Abusing coloured players

[Twinkle Toes]

Why can't somebody in close proximity just tell the gobby jobbie in H Block to "shut it" when he goes into Turrette's mode?

Just an idea, like..

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

Wow. Earnest and worthy discussion on the semantics of skin colour...
You are all part of the problem guys.
Figuring out the least offensive way to categorise people by skin colour is still categorising people by skin colour.

There is just... people.

Excellent post. It's weird how white folks take it on themselves to decide which racial/skintone adjectives are appropriate.

A good friend of mine in Canada was aghast to hear herself designated 'black' by a colleague. In the UK, people would probably see her as 'Asian', ie from the Indian sub-continent, as opposed to, say, Korea.

Complications: throughout North America, 'Asian' always means those of Far Eastern origin: Chinese, Japanese, Korean and the like. Canadians and Americans would categorise my friend as 'Indian'.

In fact, she's British, her family's from Guyana, though of Indian ancestry. Getting back to the point of the thread, she and her family actually categorise themselves as - wait for it - "Brown."

I look forward to the time when humans no longer need to dwell on racial characteristics as a key point of difference. This may be several centuries away.

 

[daveinprague]

Bunch of American and British wa nkers lost it on a prague forum because they felt it wasnt offensive to call black people 'gollywog'!!

All I said was, its all well and good a bunch of white people deciding whether it was right or wrong...
Ill bring some black people to meet you, and see how you get on....

Mostly replied with...oh yeah, so your friends can beat us up?

Well, if you know its offensive and liable to earn you a fecking beating..dont use it..

 

[The Spanish]

Wow. Earnest and worthy discussion on the semantics of skin colour...
You are all part of the problem guys.
Figuring out the least offensive way to categorise people by skin colour is still categorising people by skin colour.

There is just... people.

please pass that on to the Labour party selection committee for my constituency I would be very grateful.

 

[cuthbert]

To me it has connotations of apartheid, rather than slavery. A mixed race colleague of mine told me he absolutely hated it when people called him coloured, and I can see why.

I don't like it. I think you'll find black people in general are perfectly happy to use the word black, or mixed race, or whatever: it's no different than you or I describing ourselves as white.

"Coloured" is just...I don't know but it all sounds a bit Alf Garnett to me, it doesn't feel right in 2010.

You're absolutely right, in the 1950s it was regarded as offensive to refer to a person as black, then as a result as the race classifications in SA the term coloured became offensive. The best solution is to ask people their ethnic origin, the only problem I've had with this is trying to describe a suspect to a police officer, without being offensive.

 

[Dave the OAP]

To me it has connotations of apartheid, rather than slavery. A mixed race colleague of mine told me he absolutely hated it when people called him coloured, and I can see why.

I don't like it. I think you'll find black people in general are perfectly happy to use the word black, or mixed race, or whatever: it's no different than you or I describing ourselves as white.

"Coloured" is just...I don't know but it all sounds a bit Alf Garnett to me, it doesn't feel right in 2010.

when I lived in SA, "coloured" referred mostly to mixed race people. Blacks were regarded by the whites as lowest of the low, coloured as next, but still down there, asians next....then afrikaaners, then whiteies

 

[Spanish Seagulls]

We are ALL coloured, some shade or another. Myself I am a kind of tea colour, not too much milk kind of colour. It's living in a mostly sunny place you see.

 

[Don Quixote]

What does this kid look like?

 

[cunning fergus]

You're absolutely right, in the 1950s it was regarded as offensive to refer to a person as black, then as a result as the race classifications in SA the term coloured became offensive. The best solution is to ask people their ethnic origin, the only problem I've had with this is trying to describe a suspect to a police officer, without being offensive.

I think you are absolutely wrong, coloured is not an offensive term in post apartheid SA, only evidently in areas of the UK. From Wikipedia:

There has also been substantial Coloured support for and membership in the African National Congress before, during and after the apartheid era: Ebrahim Rasool (previously Western Cape premier), Dipuo Peters, Beatrice Marshoff, Manne Dipico, and Allan Hendrickse have been noteworthy Coloured politicians affiliated with the ANC. There is no leading political party in the Western Cape, with the race still open as to who will lead the province. The parties competing for the honours are the ANC, the DA, the ID and COPE. The ANC has had some success in winning Coloured votes, particularly among labour-affiliated and middle-class Coloured voters. Some Coloureds express distrust of the ANC with the comment, "not white enough under apartheid, and not black enough under the ANC." In the 2004 election, voter apathy was high in historically Coloured areas.

 

[Billy the Fish]

This reminds me of Gareth Keenan.

Gareth: "My dad, for example, he's not as cosmopolitan or as educated as me and it can be embarrasing you know. He doesn't understand all the new trendy words - like he'll say 'poofs' instead of 'gays', 'birds' instead of 'women', 'darkies' instead of 'coloureds'.

 

[Juan Albion]

Canadians and Americans would categorise my friend as 'Indian'.

East Indian, actually, to avoid confusion with another pigeon-holing.

 

[Triggaaar]

Someone in H block has developed an annoying habit of shouting "freak" at opposing coloured players

WTF is a coloured player? Are they green or something? Come on boy, you're not even up with the 20th century, let alone this one.

 

[Triggaaar]

the issue of language and race is constantly changing, we will be thinking dual heritage etc sounds ridiculous in 20 years time.

Dual heritage sounds ridiculous now. I'm not sure there'll ever be a time when that sounds right.

 

[Triggaaar]

the only problem I've had with this is trying to describe a suspect to a police officer, without being offensive.

Just describe the person as best you can - examples:
they were white, with blotchy pale skin and blond hair
they were black, with dark skin and black hair
they appered to be mixed race, with brown skin and black hair
your job is just to be as descriptive as possible, which you can do without being racist.
Mostly in life we don't need discuss what colour or race someone is, but there are times when descriptions are useful, just like when it's useful to say if someone is tall, short, fat, thin, handsom or ugly.

 

[beorhthelm]

Wow. Earnest and worthy discussion on the semantics of skin colour...
You are all part of the problem guys.
Figuring out the least offensive way to categorise people by skin colour is still categorising people by skin colour.

There is just... people.

the thing is, how do you describe someone when one of the most prominant features might be the colour of their skin? obviously its relative, if you were in Nigeria you wouldnt use black to describe someone as it hardly narrows it down. but in this country, doesnt matter how multicultral you think it is, non-white people are fewer. even on the football pitch which is more even, using skin colour instantly cuts the number of people you are talking about. to not mention their colour can be cringing and awkward, someones in a long discription of someones hair colour, hiehgt, size, clothing etc when they were only one of two black people presnt, and "the black guy with the jeans" would have been alot simpler.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

This reminds me of Gareth Keenan.

Gareth: "My dad, for example, he's not as cosmopolitan or as educated as me and it can be embarrasing you know. He doesn't understand all the new trendy words - like he'll say 'poofs' instead of 'gays', 'birds' instead of 'women', 'darkies' instead of 'coloureds'.

Which pretty much describes this thread, and so many people I know. In fact, it is a pretty cutting quote - the idea that you're not racist or sexist or homophobic if you use the 'correct' words

 

[matt]

What does this kid look like?

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

I sit in H block. There are usually a few people who shout freak. It's (ussually) shouted at players because of size not skin colour. So Elphick or Brezovan would be a "freak" whilst Carole and Bennett wouldn't be. Some average sized players may be called freaks but that is normally for an obvious reason (e.g LuaLua & speed) or just to try and put em off.

I might be wrong but that's how I understand it.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Black is an absence of colour, no?

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

Darkie is worse.

not as bad as Grevelle