racial slurs and their insults

I have always heard the words and names in Canada for the other immigrants that are coming in. Some are said in jest, while some are said in malice. We have quite a few people working out in the western parts of Canada from Newfoundland and they are always refered to as the 'newfies'. As in "Johnny? sure, he is the newfie over there by the truck". Now, I have only heard one of the 'newfies' actually say that they didnt appreciate the term but that was always because I was telling him newfie jokes. Let's face it, in Canadian culture, newfies are about as big targets as blondes in the way of jokes and stereotypical intelligence. Mind you, these are the same people that brought us screech, kissing a cod and working for only 4-5 months of the year fishing and then going on UI for the other 7-8 months of the year and call that a living.

Then I got to reading a post by Lucky Tan and the loads of comments that followed, which I threw my two cents worth into the fray:

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2007/07/foreigner-scolds-singaporeans.html

seems that there is a bit of a disagreement as to what constitutes a racial slur or an insulting slur.

After some looking into the word anthropology of the racial slur 'chinks' I discovered more racial slurs than I really knew existed. This is one of the websites that give the names and a brief idea of where the name came from. http://gyral.blackshell.com/names.html Amazing isnt it? Here I thought it was only children that take a certain person, find one thing about them and make up childish and immature labels about that person that stick and then go to other kids that are similiar of the one child. Seems adults are just as good at name calling as children are.

Of course this brings up my points on what makes an insult an insult. Is it the implication of the name to the person, or what the person thinks that name implies? I have heard of some people that are not only ok with being called red necks, but they are proud to be a red neck and will describe themselves as one. A person I worked with in the past was proud to be called a red neck and Jeff Foxworthy not only calls himself a red neck but has made an entire famous career telling jokes about red necks (which usually end up to be himself and his family members). So, in that case, being a red neck is a good thing. However, there are some people that will grab the gun off their gun rack and beat you with the stock for even mentioning that they are being a red neck in their thinking. So, what makes the difference? the implication that the person implies, or the way that the person hears it? If you are happy to be called a red neck, then it is not a racial slur; but if you are unhappy with being called a red neck, then it is a racial slur?

If you were going to take this to the ultimate extreme, then that would have to be the N-word. The dreaded "nigger" word that is tossed around. The word that had Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" banned in many North American schools just because of the usage in it for one of the main characters. A word so horrible that even writing it down makes my spine tingle. A word that I heard one of my co-workers use to describe a job as "...doing N work" and not only I but 5 other members of the work crew refused to speak to him for days because we were insulted by his ignorance. This should be the mother of all insults right? If that is the case, then how come in rap songs by 'African American' (or whatever the PC term is these days) artists constantly refer to their 'friends' as the N word? You hear a group of people coming up and going "wuz up, my N" and they all act friendly and all, but you hear one white guy come up to that same group and ask "wuz up, my Ns" and there is a 99.9% chance that you are going to be finding that white guy beaten in the ditch somewhere (the other 0.1% of surviving is if he can run REALLY fast) and no one in the hearing vicinity will consider this a wrongful beating.

So, I it seems that the whole racial thing is a confusing state of affairs. If I find it insulting, then to show respect the word should not be used to describe me or around me. So, in that case, does everyone get a one free pass for the obvious? you can come up and call me an 'Ang Mo' (Singaporean slang for 'caucasian) once and when I either glare at you, not laugh with you or even say "I dont appreciate that word" then if you say it again in my presence the sayer is being the insulting ignorant prick and I am not being over sensitive, right?

Though does language negate the insult? I mean, if a chinese person comes up to me and says in english "why you being so ang mo?" meaning 'why am I acting like such a white guy', then could that be considered a racial slur since they are speaking english but using a word in another language when they could have used the english word like "why are you being so caucasian/white?" (I actually had one of the cooks I work with come up and see my work and go "how white of you" meaning "how civilized of you"...that guy got on my bad side instantly and I really didnt warm up to him)? What if that same person in the said that same sentence but in Hokkien, where ang mo is from. Does that mean it is a racial slur or insulting or innocent because it was used in the right language context since you really cant expect them to say it all in Hokkien but add 'caucasian' in where ang mo should be. If that is the case, does that mean I am being a racist if I say "stop being such a..." in mandarin and end it with 'chink' in english, but I am not being racist to say "stop being such a chink" all in english?