Sad story. But what is racist about the nick pumpkin? I remember Pumpkin from Memoirs of a Geisha but she was called that because of her pumpkin sized head.
Have you heard about the Michigan coffee company “Beaners”? The owner is changing its name because it may be racist. I’ve never heard the term used as a racial slur before, but I guess people who eat beans south of the border know it as a racial slur against them.
And this ancedote that just gives me an ulcer. Are you familiar with the name “Cracker”? A friend who is from the Phillipines and his caucasian wfe had a baby girl who they gave the nickname Cracker. Its a family tradition to give a baby a nick and she smelled like graham crackers so that is what they call her, Cracker. Now one of his coworkers (an african american) got all upset that he was calling his baby girl a suspected racist term. So my Phillipino friend is dark skinned with a light skinned baby and the Black woman is pissed because he is calling the baby “Cracker” a racist term for whites? Not to mention she is the one being insulting and taking the name out of context! And the most galling is that my friend felt the need to apologize to the black lady for offending her.
When this gets moved to the Pit people can start throwing the “Recreational Outrage” (or is it “Recreational Annoyance?”) charge around, and I’m at least as easily annoyed as any of you, but I really can’t see cause for it with this case. And I don’t see any “lazy journalism,” either. The media are using the name for continuity’s sake, over and out.
Anyway, the kid is as cute as a li’l pumpkin! And, to be frank, when she’s older and is going by Clair or Xun Xue, she’ll be glad people won’t be making an immediate association between her and Baby Pumpkin–she won’t be defined by this incident. I’ll bet Jessica McClure spent a long time wishing there weren’t an immediate association in people’s minds between Jessica McClure and “girl who fell in a well.”
Not so much South of the Border–Beaner’s does not even have outlets in the Southwest. They started in Lansing, where I am not sure how many Mexican immigrants hang out among the legislators, but a number of places such as Pontiac, (the Auburn Hills outlet) and Defiance and Maumee, Ohio, where they also have outlets, have had large Mexican or migrant populations since the late 1960s (long before the current immigration hoopla). More recent issues may have arisen as they extended into Georgia which has a growing Mexican immigrant population.
It has been a while since I heard the slur “beaner,” but I have not lived near an active Mexican immigrant neighborhood in a while. It may be the sort of term that is only used in proximate neighborhoods.
Tom, as our generation ages and dies off there will be fewer and fewer people who have EVER heard “beaner” used as a slur. It has been adopted by a coffee company? Great! It can join “greaser” in the realm of cutesy-pie words that started as slurs on Mexicans then got reassociated with something else.
Y’know, I really, REALLY hate it when you people prove me wrong. :mad:
Since I haven’t been following or even reading about the case and only knew what this thread was about because I was, for the first time in my life, trolling around Australian newspaper sites yesterday, I didn’t know the real reason she was called that but I noticed the kid is a bit of a punkinhead. An ADORABLE! punkinhead. If her father is convicted they should have no problem finding a home for her; as it is I’m not mentioning the case to my wife because she’d be on the next flight to steal her.
I will probably call every unidentified female child I ever meet pumpkin from now on. Actually, I will almost assuredly pronounce it “punkin”.
An unrepentant ageist, racist, sexist, vegetableist, condescending old fart like me just can’t understand the harm in it.
But then, I think the kid probably has had sufficient conversations with strangers to last her a lifetime already. I would rather spend my time trying to work out how to get that samurai sword up her father’s ass.
Doesn’t seem racist to me in the slightest. It’s just the media’s way of having a cute and consistent hook for a story, and maybe something a bit more appealing to their largely-Anglo audience than a Chinese name. All the more understandtable since the nickname came from clothing the poor little girl was actually first found in.
Tris, when/if dad is found and convicted, I’ll hold him down while you get all stabby on him.
As others have said, she got the nickname based on her clothing.
Link
What on earth is racist about this? I’m not familiar with children’s clothing. Is there some sort of racist nonsense with wearing this type of clothing that I am not aware of?
That is one piss-poor analogy considering that it’s already been pointed out multiple times that the name “Pumpkin” had absolutely zero to do with a physical description of the girl.
+1, except I have long been doing it. In the US, “Punkin” is a term of endearment for a cute little girl of any nationality or race, and is not an uncommon “pet name” for grown women. It is clearly a diminuative term, though, so I could see a grown woman or adolescent woman taking offense when so addressed by an unfamilier contemporary. As for the conotations of the term downunder, I have no clue.
I was not saying that the name ‘pumpkin’ is a racial slur. What I am saying is that it seems racist to keep calling her ‘pumpkin’ days after her real name is known. If the little girl was not of Chinese ancestry, I cannot see this happening.
And if a similar incident happened in China I cannot see people putting up with similar treatment of a kid.
I’m still not getting this at all. Is it a stereotype to not call people of Chinese ancestry their real names? I’m grasping at straws trying to figure out how this racist.
If I were to read something racist into how Qian Xun Xue is referred to in the news I’ve seen on her, it would be the fact that her name is invariably written in the European order (given names - Qian Xun - first, family name - Xue - last), and her father’s frequently given in the Asian (Xue Nai Zin) - I’ve found exactly one story which gives both in the same (European) order.
I’m not inclined to read anything racist into that, however.
What on Earth makes you think that? Is it specifically because she’s Chinese, or do you think any non-white child would be similarly treated? Can you point to any precedent in the press that would support this assumption?