He should have some … (what’s the Korean word for coolies?) pulling it.
Wow, I thought I had heard the end of that word. I guess it is alive and well in the son of David’s world.
But I will also guess Ben will argue he means the “Indian” word for labourer; in which case, why not ask the Korean word for…”labourer”?
michaelwme: At the risk of sounding too politically correct, bear in mind contexts.
I well aware of the Indian word and its current usage hence my side reference to it in my initial comment (it’s still there). But Ben_David is an American(?) and context is key in its usage. Coolie in, say, the USA, is not going to have the same meaning as used in an Indian train station or streets, or in my native South Africa (where it is derogative of Indians) or in a Korean context where likely what is used is slave labour in gulag style North Korean prisons (see a cartoon by the Singaporean cartoonist, Heng, in today’s ViewsAsia.
In Portuguese if one is referring to races, one would use the word “negro” for blacks & “branco” for whites. But I wouldn’t use negro in an American context, just as one hopes you wouldn’t use the Portuguese word for the colour black, “preto”, since that is the pejorative race term in Portuguese.
The origin of the word may have been Indian and later referred to indentured workers (the new slave-labour class) but the contexts have differed. Try calling someone of Asian origin in the USA a “coolie” and let me know their reaction. Pleading ignorance of its derogative meaning would be suspect since in the USA it became a well known pejorative term for Chinese labourers which even I am aware of.
Korea isn’t Indian nor Chinese.
Would one automatically assume, in this cartoon’s context, that the coolie reference is for an Indian train porter or a rickshaw puller? How many people even know that vs.the perjorative names?
Like I said before, why not ask ”(what’s the Korean word for …labourers?) “ or rickshaw puller/driver…But then I guess it ruins the effect of the comment. :-|
I was referring to the (formerly common?) word used for Chinese laborers, but in this case to be in a Korean context. Merriam-Webster says that it’s a “Hindi & Urdu” word for “an unskilled laborer or porter usually in or from the Far East hired for low or subsistence wages” and doesn’t show it to be derogatory.
It isn’t derogatory in India from whence it came, but it has become derogatory just about everywhere else. I’ve just asked 3 of my Indian co-workers and they confirm what I said in my first post, it is a common name for a porter or labourer in India and shouldn’t be considered pejorative. In an Indian context.
In South Africa, however, Indians themselves would be insulted because there it has become a word on par with kaffir.
But I wasn’t referring to a South African context even.
And you confirm that the Indian term wasn’t your intent, you refer to the term used for the Chinese indentured workers who were mostly brought in to work on the railways in the 19th century.
However, since you’re suggesting your intent was innocent and brought up the definition from the Miriam-Webster dictionary which doesn’t make mention of the pejorative connotation, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
Try looking it up on wikipedia and I also suggest you try asking anyone of Asian descent in the USA whether they mind being called a coolie; and would they consider it on par with the n-word in your country.
ben_david over 14 years ago
He should have some … (what’s the Korean word for coolies?) pulling it.
OmqR-IV.0 over 14 years ago
ben_david said, 26 minutes ago
He should have some … (what’s the Korean word for coolies?) pulling it.
Wow, I thought I had heard the end of that word. I guess it is alive and well in the son of David’s world. But I will also guess Ben will argue he means the “Indian” word for labourer; in which case, why not ask the Korean word for…”labourer”?
toasteroven over 14 years ago
Man, that’s a poor attempt at drawing a warhead.
Put a grin on it, and it’d look like of those bullet things from Mario, though.
kit_jefferson over 14 years ago
Talk about over compensation.
Dtroutma over 14 years ago
If this is the “warhead” , it’s no threat because their missiles don’t have anywhere near this much throw weight capability.
CorosiveFrog Premium Member over 14 years ago
The phallic look of missiles makes me smile every time they are with a politician in a toon.
chromosome Premium Member over 14 years ago
Want to see a really ugly warhead? Check out “http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/hb027.jpg”
comYics over 14 years ago
He should have drew it with the USA and Russia running beside him with theirs.
OmqR-IV.0 over 14 years ago
michaelwme: At the risk of sounding too politically correct, bear in mind contexts. I well aware of the Indian word and its current usage hence my side reference to it in my initial comment (it’s still there). But Ben_David is an American(?) and context is key in its usage. Coolie in, say, the USA, is not going to have the same meaning as used in an Indian train station or streets, or in my native South Africa (where it is derogative of Indians) or in a Korean context where likely what is used is slave labour in gulag style North Korean prisons (see a cartoon by the Singaporean cartoonist, Heng, in today’s ViewsAsia.
In Portuguese if one is referring to races, one would use the word “negro” for blacks & “branco” for whites. But I wouldn’t use negro in an American context, just as one hopes you wouldn’t use the Portuguese word for the colour black, “preto”, since that is the pejorative race term in Portuguese.
The origin of the word may have been Indian and later referred to indentured workers (the new slave-labour class) but the contexts have differed. Try calling someone of Asian origin in the USA a “coolie” and let me know their reaction. Pleading ignorance of its derogative meaning would be suspect since in the USA it became a well known pejorative term for Chinese labourers which even I am aware of.
Korea isn’t Indian nor Chinese. Would one automatically assume, in this cartoon’s context, that the coolie reference is for an Indian train porter or a rickshaw puller? How many people even know that vs.the perjorative names? Like I said before, why not ask ”(what’s the Korean word for …labourers?) “ or rickshaw puller/driver…But then I guess it ruins the effect of the comment. :-|
ben_david over 14 years ago
I was referring to the (formerly common?) word used for Chinese laborers, but in this case to be in a Korean context. Merriam-Webster says that it’s a “Hindi & Urdu” word for “an unskilled laborer or porter usually in or from the Far East hired for low or subsistence wages” and doesn’t show it to be derogatory.
OmqR-IV.0 over 14 years ago
It isn’t derogatory in India from whence it came, but it has become derogatory just about everywhere else. I’ve just asked 3 of my Indian co-workers and they confirm what I said in my first post, it is a common name for a porter or labourer in India and shouldn’t be considered pejorative. In an Indian context. In South Africa, however, Indians themselves would be insulted because there it has become a word on par with kaffir. But I wasn’t referring to a South African context even. And you confirm that the Indian term wasn’t your intent, you refer to the term used for the Chinese indentured workers who were mostly brought in to work on the railways in the 19th century. However, since you’re suggesting your intent was innocent and brought up the definition from the Miriam-Webster dictionary which doesn’t make mention of the pejorative connotation, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Try looking it up on wikipedia and I also suggest you try asking anyone of Asian descent in the USA whether they mind being called a coolie; and would they consider it on par with the n-word in your country.