Talk:List of ethnic slurs and epithets by ethnicity

Merkin

When I hear this term, I think of pubic hair, not Americans and I don't think it is commonly used slur for Americans and I've been on the internet since the 1990s. It looks like the source for the use of this term is a blog on words and its primary usage was on Usenet which I don't think anyone uses any more and no one under 20 has even heard of. Maybe they are thinking of 'Merican?

I'm sure there are better slurs for American that have proper sourcing. I say remove this term. Many of the terms listed in List of ethnic slurs and epithets by ethnicity#European section are specific to the United States and I think could be moved to the American section of the page rather than being lumped in with other terms for actual Europeans. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 19:44, 31 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 August 2022

The description for "Paki" is not entirely true and can be expanded to be more truthful about its overall, and fairly complex, history and usage.

Current: pejorative for a person of Pakistani descent, but has been used against South Asian people (including East Indians, South Indians) in general

Why I believe it should be changed: As a Canadian Pakistani who has also lived in the US, the term Paki is not considered offensive in any way whatsoever in North America. Many of us introduce ourselves by saying "I'm Paki" just like a shortened "Brit" or "Aussie". The term is considered offensive in the UK because of it's "Paki-Bashing" history which is covered in the "Paki" Wikipedia Page. The page itself links to the Dictionary.com definition which mentions it is "Chiefly British Slang".

What I think it should be: (UK) pejorative for a person from South Asia (particularly Pakistan) and mainly used in the United Kingdom. First recorded in 1964 during increased immigration of Pakistanis to the United Kingdom and popularized during a heightened era of Paki-bashing. Although considered the 'P-Word' in the United Kingdom, it is colloquially used by Pakistanis in North America and elsewhere to refer to themselves and is not commonly perceived as deragatory when referred to as Paki by others.

The Paki page should also be linked to the heading. Razisyed97 (talk) 13:11, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

 Done Inspector Eevee (talk) 16:51, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

References

Gusano - Ethnic and Political slur

If Coon and Uncle Tom are ethnic slurs (used for black people with certain beliefs), as well as Nazi - for all Germans, shouldn't Gusano be listed - used only against Cuban people (with certain political beliefs)? People don't call all reactionary people Gusanos, only of Cuban origin. 2607:FEA8:57DF:DCB0:D8C8:E908:BF22:3D62 (talk) 15:50, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Nazi might be considered a slur against Germans when used to describe Germans who aren't nazis, because the mislabeling is based solely on their nationality. It's not a slur when used to describe Germans who are nazis, simply a statement of fact. Furthermore the paper cited as a source for gusano's inclusion doesn't actually support the claim that it's a racial slur. Rather, it describes its use by the Cuban government to refer to earlier waves of Cuban expats. It contrasts this use with the ideological reversal by the government when describing the Marielitos who are categorically not gusanos and who did face discrimination when immigrating to the US. If an adequate source can't be found, I think the word should clearly be removed from the list. 2601:448:C580:6D70:0:0:0:4F01 (talk) 20:07, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

The same logic can be applied to countless other words that are naturally accepted as racial slurs. Imagine arguing that Uncle Tom isn't a racial slur because although it is specifically directed at black people (in the same way Guano is specifically directed at Cubans), it is only done so for political purposes. Furthermore, Gusano is used against people of Cuban decent that have nothing to do with the politics that you are asserting the word is strongly coupled to. In this case it seems that your argument is coming from bad faith where you don't want this to be a racial slur and you are looking for justifications to that end. 50.47.83.158 (talk) 20:42, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

Please try to assume good faith, or at least don't assume bad faith because of a single comment. I didn't argue that Uncle Tom isn't, in some contexts, used as a racial slur, and I don't appreciate you claiming that I did. I think they are clearly different cases. The comparison to nazi is much more apt, since some people, even some Germans, are in fact nazis, and in those cases it's accurate and appropriate to describe them as such. My argument for gusano's removal (to repeat for emphasis) is that it isn't typically used to mislabel Cubans who aren't gusanos, and that the source cited in the article actually directly contradicts this notion. 2601:448:C580:6D70:0:0:0:4F01 (talk) 21:01, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

The difference here is that actual Nazis called themselves ~Nazis, they were in the party. I doubt that people, who opposed Castro and were against revolution for any reason, good or not, called themselves Gusanos (literally worms/maggots).

