Why is the word Paki a racist word?

Question

Having lived and worked for 16 years in asia. I have many friends from other countrys. I am British and guess what im called.. yes you got it first time... a Brit !. My mate jay is from america and guess what he,s called.... you got it again, a yank !. scottish is jock, irish is paddy, australian is an ozzie. Do we take offence.... hell no we are proud to be spoken off in this way... maybee because we are proud of where we come from eh!. Dont be suprised if the word Asian becomes illegal next!

Answer 1

Being a Scot I do take offence to the word Jock as it is not an abbreviation of my nationality Scottish...It is rhyming slang for "Smelly sock" so yeah..I find it derogatory and offensive.

On the other hand, I do not think Paki is used offensively if it an abbreviation of Pakistani.
Lets face it...we have become very lazy with our vocabulary and are abbreviating words all the time...I'm, we're, 'morning and so on.
So shortening Pakistani to Paki (which I do say..cause I'm a lazy speaker) shouldn't be considered offensive..I am certainly no racist and do not use it in a derogatory way.

I think the difficulty lies where it is directed towards an Asian whose nationality is unknown...whether they are Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan...They are of similar appearance..no offence intended so it would be wrong to use the word Paki in this case.

I think it's a case of ignorance on all parts... Sometimes folk just don't get it and SOME will look for offence in anything...even when it's not there.

Answer 2

I guess this word wasn't offensive at first but then it somehow became offensive, though I heard people using it in a very non-offensive way, simply describing the person of Pakistani origin. Maybe they were just lazy to pronounce Pakistani? But the problem is, some might use this word for someone who is not from Pakistan but from India or Bangladesh and thinking that all the Asians should be Pakistanis is just plain ignorance. You wouldn't like a person who is not very experienced with English language to call you American, would you? You'd think they ignorant. I hate when people assume I'm Polish when I'm not, not that there's anything wrong with being Polish, but I don't want to be Polish!

I'm not British myself and I swear to you, I've never used the word "Brit", I just don't like it. I simply say British, English, Scottish, Irish, Australian, why would I use any other words when these are just sufficient to tell a person's nationality/citizenship? And I didn't even know about the Scottish Jock.

The word n****r wasn't offensive like 100 years ago, but it is now. Negro means "black" in Spanish, as in the colour.

Answer 3

Logically it does make sense what your saying. If your from Britain and people call you a brit its only fair that people can call someone from Pakistan a paki.
There is a difference however between the living conditions of Britain and Pakistan. I know its not politically correct to say this but the sad truth is some countries are better then others. I base this argument on average standard of living and basic human rights and the death penalty.
Pakistan at the moment is not exactly a great country to live in. My mother always use to say people will view you in light of your country. So pakistan being what it is it's not exactly a status symbol right now to be pakistani. So to call someone a Paki they do take offence because in that one little word you are telling them all the things that are wrong with their culture and country.

Answer 4

It's not that the word is offensive, it's the way in which it's used. How many times have you heard someone shout something like "You Paki's are such nice neighbours". Just like if an asian was to say " f***ing Brits f*** off back to your own country" to an English person in Pakistan. Not only that but it doesn't actually refer to a person of pakistani origin, it refers to an asian looking, dark skinned person, in the way that Japanese people get called Chinks etc. So it's not about anything as deep as where a person is from, just about the way they look. You'd at least be confused if a non white person shouted "oi yank" at you.

Answer 5

Its a combination of things. Calling someone from Pakistan a paki might not seem so bad but when you call someone from Bangladesh or worse still, Northern India, a paki its pretty offensive. You're a brit - imagine you're from Scotland and someone called you a fine English gent. In your favourite Glasgow pub. With all your mates around you. You'd feel obliged to give them a wee bit of shoe pie!

It's also got a lot of negative connotations from the fifties and sixties much like n*gg*r (Ive edited this as Yahoo has taken offence to this word) has a lot of negative spin even though its only a derivation of a skin type description. It's the usage these words have had that makes them inappropriate.

Being white and having had an Indian girlfriend, I've been subjected to racist taunts on occasion myself. I have no desire to be called 'paki lover' when I have a perfectly good set of names myself (and some of them aren't even rude!)

Answer 6

None of the words you suggested is degroratory to the people being talked about. New Zealanders are actually delighted to be called Kiwi's for example.

Paki has been used for many years as a spitful, degrogatory term to insult people of Indian/Asian descent. In the same way as Spik, Wog, Daygo, Chink, Nip, Sliteye, ****, and Honkey have been used for many different races.

The easy way to tell if a slang term is offensive is if you can say it with venom and spite in your voice. Damn Yank just doesn't have the same hurtfulness about it as f*****g Paki does it. Even when an Aussie calls us Brits Whinging Poms there's no nastiness about it.

I'd suggest we all take a little time to think about how and what we call someone in the future and maybe we can all make a difference to the world. If only to make it a little more polite.

I'm sure our Pakistani and Indian cousins have some derogatory words for us as well.

Answer 7

via fact it originated in England as a damaging thank you to describe somebody of Southern Asian descent. there grew to become into even a education customary as 'Paki Bashing' which grew to become into while people of Indian/Pakistani descent might get beat up by skill of English people. The be conscious Paki is hence seen as racist via fact of its origins.

Answer 8

I don't think the term Paki should be offensive.I served in the British Army for 22 years and met many Asians and often referred to them as Paki's they often reffered to me as that white git,no offence was taken.What does bother me is I must not refer to somebody as a ****** but rap stars can refer to my ***** ***** why is that ?

Answer 9

Well you say the word Paki to scorn people from Pakistan, no body would had minded it if it would been had used as a lovable gesture, i fail to understand you Brits you give Shilpa Shetty all the racist slurs you can imagine and then vote her to win the contest and now even your Queen has invited her, what is this , well if you hate the Asians so much why did you allow them to enter your island and now that when they have become a spent force you wish to kick them out by hook or crook, once again i can foresee that no Pakis will be charged out of the nine picked up it has become a game for you white Brits to keep your public from opposing the war on Iraq and Afghanistan

Answer 10

You can call anyone any name. It's the intent that it's said with and who it's said to that makes it racist. I have friends from Pakistan and can call them a Paki without it being an insult. I am half Indian, yet have been called a Paki on many occasions through ignorance. I would never call anyone a Paki if I didn't know them or use it as an insult.