’t understand how using the term ‘Oriental’ “ties a bunch of Asian countries into one idea” but using the term ‘Asian’ doesn’t. They’re both “all-purpose umbrella terms”. If anything, the term ‘Asian’ conflates many more areas than ‘Oriental’ does (e.g.: India, Pakistan, Siberia, Kazakhstan, etc. are thrown into the mix). So on the basis of mixing different countries/people into a single term, why would ‘Oriental’ be more offensive? And, do ‘Orientals’ in the UK take offense to being called ‘Orientals’, or is it only considered offensive in the USA? (and maybe some other places–I don’t know) [Note: the last question is not directed specifically at **HazelNut**.] ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/55 "2010-10-16T01:15:33Z")
Well, at least Asia is a defined continent. Orient isn’t properly defined at all - it’s more of a concept than anything else. And it’s not just about being lumped together per se, but being lumped together under an antiquated idea that is prejudiced and inaccurate. I’m not saying that everyone who uses the word Oriental has pictures of elephants and veils dancing in their heads, but that is the historical connotation of the word, at least for Asian Americans. I don’t know how Asians in the UK feel about it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/56 "2010-10-16T02:02:19Z")
[Over here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=581998)we have a poster referring to the residents of the nation north of the U.S. as “Canucks.” I always thought that implied the [McKenzie Brothers](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ffmedia.ign.com/interviews/multimedia/mc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://movies.ign.com/articles/035/035845p1.html&usg=__NWY8nFfhgm6pm-Mu952rhWEr69M=&h=255&w=344&sz=44&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=Db6EUz8tUcPmAM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=220&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmckenzie%2Bbrothers%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26biw%3D1172%26bih%3D813%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=146&vpy=278&dur=140&hovh=193&hovw=261&tx=152&ty=94&ei=ege5TMOrFcaLnAeXn9yoDQ&oei=ege5TMOrFcaLnAeXn9yoDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0)stereotype and was at least mildly offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Apollo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@Apollo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/57 "2010-10-16T02:34:57Z")
Cracker Hillbilly Gringo Honky Ofay Hick Peckerwood Hoosier Firangi Gai-ko Goy ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/58 "2010-10-16T07:15:37Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Have no idea if this authentic or not but read somewhere that the term Gringo came about after some American/Mexican war in the past, the U.S. troops being nicknamed such because they sang “Green grow the Rushes oh”. [Snopes says not](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/gringo.asp). ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/59 "2010-10-17T00:37:04Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > “Jew” seems to be at least mildly offensive in certain contexts to certain people, with “Jewish person” being preferred. Which is a little silly, since Jew is obviously a much more succinct noun-form for describing a person of Jewish descent. Huh? That would come as a surprise to the various Jews I know, a group that include two Rabbis. It is a simple description, and is used to describe themselves = “This guy is a Christian, that guy is a Jew, this other guy is a Muslim…” Now there are some non-Jewish people who have a difficult time using the word “Jew”. The National Lampoon once had a fake ad for a School of Euphemism where you would learn to describe Marcel Proust as a rich, dead, homosexual Jew wiout ever having to use the words “rich”, “dead”, “homosexual” or “Jew”. “Learn to speak Euphemism, the language of evasion!” ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065/60 "2010-10-17T23:25:50Z")
> [@Apollo](#): > > Cracker > Hillbilly > Gringo > Honky > Ofay > Hick > Peckerwood > Hoosier > Firangi > Gai-ko > Goy Hoosier might be considered offensive to somebody somewhere; I suppose _any_ word could be considered offensive by someone. But I don’t think the millions of people who live (or used to live) in Indiana consider the term offensive at all. I’ve heard that before–the idea that ‘Hoosier’ is an insult–but I still don’t understand where that idea comes from (well… it _probably_ comes from Kentucky, but I was speaking figuratively). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-offensive-terms/557065.md?page=4)