Usage of the Word 'Nip' and other slang terms, both Military or non

Well, Have at it.


Wap, Limey, kraut, etc. Not Offensive.

Want my opinion?

People that find these words offensive have some self pity in that they can relate to thes descriptions.


EX. Anyone that takes offense to the word 'Bastard'


'We now watch as he douses the napalm bomb in gasoline....'

 

Carl, your good at this aint yer???

light touch paper and stand well back...

You missed out Mick..or bog irish mick as ive been called many times..

 

I take no offense Urgh--I don't mind being called a Limey er I mean a Canuck Uh--I Really mean Ami.

 

I do find being called a pollack offensive because it implies that Polish people are stupid, which is not the case. Look at me. I may not be the brightest bulb in the joint but I sure ain't dumb. In regards to any other slang term, it must depend on how in touch or sensitive a person is to their heritage.

 

This is really interesting. Has pollack always been offensive or has it 'grown' to become offensive? In Sweden a pole is called 'polack', there is no other way to say that a man is polish (a polish woman is called a polska).

Best regards/ Daniel

 

Pollock is not offensive unless you want it to be

 

Pollock offencive??? How??? How does it say that poles are dumb??? If someone calls me a canuck, are they implying I am dumb???

 

Well now then, I don't find it so tragic to have as my origins in life, three quarters of "kraut" or "jerry" blood in my veins, with the remaining quarter a nice slice of good old "mick" blood donated by some lost "limey" who moved north and snuggled up to some beautiful red headed Irish lass.

( In order to keep it simple, that's a full blooded German mother, and a half German, half Irish father! )

Bill

 

Don't forget to call Arabs "towel heads"and Jewish people "kikes", or Mexicans "wetbacks", or white people "honkies or crackers". And don't leave out the French or "Frogs", and don't forget the "Dagos", might as well offend the whole planet !!

 

Carl, you cant be known as anything but Carl....

Your birthday was celebrated across 4 ccntinents with questions being asked in the house why the queen has not yet added a knithood to your array of medals..One only has to mention the name carl in Britain and there are riots on the streets ...no more war...mo more war..

Hey, how do you represent a knighthood on the old medals table anyway...big sword on kneeling pic of Carl much reduced...Id award you the BEM British Empire Medal, but I cant find the Empire anny more...Someone purloined it when we were not looking..Damn those Yanks..

 

Question. Where did the word Yank originate from ? I mean why do we always call the Americans Yanks ? Any help would be great.

Jet

 

Finally one I know the answer to; Yankee is an abbreviation from the Dutch name Jan Kees. As you might know, the Dutch had quite an influence on American culture in centuries past. Especially in New York and surroundings many references can be found to the time that the Dutch 'ruled' New York

In any case, how Yankee came to be the nick-name of (north)Americans eludes me at the moment. I think it stems from the civil war era?

A New York friend of mine is compiling a list of all kind of Dutch related sites in that general area. My wife is also very well read int the Dutch influence on American culture, so if you have more Q's......

 

Yeah, this is a good one...

"Racial slurs don't offend me so why would they offend anyone else?"

Grow up...



On Yankee ( a term for people from an area , not an ethnic group)...

that Yankee derives from the expression Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese." This supposedly was a derogatory nickname bestowed on the Dutch by the Germans and the Flemish in the 1600s. (Wisconsin cheeseheads can undoubtedly relate.)

The English later applied the term to Dutch pirates, and later still Dutch settlers in New York applied it to English settlers in Connecticut, who were known for their piratical trading practices. During the French and Indian War the British general James Wolfe took to referring derisively to the native New Englanders in his army as Yankees, and the term was widely popularized during the Revolutionary War by the song "Yankee Doodle." By the war's end, of course, the colonists had perversely adopted the term as their own. Southerners used Yankee pejoratively to describe Northerners during the Civil War, but found themselves, along with all other Americans, called thus by the English during world wars I and II.

from http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_260.html
I think that song Yankee Doodle was the thing that really got it being used regularly.

 

Man, I started a thread like this a long time ago - I wonder where the hell it is?

My uncle said they called the Italians "lovers" in WWII. I always thought that was kinda cool. And I've heard a couple of vets call the Japanese Buhdda heads and butter heads.

As for Pollak - we actually learned in my immigration class that it was basically used as a derogatory term in the US for anyone who immigrated and did not speak english - especially from eastern europe. You know, first it was the damn catholics, then the damn pollaks, then the damn south-east asians, now the damn central americans. Same old BS.

Me - I"m a wopollak - half pollak and half eye-talian. Well, I'm american, but you know.

 

I was under the impression that Poles are treated quite badly in the old stand up joke routines in the States, bit like Irish in the UK???

3 men in a bus, A pole a New yorker and a Californian...

Uk version...3 men in a bus, an Enlgshman An Irishman and A Scotsman..

The inference coming in the joke that the Irishman over here is always the dumb one..Same with Poles in States????

 

Actually Americans from the southern states call us northerners Yankees as well.

My coworker is half Polish and he at times calls himself a Pollock as well out of joking.

Greg

 

I think every nation / region in the world has a derogatory name for their neighbour(s).
The Japanese call Koreans 'Garlic Eaters',Aussies call Brits 'Pommies' Muslims call all Non-Musalims 'Infidels', Brits cal Scotsmen 'Jocks'(A corruption of Jacobite) Highland Scots call Lowland Scots 'Sassanachs' The list is endless.

Whether the recipient finds them offensive is down to the usage

 

Damned double post, please delete this someone....

[ 20. May 2003, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: Stefan ]

 

I think that is the key to it, basically this kind of nick name depends entirley on the context. Example, a couple of scots I know are known as jock, not as an insult but as an affectionate nickname. An American friend of mine called me 'limey' and I call him 'yank' (he is a southener) but since it is in gest no one really minds. The thing is that whilst I may use such names with people I know I would use more guarded language when speaking to those I do not know well or who who will not be sure to know the context it is in. Basically, a good guide is that if you wouldnt feel safe shouting it out in the centre of town, only use it with people you know well. Does that make sense?

 

Urgh ($@#*^T@(&@%!&**#*&@*^*$(@) That's the sound of me blowing hot air onto the fingernails on my right hand.

I too cannot think of why the Queen didn't bestow on my Knighthood? I think I better get Robin Hood and his Merry Men alerted. Pass it on--Robin says to meet at Gallows Oak in Sherwood.

I'd would have to rank Knighthood above the neck orders on the rank lists. The Order of the British Empire would aslo be very high up--probably just underneath the Victoria Cross? Is the BEM British Empire Medal one and the same as the OBE?

So far one member here has it--Bish was "awarded" at least on paper--his Order of the British Empire--some several months ago. Check his name line out