What's wrong with the term 'Paki'?

Question

Now I know this will get reported - and removed by yahoo without so much as them taking a look - but why is this term seen as so offensive?

Someone from Britain is known as a 'Brit'
Scotland, a 'Scott'
Sweden, a 'Swede'
So why do we get looks of horror when we say 'Paki'?

jo, thank you for showing yourself as a prime example of the stupid and ignorant PC'ness so prevalant today. Did you even finsih reading my question?

Answer 1

I hate it when people call me paki because im not a pakistani im Bengali,they should really know where people are from before they call them paki,just because they're brown doesn't mean they are all from pakistan,there are brown people all around the world.Thats why I find it offensive,if you know what i mean.

Answer 2

When you look at terms relating to non white people you have to look beyond the term itself and understand how historically these tems were used as racially offensive.The term Paki was and still is often preceded by the words dirty or filthy.As racism is defined as an act created by the white man against non whites then the derogortary terms create a very different impact as say a white person calling another white person a Brit or a Paddy.How come we cannot just simply say to our selves these terms are offensive to a lot of people(and as you say you don't know who until it is said and is too late)and so we simply won't use them.A lot of white people,me included,have made a decision to not use offensive terms and yet are slated as the political correct brigade gone barmy.I do not spout from the treetops how people should do this or that but i do imagine how i would feel if i was on the recieving end of ignorance and so i practice my social skills in a way that i would like from others.

Answer 3

The answer lies not in the word, but in the usage. Because it is so often used as a term of abuse by non-Pakistani people, often in a racist and threatening way, it is seen as an incorrect word to use.

Words change as time goes on though. There was a time when it was considered more polite to call someone 'colored' rather than black, as the word black was used in an offensive way. Then it was won back by black people themselves, who reclaimed it and rejected the word 'colored'. (After all, we're all one shade of color or another)

You get looks of horror because of the associations the word now has with the people who have used it most in the public area, racist bigots. By using this word you ally yourself with them.

Lastly, can I point out that the word 'Paki' has come to be used as a term on abuse for every Asian, whether they are from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. If you want to avoid the looks, try using the word 'Pakistani', to describe someone, that is, if you're sure you know that's where they're from...

Answer 4

Its offensive if used with racial intent . If i was called a f'ing Brit i wouldnt be happy. Further more its not people from Pakistan who are called Pakis its everyone as the person above said from India, Sri Lanka. thats where it becomes offensive. Equally the majority of those who are called Paki's in this country are actually British

Answer 5

i'd prefer to respond to your question initially by utilising asking yet another , while did each and every thing in Britain by surprise substitute into politically maximum appropriate? in recent times we hear a rather good variety of those ridiculous thoughts approximately how even classic nursery rhymes at school have replaced (like baa baa black sheep) for worry of offending those mysterious ethnic minorities. I for one rather do no longer see what each and every of the fuss is approximately conversing as a Scott lass who went to college between the Nineteen Seventies and 1880s i will rather say that paki became never ever a derogatory term and confident we had Pakistanis in college and the unusual black toddler and different nationalities like an Italian woman that all human beings called Tali Jean. different youngsters the place called Specky (because of the fact they wore glasses). each and every of the youngsters spent there pocket funds on goodies from the close by paki shop and we went to college with the youngsters of the save vendors and performed with them. there became never any the place close to racial stress we the place an area mutually human beings knew one yet another as human beings we talked to a minimum of one yet another. i think of you're suitable, that's no longer something yet slightly sensationalist reporting and confident there are a number of human beings accessible with very small and insignificant minds. ( only look on the countless solutions your getting, particularly the only that annoying situations you to pass out and speak to somebody a paki, echoes of fanaticism everyone?) There are very actual and lots greater pressing issues actual issues and actual racism happening the international for persons to rigidity approximately.

Answer 6

I agree with you totally a Paki should not offensive is they actually come from Pakistan, but some people call them Paki's when they;re actually Indian or Sri Lankan for example.

Answer 7

Because its classed as offensive, I have a friend who is a British Muslim, her husband was born in Pakistan and she calls him a Paki and says its not offensive, just been flicking through the Compact Oxford English Dictionary and this is what it says about;
Paki, Paddy and Taffy, noun, offensive, Brit, noun, amazing hey.

Answer 8

It all about the context, and the baggage that goes with a word. You could for example argue that 'N*gger" is just bad Latin for Black, but of course it is much more than that. The argument that white Britons may use terms like Brits for themselves doesn't really hold much water, because a self-acquired label with no negativity is not really comparable with a term which, whilst maybe innocent in itself, has become associated with abuse.

Answer 9

Pakistan actually means "the land of the pure." So, the word used as an insult is actually a compliment. However, because it is habitually used in an aggressive way, it is taken as an insult. In the same way, Jesus Christ, the name of our Lord and Saviour can be offensive if used as a swear word.

Answer 10

I believe the term means something like pure, but our politicians don't give a fig about the facts, they wish to enslave our minds --- see George Orwell and News speak. This is why i despise Labour!