Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Terms for ’foreigner’ - good and bad

 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
30 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3
tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4709 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 25 of 30
29 May 2013 at 9:05pm | IP Logged 
I think I have mentioned this before, but I didn't find the Icelanders to be particularly
unfriendly...but that might also be because a) I was a tourist (so they got money), but I
also didn't find it to be the case with the Icelanders I met up with (although I didn't
speak Icelandic at the time. Actually I still don't really.)

In Dutch it's also "outside-landers", or the dreaded "allochthonous vs autochthonous
(allochtoon vs autochtoon). Buitenlander has no derogatory connotation, allochtoon is
used to mean "is not of Dutch descent", usually in some derogatory way - and sometimes
it's used in schools to get more money from the government; "vreemdeling" means
"stranger" (also in the sense that a person is strange).

Edited by tarvos on 29 May 2013 at 9:07pm

1 person has voted this message useful



liddytime
Pentaglot
Senior Member
United States
mainlymagyar.wordpre
Joined 6231 days ago

693 posts - 1328 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician
Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 26 of 30
31 May 2013 at 2:07am | IP Logged 
One of my favorite terms for foreigner comes from Hawaiian; haole (sounds like howlee). In Hawaiian haole means
"ghost". You can imagine how odd the first white explorers looked to the Hawaiians and the name stuck!

Growing up in Southern California, a name I saw tossed around a lot was "kook". This could describe anyone who
showed up on your local beach who was clearly not from there. Eg: " Arrgh! Those kooks totally cut me off!! Go
back to Nebraska, kooks!!!" I doubt this is still used, however, as California slang seems to change as much as the
weather does there....
1 person has voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5264 days ago

2241 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 27 of 30
31 May 2013 at 3:09am | IP Logged 
In Haitian Creole the term is "blan" and it doesn't matter if you are black or white, non-Haitian = "blan". As RG pointed out about "turco" in Brazil, "turco" is universally used in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean to mean an Arab. This stems from the fact that most of the immigration of Syrians and Lebanese to the Caribbean and Latin America occurred when the Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled the middle-east before World War 1. Most Arabs traveled with Turkish passports. So, Arab = "turco", at least in the DR, Puerto Rico and Caribbean Colombia.

Years ago when I visited Newfoundland, I heard the term "CFA" for "come from away" to mean anyone who wasn't a Newfie.

Edited by iguanamon on 31 May 2013 at 3:09am

2 persons have voted this message useful



Fuenf_Katzen
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
notjustajd.wordpress
Joined 4371 days ago

337 posts - 476 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans

 
 Message 28 of 30
31 May 2013 at 7:56pm | IP Logged 
meramarina wrote:
This one is a regional USA term, specific to The New Jersey shore, where I lived until recently. If you don't live there, you are a "Benny." No connection, by the way, with the famous polyglot of that name!

This article explains the term:

Bennies

The local newspaper had a feature with a photo of someone at the beach, and you had to guess if the person was a Benny or Not a Benny. Some cars had bumper stickers with a message "Benny go home!" so if the Irish Polyglot ever visits the area, he should be told about this first!

It's not very friendly or welcoming. I never had a problem with Bennies. And most people don't. it's OK to be one and not always derogatory.



I grew up going down to Seaside Heights, so I've definitely been on the receiving end of the "Benny" term! It's not even like people will directly come up to you and refer to you as one, but on the boardwalks it's not uncommon to see a definite feeling of resentment towards outsiders.

Though I must say, when I was out there this past week, I didn't notice that sentiment.   
1 person has voted this message useful





meramarina
Diglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 5969 days ago

1341 posts - 2303 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Italian, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 29 of 30
31 May 2013 at 8:35pm | IP Logged 
Yes the Benny designation isn't very nice. It may go out of use - I hope so - after the NJ shore areas suffered such severe destruction in the hurricane last year. "Bennies" are very much needed to restore the economy now. I miss the place terribly.
1 person has voted this message useful



Jake Day
Newbie
United States
Joined 5031 days ago

30 posts - 35 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 30 of 30
30 July 2013 at 5:35am | IP Logged 
In the southwest US and northern and coastal Mexico, the Spanish term "gringo" (which literally means "foreign" or
"foreigner") used to be offensive, but seems to be pretty much acceptable nowadays. Truly offensive is the term
"gabacho" (usually used to refer to an Anglo-American).


1 person has voted this message useful



This discussion contains 30 messages over 4 pages: << Prev 1 2 3

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.5000 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.