"Canadian" is the new "nigger"

[topaz]

"Canadian" has become the new slur for "black" in some parts of the South, according to Canada's National Post.

I am so boggled I do not know where to begin.  Thanks be to kcatalyst for the tip.

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

But this development is corroborated by other sources, such as the linguistics blog Language Log (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005321.html) (which may well be kcatalyst's original source, if she didn't hear about it on the American Dialect Society Mailing List first).

I'm not sure "slur" is the right term because, as I understand it, it's not used directly to blacks, only in reference to them. That is, bigots wouldn't scream "CANADIANS!" at blacks on the street, but one bigot would say to another, "Ya see those fuckin' Canadians?"

[rwx.livejournal.com]

The language log data though seems to be more about canadians as poor tippers rather than 'canadian' as a linguistic dodge.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

We must be following different links. Did you read the entries in Mark Bennett's (http://www.bennettandbennett.com/blog/2008/01/memo-to-kelly-siegler-blame-canada.html) and Bill Sloat's (http://thebellwetherdaily.blogspot.com/2007/08/ohiosphere-tale-of-day-xi-canadian-as.html) blogs?

[rwx.livejournal.com]

whoops, I missed the first link and spent time reading around on the mailing list. Interesting, although one of the mailing list links goes to a longer discussion of Mark Bennett's.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

Well, one (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0704d&L=ads-l&F=&S=&P=18207) of the mailing list posts points to these:
http://www.sternfannetwork.com/forum/showthread/t-187466.html
http://www.edmplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2301347

I can only get to the second of those, which includes a post with this gem:
"i have the volume up and a not so loud level and a window open...and this....CANADIAN, we will say....knocks on my door and asks me to turn it down [...] i listen to your stupid ass rap shit when u have bbq in the parking lot where everyone BUT the white people are invited" etc.

That is suggestive. But it's the only non-national post reference I could find that links Canadians to non-white people and doesn't involve restaurant tipping.

Gonna keep looking around.

[rwx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've found a few other references. I was initially suspect because of the source, but it seems like it happens to some extent at least. weird.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

The more I think about it, I wonder if poor tipping might be the original connexion--or at least one of them. I didn't know about this reputation among Canadians, but blacks seem to be notorious for undertipping with a lot of servers.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

I hear you. I'm not convinced that the euphemism is very widespread, though.

That is, other than servers I know and talk to complaining about actual Canadians from Canada not tipping well at restaurants near the local beaches and historical attractions.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda curious to see whether all this exposure will force adoption of a new code term or if it will only boost usage of "Canadian" among previously unexposed groups--or both.