An (unintentional?) common Australian habit...
...when the Pakistanis are playing Australia at cricket:
It's common (in more than one sense of the word) for sports commentators, newsreaders, other media, etc to refer to the Pakistani team as "The Pakis".

Makes me cringe every time I hear it...when I lived in the UK I seem to remember that the word "Paki" was considered racist.
I'm sure it still is?
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:50, 25 replies)

It is still considered racist yes
but I suppose it's just never been used in a racist context in Australia, which is good - it's an innocuous word in itself, like 'Brits'. It just got commandeered by ignorant racist people in the UK who apply it to all people of South Asian origin in a derogatory manner...but yes I can understand why it's still cringe-inducing...
(Ovaltina, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:57, closed)

I assume
"Abos" isn't an offensive term then?
(Bear Pookie The Frankly Challenged. Halloween is coming to town., Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:17, closed)

Well, I'm not Australian
but yes I think that is indeed offensive. I'm not comfortable with the term 'Paki' myself, but my point was that (I think) it just isn't meant in a racist way in Australia, and it's only used as an innocent abbreviation of the name of the national sports team...
(Ovaltina, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:24, closed)

I don't think
it's ever been considered as an acceptable abbreviation. It's not like Brits in that respect.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:50, closed)

Well it's never been acceptable in the UK
so perhaps not. I stand corrected - I am sorry if I have offended anyone. I guess I just thought that the sports commentators couldn't possibly mean to use a racist term like that :S
(Ovaltina, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:57, closed)

I wasn't
intending that to sound stroppy. I can totally believe that Australian commentators would use a term without even considering whether the people it refers to would consider it racist.

I'm not bashing the ozzies, they are generally lovely people, but they can be quite racist in a kind of unthinking manner. Then again, lots of Australians of Mediterranean descent refer to themselves as Wogs quite happily.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 22:01, closed)

aww yes
I knew you weren't being stroppy :) I just realised I might have come across as a bit boorish and insensitive with what I said!
(Ovaltina, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 22:10, closed)

Jesus
that's just the sort of reply i'd expect from a boorish and insensitive person.

Why don't you fuck off back to QOTW.

Oh, hang on.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 22:17, closed)

althegeordie...
...yes, Aussies can be very racist in an often unthinking way, and they just can't see the truth of this.
Best insult I've heard from an Aboriginal referring to white Aussies is "You Captain Cook Cunts".
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 1:01, closed)

wogs...
much like black people can call each other 'niggers' but no-one else dare call them that...?
I've lived in Oz for 4 and a half years now and it still always makes me cringe when I hear people talking about wogs. I can accept that it's not generally meant in a derogatory racist way but it sounds awful!
(antigen is running away from something, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 3:33, closed)

bearpookie...
...yes, "abos" is considered offensive.
My English father in law visited us here in Oz and watched a local street busker performance of some great Aboriginal dancing. He congratulated the kids dancing and said to them "You abos are great dancers".
They looked shocked and I cringed! But he did give them a decent amount of money and it was all smiles again.
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 0:55, closed)

Hmm
I don't listen to cricket but I am surprised to hear about our commentators using this term in 2008. I would class it as derogatory.
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 21:30, closed)

I heard
the Pakis call Australians "Aussis". Makes me cringe every time I hear it.. Mind you they do talk funny and treat their women bad.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 23:12, closed)

why is saying "Pakis" bad
When saying things like 'merkins or Aussies or Brits is fine?

Makes very little sense.
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 23:26, closed)

Because of the racist
connotations of the word. It's used to describe people from the indian subcontinent in a similar way as the word nigger is used to describe black people.

So from that point of view it does make sense.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 21 Oct 2008, 23:40, closed)

*Delurk*
On top of the racist connotations I thought (but I could be wrong) that part of the reason that some groups in Britain consider it especially offensive is because it tends to be used for anyone from that region and some people don't like being confused with their country's mortal enemies.

I've seen similar things with people calling some Scots 'English', Scousers 'Manc Bastards' and Canadians 'American' and there's not even a nuclear stand off in those cases. Yet...

*insert generic length apology here*
( ElParrot, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 0:52, closed)

althegeordie..."nigger"?
I thought nougat was pronounced noo-gar :)
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 1:36, closed)

Dammit
I've gone and shown how common I am.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 12:51, closed)

I don't think Aussies mean it...
...in a derogatory or racist manner. Some Aussies I have spoken to about it see it as an almost endearing phrase.
But me and my ex-pat pommie colleagues still cringe...
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 0:58, closed)

lazy
In Australia it's never used to wrongly refer to Indian people like it is in the UK and is not used in a derogatory manner. An Aussie will call an Indian Indian and a Pakistani Paki. It's the lazy nature of the Aussie dialect: Bottle shop is bottl-o, service station is servo, afternoon is arvo, everything that can be shortened will be.
I think some parts of Australia can be pretty racist but not in the way referred to here. I cringe every time I hear 'wog' but the Aussies, and the 'wogs' don't have a problem with it.
(antigen is running away from something, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 3:37, closed)

maybe
It's just because everyone here is so aware of their own rcial history and that of their friends and families.

I.e. as a first generation Australian myself I can't really bag out anyone else for being of foreign descent.
(misskitty reeks of sex and turpentine; laudanum afternoons, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 4:24, closed)

Curious thing ...
about racism in Australia. If we mean it, you'll know it. If we don't, you're just being soft if you take offense.

Everyone here has a (mostly) affectionate ethnicly based tag; Lebos, wogs, chocos etc.

And we Anglo-Aussies are called Chain-Rattlers.

Many a merry playground taunt thus ensues; "Yeah well at least my great great granddaddy didn't get transported for sheep shagging!"

It's all in fun really. And genuine apologies to any delicate little Brits whose precious sensibilities might get stomped on.
(Que?, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 4:58, closed)

My Favorite
Is the Coon cheese they have over here..
(danglesmurf, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 6:48, closed)

^^^
And if you're peckish you stick it between a couple of slices of bread and you've got a Coon sambo! Aaarrrghh!
( SteamedCleaner, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 16:17, closed)

ROFLMAO
Coon sambo! Love it extra clickey for that.
(Que?, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 5:39, closed)