I was surprised about “wog” too. I’m a Melburnian and reading some of the comments here just made me realise it could just be a Melbourne thing. A lot of my friends refer to themselves by that term and want us to use it too as a sign of closeness/affection.
I’d never heard Paki in Australia before either.
Really it’s all about intent and intonation. Given what we call close friends and sworn enemies alike ;)
I grew up watching Cricket in the 80’s and “Paki” literally meant a player from Pakistan, like “Pom” for England, “Kiwi” for New Zealand and “Aussie” for Australia. It wasn’t a slur at all. Thanks to the Internet, I am aware that it has a very different connotation in the UK. The term has fallen out of use for obvious reasons, but if I heard someone referring to the Pakistani Cricket team as “Pakis”, I would no assume any malice at all.
That said, Sam Kerr has lived in the UK for long enough that she would be aware this is not appropriate. Ever.
Not that we know what the details are, and this pure speculation isn’t really achieving anything.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you should just use it at random and it’s acceptable. As with even words like “queer” you should know whether they’re OK with using the term to refer to someone rather than just assume they’re OK with it.
Completely agree. I will admit Australians are terrible at casual racism then when someone gets (rightly) riled up the response is “it was just a joke!” is super common too, which is just doubly insulting.
I was surprised about “wog” too. I’m a Melburnian and reading some of the comments here just made me realise it could just be a Melbourne thing. A lot of my friends refer to themselves by that term and want us to use it too as a sign of closeness/affection.
I’d never heard Paki in Australia before either.
Really it’s all about intent and intonation. Given what we call close friends and sworn enemies alike ;)
I grew up watching Cricket in the 80’s and “Paki” literally meant a player from Pakistan, like “Pom” for England, “Kiwi” for New Zealand and “Aussie” for Australia. It wasn’t a slur at all. Thanks to the Internet, I am aware that it has a very different connotation in the UK. The term has fallen out of use for obvious reasons, but if I heard someone referring to the Pakistani Cricket team as “Pakis”, I would no assume any malice at all.
That said, Sam Kerr has lived in the UK for long enough that she would be aware this is not appropriate. Ever.
Not that we know what the details are, and this pure speculation isn’t really achieving anything.
To be honest I don’t follow any sports at all, was just curious about what was going on. But you’re right, speculation doesn’t help anyone.
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Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you should just use it at random and it’s acceptable. As with even words like “queer” you should know whether they’re OK with using the term to refer to someone rather than just assume they’re OK with it.
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Completely agree. I will admit Australians are terrible at casual racism then when someone gets (rightly) riled up the response is “it was just a joke!” is super common too, which is just doubly insulting.