It is still an ethnic slur, because it doesn't apply to any other ethnicity/nationality, except Cuban. 2607:FEA8:57DF:DCB0:198F:9719:E48B:7882 (talk) 22:20, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

To clear up confusion: it is a Cuban word used by Cubans. That doesn't mean it's solely used for Cubans. Anecdotally, I use it frequently and with great pleasure to refer to all manner of rabidly anticommunist expat, from China to Vietnam to Venezuela. What you take to be a racialized targeting is merely an artifact of its cultural origin. And one more time, all this is borne out by the words of the very paper currently used to justify the word's inclusion on this list, which you can go read yourself through SciHub if you care about sourcing the information on this encyclopedia. 2601:448:C580:6D70:0:0:0:4F01 (talk) 03:15, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

A racial slur being used against groups outside of the group associated with its origin doesn't somehow make it no longer a racial slur. This argument makes no sense for "gusano" in the same way it makes no sense for any other racial slur. 50.47.83.158 (talk) 04:23, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

Please stop referring to actual Cubans as the racial slur, "gusano", it is inappropriate. Gusano literally means worm, and much like in the case of the slur Uncle Tom, there are no people that self-label as such. This is obviously different from Nazis in which case the ruling party of Germany for a time were literally the Nazi party, and to this day people still cling to that ideology. 50.47.83.158 (talk) 02:15, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

I've seen your talk page, so your paeans to a narrow conception of civility sort of fall flat for me, sorry. A duck is a duck and a worm is a worm. 2601:448:C580:6D70:0:0:0:4F01 (talk) 03:17, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

and a racist is a racist. 50.47.83.158 (talk) 03:39, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 23 September 2022

Revert Planetjanet's Sept 23 removal of "gusano" from list of ethnic Cuban slurs. While the removal was because justified as it being a "political slur", it is a slur that refers to one of a specific ethnicity.

The initial edit was immediately following a large Discord community being criticized for using "gusano" derogatorily.

Removed content is below:

Gusano

Cuban exiles. The term was coined by Fidel Castro, who called Cubans leaving in the Freedom Flights gusanos ('worms') and insisted the Cuban exiles were capitalists who had profited during the pre-Castro era. 2600:4040:F118:E200:DD36:42A5:8CC:52E1 (talk) 17:49, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

PlanetJanet's justification for removing Gusano was to "see discussion on Talk page archive 2." Just so we are clear, there was no discussion on page 2 of the archive. There was one person saying it should be removed nearly 10 months ago and nobody responding to him. Pretty dishonest to call that a discussion. I support semiprotecting the page and examining any account that wants to remove "Gusano" for potential socketpuppet and brigading activity. They are actively trying to protect a streamer and community who use slurs like shitskin, shitdick, Gusano and cracker. These aren't the values represented by wikipedia. 63.155.103.206 (talk) 19:49, 23 September 2022 (UTC)

I could take it or leave it. Calling someone a worm is a bit of a generic insult as well. If a couple of people do not like it, then take it out. If you can establish some consensus that it should be on the list, then great, put it back. Good luck with that. I have had several discussions where I disagreed about some word someone wanted to remove or add and they would not change their mind about and despite there being 533 people watching this page and 3,900 watching List of ethnic slurs, nobody chimed in with a support or oppose. Richard-of-Earth (talk) 05:02, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

It is similar to calling black people apes/monkeys and calling Jews pigs. Long history of degrading people's ethnicity/race by comparing them to animals.63.155.103.206 (talk) 09:00, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

Isn't the fact we have a large community of thousands of people using the word towards an ethnic Cuban as a slur simply due to his family ethnic background (Destiny was born in America and has nothing to do with Cubans from Cuba) itself proof of the word being a slur which deserves being on the list. PlanetJanet is literally trying to retroactively justify that behaviour. --50.72.78.42 (talk) 08:38, 24 September 2022 (UTC)

References