MartinLuther

From the earlier Wiktionary link.

In the case of Paki Cricket Team see highlight above

Or I could just be looking at a bigger picture.

rabsody

I must admit that link suprised me a little. It seems Pakistanis view Paki in the same way we do Pom. Interesting. Like most people I had always thought of it in the derogatory sense. Thanks for posting that.

Still wouldn't say it though

Exile

Interesting link. Did you read the whole thread? (I'm not ex-exile, by the way)

Do you think the term should be used more widely then?

With Australia's recent historical connections to the UK and the massive migration, it seems unlikely that a considerable proportion of the population is not aware of the racist connotations of Paki. Not so with the UK and spooks. And the contexts of these examples were completely different.

There is also a major difference between Pakistanis using the term Paki and someone else using it. The first poster on the other thread obviously didn't grow up hearing it used with venom and hatred, probably because they grew up in Pakistan.

It raises the question, where do you draw the line between Australia being refreshingly un-PC and the last bastion for racist bigots?

(I'm not suggesting that anyone here is a racist bigot, by the way. But some things about Australia do seem to appeal to that type)

MartinLuther

Wikipedia gives the following on a page titled 'List of ethnic slurs'.

If you then click on the link Paki it takes you to the Wiktionary entry already given which states that Paki could mean:

• (UK, Canada, offensive, racial slur) A Pakistani, or, more generally and incorrectly used, a person who is perceived to be from South Asian or the Indian Subcontinent origin which is still considered offensive. See usage notes.
• Short for Pakistani.
• (literally means in Urdu) Pure, Cleanliness
• (UK, Canada, pejorative, offensive and racist when spoken by non-Pakistanis) Pakistani, or perceived to be Pakistani.

I guess you and I have different definitions for unambiguous.

Mikeyc

I find it funny that a lot of people here are saying Australia is un-pc. You people are obviously not here or haven’t been here for very long. Australia is very very PC.

When going to Uni here we were not even allowed to use the terms BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini ) when stating dates, we had to use the PC term which is BCE and CE...... for people who don’t know, that’s “Before Common Era” and “Common Era”

Chalkboards instead of Blackboards
Rainbow sheep instead of Black sheep
Personhole instead of Manhole
Mind-map instead of Brain storm
Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas

Australia is full of PC.

Mikey

BristolBeary

I wish everyone would stop going to www.somewebsite.com and using it as some sort of argument either way.

"It says it on the Internet it must be true" is not a basis to determine if a word is offensive or not (common sense is).

I can go on wikipedia right now and put whatever I want on the page for "paki" as can the 4 billion other people on the planet.

Exile

I agree, but it also seems that a big part of Australia's appeal to migrants from the UK is the perceived absence of PC.

Mikeyc

But they are also probably the same migrants (sorry, I think the PC term is now "newcomer" not migrants, lol) who come here thinking they can buy a house with no mortgage, live in the beach in a perfect society, no crime, or bills or stress.

With the PC, what I don’t get is we can’t call it a Blackboard anymore, yet we are still allowed use the term “Whiteboard” for the whiteboard?

Mikey

Devlin

Yep, so true. Then they find Australia is much more PC about everything except race issues. Half of the racy/sexy type ads in the UK would be banned in Australia.

Also I view Australia as some kind of Police state these days. Where else in the world are you asked to show the contents of your bag(s) to store staff when leaving without buying anything? In fact even when my wife was buying something at K-Mart they asked to look inside her hand-bag!!

bcworld

Yes I did.

No I don't & neither am I suggesting that it should.

I don't think your assumption that Aussies must be aware of the other use of the word 'Paki' holds. As a Scot, I use words & terms that people in London have never heard nor understand. In Australia, I find many occasions where I & British friends & colleagues use words & slang that are greeted with blank looks.

That I do agree with - however I hope many of them are in for a surprise when they get here!

BadgeIsBack

Let's do a poll of the whole world...

I find that you just smile and walk past half the time Or just wave it in their general direction.

MartinLuther

Are you sure you're not in America?

MartinLuther

It wont last though. I remember someone changing the UK page to "It's a pile of poo lying off continental Europe...." but it only lasted a few moments before it was changed back.

Unfortunately common sense does not seem to be consistent from one person to the next so that is also not a good basis to determine whether a word is offensive or not.

MartinLuther

You're right: you'd never see a racy/sexy advert in Aus. It's like a puritanical state.

:tongue-most-definitely-firmly-in-cheek:

ozzieeagle

The Vast majority of Aussies are totally unaware that the abbreviation is viewed as a racial slur in the UK, there are even UK migrants that arrived pre 1968 that dont know this either. The other point is when they do find out they dont care that it's a racial slur in the UK... reason being its simply an abbreviation and this is Australia not the UK.

Litmus test would be... ask a person that has migrated directly from Pakistan (not via the UK) for yourself.