No Political correctness here.

Discussion in 'The Lounge Bar' started by 51highland, Feb 17, 2020.

  1. 51highland

    51highland Very Senior Member

    Searching some patrol reports from February 1943, I found these. I wonder how many sharp intakes of breath there would be if these were read out aloud in this day and age?
     

    Attached Files:

  2. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Pretty common usage in some of the war diaries covering Tunisia..
     
  3. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    Wily Oriental Gentleman. Bit of a backhanded compliment in certain quarters. How times change.
     
  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I've read similar descriptions in many war diaries relating to the Burma Campaign and much later on in Regimental Journals for the Malayan and Borneo Campaigns too.
     
  5. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Apparently it's not an offensive word in Australia. I know an Australian here in UK who is known as W*g and introduces himself as such. Great fun down the pub watching strangers reaction to "Come on W*g - get the drinks in".

    Use in Australian English
    In Australia, the term "wog" refers to residents of Southern European, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern ethnicity or appearance. The slur became widely diffused with an increase in immigration from Europe and the Levant after the Second World War and the term expanded to include immigrants from the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. These new arrivals were perceived by the majority population as contrasting with the larger predominant Anglo Protestant/Irish Australian/Anglo-Australian/Anglo-Celtic Australian culture.

    Today, "wog" is used particularly in places in Australia with substantial Southern European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern populations; mainly Sydney and Melbourne. As with other slang and prima facie profanity used in contemporary Australian English, the term "wog" may be employed either aggressively or affectionately within differing contexts.

    In Australian English, "wog" can also be used as a slang word for an illness such as a common cold or influenza, as in: "I'm coming down with a wog". Such usage is not perceived as derogatory.[12]
    Wog - Wikipedia

    Tim
     
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  6. idler

    idler GeneralList

    I'm triggered!

    It's such a naughty word even rappers don't use it to describe themselves...
     
  7. Don Juan

    Don Juan Well-Known Member

    There are some very sweeping and trenchant opinions of the Chinese in some of the Korean War diaries.
     
  8. Blutto

    Blutto Banned

    Golly!
     
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  9. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    I wonder what the 'other side' said about 'us'.
     
  10. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    I an tell you that the term was in frequent use by military personnel in the early 1950s when the British had a military presence in the Middle East and the Far East.

    There have been social changes since then but I would think by the time the British left the Middle East and ultimately the Far East,the use of the term declined in military personnel informal conversation.

    Oh...Chinkies
     
  11. TriciaF

    TriciaF Junior Member

    "I wonder what the 'other side' said about 'us'."
    I used to belong to a forum for black people.Sometimes they called a white person a 'bluefoot'.
    I'm white, btw, but joined the forum to try to understand better a black person's views.
     
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  12. idler

    idler GeneralList

    I'm inevitably referred to as 'mat salleh' by the better half's compatriots (and worse by her, to be fair). No-one really seems to know where it came from or what it means. The best guess is it's a corruption of 'mad sailor', or maybe that's just a cover for something worse...
     
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  13. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    I worked in Malaysia many years ago and acquired a 'nickname'. After a few weeks I decided to ask what it meant - it was a Cantonese word - and was, after a little persuasion, told it translated as 'red-faced monkey'. I thought it quite hilarious, especially when it transpired I had developed a reputation for outside working irrespective of the weather - "mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun" and all that.....and hence the red face. All quite logical really.
     
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  14. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    A good friend, who arrived here from Vietnam some 30 years ago, refers to his two Canadian born daughters as "bananas". Yellow on the outside, white on the inside.

    Because his older brother had been an ARVN officer, his family had a particularly rough time and his 2 year odyssey to reach Canada was simply horrific.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2020
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