as much as i fully appreciate that it IS...
i don't quite understand WHY Paki has become a slur.

I am Scottish - therefore I am a Scot. It's simply an abbreviation...

as opposed to "skirt wearing, sheep shagging, haggis hunting drunken cunt"

Which of course are heartfelt terms of endearment.

(curiously Scotland is the only place I have heard 'he's a good cunt' as a genuine compliment).
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:21, 30 replies)

It's only really in the UK where it was picked up by racists
In other cultures it's used much in the same way as Scot or Brit
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:27, closed)

Same reason once perfectly acceptable words like queer and faggot are now slurs
the word doesn't matter, the manner in which it is used does.
( Peej, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:30, closed)

i dont think queer or faggot were ever acceptable
some gays blokes called themselves queer in the 60's but its only acceptable from another 'queer'

white blokes cannot say 'my nigger' as a friendly term to a black dude, but another black dude can
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:00, closed)

queer and faggot have meanings other than the derogatory ones you refer to
they haven't always been slurs you faggot
( The Doveston haunted by the memory of his own amnesia, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:10, closed)

well...
dictionary.reference.com/browse/queer

dictionary.reference.com/browse/faggot+?s=t

however

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_%28food%29

i would be offended by being called a faggot of the pork variety (not because I'm kosher or halal) but because its a shit version of Haggis the 'great chieftain o the puddin race'

if you're calling me faggot as in gay - i have shagged your dad AND your mum. so technically i would be bi.
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 12:01, closed)

your dad fucking loved it by the way. the faggot

( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 12:03, closed)

i don't get your point, are you posting links to prove my point?

( The Doveston haunted by the memory of his own amnesia, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 13:15, closed)

Really really REALLY not wanting to wade into a political debate here
But I believe it's more to do with the context in which it's normally used.
Have you ever heard the term 'paki' used as a term of endearment? Or is it more traditionally bookended by the words 'fucking' and 'bastard'?
If there was a small subset of, say, the French that hated the Scottish and referred to them derogatorily as Scots, then to hear anyone French say it would be to assume that they were Scot-haters.
Words don't inherently have power, it's more down to the way in which they're used and the meaning that is implied by the speaker. I'd rather my best friend called me a fucking-bastard-cunty-bollocks than a stranger call me an idiot.
(Paolo Nutini's Bikini Better than Frederick Fleet's optometrist, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:37, closed)

well i have you see
my old gran will refer to the corner shop as the Paki's - because its run by a Pakistani family. she would be horrified and confused as to why this might be offensive. as i say, its an abbreviation.

you wouldn't be offended by the term indian or italian restaurant
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:02, closed)

Like I said, it's all in the context, and over the years the offensive context won.
I think as long as people like this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONVhpoM4V0c are more vocal than the majority then the term paki will remain offensive.
BTW, the vid is actually pretty funny. Full of h8trz, but they're mocked pretty well.
(Paolo Nutini's Bikini Better than Frederick Fleet's optometrist, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:19, closed)

I don't think I've ever heard "Paki" used as anything other than a term of abuse,
except in the context of "Paki shop" which (as with "Chinky" for a Chinese takeaway) is only used by those who grew up in a time when such offensive terms were generally accepted elements of everyday speech, and are too lazy/ignorant to bother modifying their own vocabulary.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 15:59, closed)

Never heard it used here as a racial
slur.
But then again apart from here I've never heard that being called an Australian or Aussie was racist.
Thanks plummie, AB, Shambo and a few others.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:39, closed)

I think Down Under it's used just as an abbreviation.
But I think it's more the cultural heritage of racism in Britain that' associated with it that's the issue.

Any word in the right context can be offensive, and if there's a general habit of it being written on a brick and put through your window at tea-time, it will start to be generally regarded as such.

Q.v. "Gay" meaning happy, homosexual, or - offensively to homosexuals - rubbish.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:41, closed)

¿uʍop ǝpısdn ƃuıǝq ǝʞıl ʇɐɥʍ
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:54, closed)

It's a British thing.
In the US Pakistanis don't object to it, unless they've lived in the UK. But much depends on how it's said. You can say it in an aggressive, dismissive, ridiculing way and people will be annoyed. Used as a general term from people from Pakistan it's fine. Just as in the southern US yankee is considered to be an insult, but elsewhere it simply means American.
( Wanderer, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 10:46, closed)

I had a dream
that Obama would begin his SOTU address with "My Niggers..."

Wasted opportunity.
(roysin, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:18, closed)

Oh man.
Now that was my dream.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 11:45, closed)

It's used by racists in the UK to describe *anyone* a bit brown, including people of Indian heritage.
(India & Pakistan don't have the *best* relationship, fyi)
( Tab Hunter Make this useless process end and so, begin again, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 12:05, closed)

I'm not sure that Paki will be reclaimed like Nigger has with black people
It appears to be a word that will forever remain tied with negative, derogatory connotations.
(RVD420 has his world coming down on, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 12:19, closed)

yeah coz niggers are cool innit

( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 12:31, closed)

edgy

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 13:34, closed)

Someone tried
In the 1970s the Pakistani ambassador in the UK had the numberplate PAK 1 on his official car. Also - I know some people (Kashmiri rather than Pakistani-proper) who use it among themselves as a term of endearment but I dont know how small a subset they are..
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 17:45, closed)

Kashmir belongs to the Indians!

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 17:53, closed)

My best mate at school (third-generation Indian British) used it indiscriminately as a general-purpose insult.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 19:20, closed)

Are you trolling or have you not thought this through properly?

( A Rory Borealis here under duress, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 13:42, closed)

It's grammatically wrong too.
It should really be "Pak", as "Pakistan" is Persian for "Land of the Paks".
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 19:18, closed)

"The Pak" ...
is what Indians call Pakistanis. I don't imagine it's complementary.
(Mr Gronk, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 21:15, closed)

Actually
Pakistan is persian for the land of the pure and actually it was orginally created as an acronym which means Punjab Afghan Kashmir Sind balochisTAN with the I added to ease prononunciation.
So says wikipedia.
(FrancisYorkMorgan Just call me York; that's what everyone calls me.., Tue 26 Feb 2013, 22:10, closed)

I object
to this most strongly.

"sheep-shagging" is for us Welshmen.
( social hand grenade I was a lurker before you were a lurker, Tue 26 Feb 2013, 21:45, closed)

Lot of Kiwis
might not agree with you.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Wed 27 Feb 2013, 8:00, closed)