Posted by alexandra_k on December 1, 2004, at 17:51:26
In reply to Re: Offensive languge reformation., posted by GeishaGirl on December 1, 2004, at 8:05:48
> Hi,
> I was the person who used to post with the name 'M*d J*p Poet'Hello there, glad you finally managed to find a posting neme to keep everybody happy :-) Glad that you didn't get annoyed with that whole process and decide to take yourself elsewhere.
> In the U.S., the reclaimed words are used by some (not all) people within that particular group. If it's said by someone outside the group, it gets its original power back. One exception may be when someone is a personal friend. But, not even everyone in the U.S. feels that it's okay even when a friend that's outside of the group says it.
Oh sure, we have the 'wassup n*gg*r' expression that is used between relatively dark skinned friends, and occasionally someone of lighter skin colour can use the expression, and indeed may be greeted by the expression themselves if they are friends with the group. It does generate worrying looks until bypassers realise that they are friends in this kind of situation, however. Some of the bypassers may take offence until they realise that they are friends which somehow makes it ok.
I guess that the pakeha situation is a bit different in the sense that it was used by the minority (thought the majority to start with, I guess) as an offensive term for white settlers (perhaps understandably when you consider that some used to preach christianity, invite them to church, bar the doors, and set fire to them in order to acquire their land...) Not that that was the reason, but I guess I say that just to show that their calling settlers a dirty name was a relatively minor offence in comparison.
But I guess that the term has gradually been accepted as a name for a non-maori (or white) New Zealander. Now it appears on the official forms. So I guess it went from being offensive to being an accepted part of formal language! I don't think it was about the settlers accepting it themself... but maybe it was... I thought it originally meant 'white pig' though maybe wrong. (Maori thought that white settlers skin odour smelt like wet dog!) - and I am not sure that dogs arrived before the settlers... so I guess pig in leiu of dog. Not sure if calling someone a 'pakeha' in the early days was like calling someone a 'pig' in terms of offensiveness or not.. I really think I should know more about this. I shall have a look soonish and correct any misunderstandings I may have.
your post made a lot of sense to me.
Pleased to meet you m*d j*p p**t :-)
poster:alexandra_k
thread:420609
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041122/msgs/423022.html