Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Is "Canadian" a Racial Slur?
by Jes
While the Southeastern United States lies on the same continent, it might as well be half way around the world. The customs, attitudes, and language of that region are just so vastly different then ours in Vancouver that if I ever happened to travel to Atlanta, I'd feel like I'd landed on a new planet.
Wayne, our Southern Correspondant, passes on a very strange tidbit about how the word 'Canadian' seems to have been adopted by some Southerners as a racial slur.
O RLY?
Last August, a blogger in Cincinnati going by the name CincyBlurg reported that a black friend from the southeastern U.S. had recently discovered that she was being called a Canadian. "She told me a story of when she was working in a shop in the South and she overheard some of her customers complaining that they were always waited on by a Canadian at that place. She didn't understand what they were talking about and assumed they must be talking about someone else," the blogger wrote.
"After this happened several times with different patrons, she mentioned it to one of her co-workers. He told her that ‘Canadian' was the new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using to describe persons they would have previously referred to [with the N-word.]"
Yeesh, how sad.
I don't even get it, either. Like our favourite 4-letter word, racial slurs tends to be short, forceful and direct, like a punch in the guy.
I find it very hard to say the word Canadian and sound all that nasty. It's like people who use FIDDLESTICKS in lieu of a real curse word. It just doesn't quite work.
To any black people who might end up being called 'Canadian', turn the tide on these suckas and proclaim that you are proud of such a designation.
"Damn right I am Canadian, eh! We have free health care, low crime, and better looking women!"
Labels: Canada vs. USA, Off-topic
Comments:
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I'm a native southerner and that's a new one to me, I can tell you that.
I know many of my brethren are pathetic sods, but please try to believe me when I say that we are not all like this.
I know many of my brethren are pathetic sods, but please try to believe me when I say that we are not all like this.
I can honestly say I have never heard that one before. Can't wait to hear that come it in a rap song, Ill pop a cap in you Canadian, or word to my Canadian.
Just doesn't flow.
Just doesn't flow.
# posted by 
: 9:50 am
: 9:50 am
Damn right I am Canadian, eh! We have free health care, low crime, and better looking women!"
It's not free, it's not low in Vancouver, and how can you tell under all that winter clothing.
It's not free, it's not low in Vancouver, and how can you tell under all that winter clothing.
# posted by : 10:21 am
: 10:21 am
Yeah, um, I've lived in the South for 23 years, currently Atlanta, and I've never heard that before. Ever.
# posted by : 11:47 am
: 11:47 am
Seems like CBC News, National Post and other Canadian news groups are also getting trolls too then.
They`re all reporting this story.
Really sounds like some time-delayed April Fools' joke.
Either that or I`m just a Canadian, duh!
They`re all reporting this story.
Really sounds like some time-delayed April Fools' joke.
Either that or I`m just a Canadian, duh!
# posted by : 12:51 pm
: 12:51 pm
If this is true (the only reason I sent it in the first place), then being called "Canadian" wouldn't bother me; I've been called "Oreo" so many times, I've stopped caring...
# posted by : 6:25 am
: 6:25 am
I use it all the time, but I think of it as an ethnic slur, not a racist one. ;)
# posted by : 9:08 am
: 9:08 am
Quick geography lesson - Texas and Kansas ARE NOT in the Southeast. Texas, as Texans will tell you, is not part of the Southeast. And Kansas is the mid-west. At least retract the part where you say this is happening in the Southeast, since it isn't. I don't care what that blogger in Cincinnati said.
# posted by : 9:10 am
: 9:10 am
Too funny. We are a lazy bunch up here, and afraid to be patriotic for the most part, but when it hits a hockey blog, we're all up in arms...
# posted by : 9:46 am
: 9:46 am
Lifetime Southerner here, and I spend a lot of time around Canadians because I'm a hockey fan.
I have never, EVER heard the word "Canadian" used as a slur. Whoever reported this got punk'd.
I have never, EVER heard the word "Canadian" used as a slur. Whoever reported this got punk'd.
# posted by : 11:40 am
: 11:40 am
1) Guess there is some validity to the story? Here is a story on the subject:
http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=261254
http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=261254
Interesting that the reports stem from Cincinnati, Kansas City and Houston... none of which are in the American southeast.
Sounds like the "racist southerner" element of the story is in fact bigoted in and of itself, stemming from the stereotype that southern whites are the source of all racism in North America.
Sounds like the "racist southerner" element of the story is in fact bigoted in and of itself, stemming from the stereotype that southern whites are the source of all racism in North America.
# posted by : 8:35 am
: 8:35 am
As a lifelong Southerner, I can tell you this is like the old story (even printed in The New York Times) that Southerners were addicted to eating clay to the extent that construction sites in the South had to be guarded lest hungry crackers devour the fill dirt. I have never heard Canadian used as a derogatory term. A lot of Southerners don't even know Canada exists.
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