tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post4812724125260637775..comments2023-10-24T05:49:04.269-04:00Comments on The Chaliceblog: Ethnic slurs for Ethnicities that don't really exist anymoreChalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-26335162574077072602009-11-21T00:08:07.213-05:002009-11-21T00:08:07.213-05:00"Philistine (usually transliterated Filistin)..."Philistine (usually transliterated Filistin) is just the Arabic word for Palestinian."<br /><br />Wiktionary claims it's Czech and Turkish.<br />http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Filišt%C3%ADnPGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-25156569142924768862009-11-20T13:25:25.533-05:002009-11-20T13:25:25.533-05:00So Cretan is off the table, too?So Cretan is off the table, too?Strange Attractorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16164412906076335124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-21749472542244929342009-11-20T11:29:38.717-05:002009-11-20T11:29:38.717-05:00I think "Philistine" in the Anglo-Americ...I think "Philistine" in the Anglo-American context is not at all racially or ethnically offensive. Whenever I have seen or heard it used, it was utterly detached from any ethnic meaning and was in fact the opposite of a stereotype; it was a judgment of an individual, generally one of the same ethnicity as the person making the insult. <br /><br />However, I think the history of the word might make it more questionable in other contexts, e.g. if used by a Jew toward a non-Jewish Middle Easterner, since the pejorative arose in a historical text regarding Jewish people.PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-78755594712413565782009-11-20T10:11:14.385-05:002009-11-20T10:11:14.385-05:00Technically, I believe the word "Palestine&qu...Technically, I believe the word "Palestine" is derived from "Philistine", so maybe a Palestinian could find offense? For most historical ethnicities, there's probably some modern group that have a claim to be descendants.<br /><br />And, to play devil's advocate, are ethnic slurs wrong just because someone might be offended by them, or because in general stereotyping behavior based on someone's ethnicity is just inherently wrong?Satorinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-30177755338270276702009-11-20T09:59:20.172-05:002009-11-20T09:59:20.172-05:00"Look at me, I'm a bohemian with an expen..."Look at me, I'm a bohemian with an expensive education" <br /><br />As a person with ancestors from Bohemia, I'm gravely offended that you did not capitalize my ethnicity. ;)<br /><br />About "philistine," are ethnic slurs bad because they offend/hurt individuals of that ethnicity? Or are they bad because they support the concept that some ethnicities are better than others -- "stars upon thars" and all that?Evenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-82395240481622296282009-11-20T09:37:26.327-05:002009-11-20T09:37:26.327-05:00I think there are all sorts of words we should esc...I think there are all sorts of words we should eschew out of common decency and care for those they might hurt.<br /><br />But offense by proxy on behalf of populations that don't exist?<br /><br />I think raising an abstraction like this is more about those who don't quite get why we should be careful about language.<br /><br />I suspect this isn't you, CC...<br /><br />Unless you're stirring a pot...<br /><br />PS: As someone who now has expensive degrees, but came by them late, and well after his vocabulary was built, Philistine I think belongs to anyone raised with a Bible in the house...Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03320860122104064884noreply@blogger.com