Is it seen as racist or non-pc to refer to someone as 'coloured'?

[scrummyyummy]

What is the correct terminology these days? I'm sure I heard on the ITV lunch time news today the reporter talking about the recent racism row between the football players and he used the term 'coloured coaches'.

[sp1814]

Mick-Talbot

Ah - Françoise Pascal.

I believe that many a young man had what I shall euphemistically refer to as 'a crush' on her, during the first half of that bawdy decade.

[joko]

i think if an old person says it, its 'forgiven' as its accepted as being old fashioned rather than derogatory, but if a young person uses it i would think its be viewed as ignorance

i wonder if the term half caste just comes from the bi-racial, skin tone becoming similar to that of a pakistani person and people misunderstood the term caste...?
people in this country generally used to be very ignorant of that sort of thing

[andy-hughes]

sp1814 - not wishing to sidetrack the thread, but you are quite right that comedies such as 'Mind Your Language' and 'Love Thy Neighbour' have not travelled well in time for the simple reason of weak characterisations. The constant repetetive stereotypical characters were so flimsy to start with that they became tiresome very very quickly, and simply ran on the spot plot-wise until they were put out of their misery.

Any good comedy is character-based, and that character has to employ a degree of depth and interest - stereotyping does not hack it then, or now.

[venator]

To repeat myself, and the OP -

Can somebody answer the op, please? What correct terms are there these days?

I see racial origin being used - Afro Caribbean* etc on census forms, but there are "white" Afro Caribbeans",

Is any indication of skin colour permitted to be mentioned, as if it matters?

[Paul_M]

Yeah, Chunkles, if Sp1814 has social problems he should just chill out and accept there is no animosity, and at the same time realize there's no reason to get so worked up because the perception of racism nowadays is mostly bleated about and trotted forth by so called minorities. well , It's a non starter these days.

[sp1814]

Paul_M

Huh?

Could you point out what I've written to elicit such a response? I've explained that certain terms are old fashioned.

Furthermore, the terms 'coons' and 'spades' are derogatory. I assumed that chunkles was being ironic in his posting.

[FredPuli43]

Venator, the accepted adjective now is 'black '. 'Afro-Caribbean' , 'Afro-American' etc mean 'black' and are the 'official' terms, as applicable. Never heard of a white Afro-Caribbean, as mentioned earlier; Afro- is intended to refer to descent from an African people i.e black.

[Kristal53]

I was always brought up to believe calling someone 'black' was racist -anyway - most blacks are'nt black these days are they? (OMG is that a racist comment) Surely the very fact we feel the need to describe someones skin colour is racist in itself? Someone offends someone and if the person offended is balck then often times the racist card is thrown eventhough it may have nothing to do with the colour of the 'victims' skin. If someone black called me a pasty limey bitch i would assume its cos I was a bitch -not pasty and limey lol!

[pa___ul3]

sp - would calling someone bi-racial be a bit narrow? What happens if 2 bi-racial people have kids?
Also, I think mulato is a latin american term for people of mixed black and hispanic origin. Mistoso was a mix of hispanic and the native indigenous people, if my memory serves me right! I did cover this in Latin American studies in Uni but that was a while ago and never had to think about it since!

[anotheoldgit]

Zeuhl

Please don't quote from a source, that can not spell colour correctly.

Technically Black and White are not colours, but they are often falsely described as colours, in the absence of better words.

How else would one describe a Black Board that is very dark looking?

Much easier to make it a White Board, then we are not offending anyone, even those that think Black and White are true colours.

[Zeuhl]

Old Git

your ignorance of the english language is becoming tiresome but as you have expressed prjudice against a well respected dictionary because it is american i hereby quote from the Oxford dictionary.

As you will see, both black and white are 'colours'. Anything you were told at school in the olden days' is wrong now - assuming it was ever anything else.

Please read and learn.

Then please pipe down about things you choose to misunderstand.

black
noun

1 [mass noun] black colour or pigment: a tray decorated in black and green

Pronunciation: /blak/

adjective

1of the very darkest colour owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of white:

white
noun

1 [mass noun] white colour or pigment: garnet-red flowers flecked with white
Pronunciation: /wʌɪt/

adjective

1of the colour of milk or fresh snow, due to the reflection of all visible rays of light; the opposite of black

source: Oxford Dictionaries

http://oxforddictiona...inition/black?q=black

[sp1814]

pa___ul3

Ah - now you've hit upon something we were talking about at work...if two bi-racial people (say where both had a black parent and a white parent) had kids, their kids would also be bi-racial!

The reason why is because the children would still genetically be just made of two races - black and white.

[FredPuli43]

Kristal, yes, it's odd that 'black' was once thought racist, but the reason may be that South Africans referred to 'blacks' in the days of arpatheid. Americans in the segregated South, on the other hand, marked their segregated washrooms etc by the word 'colored(s)' . We Britons were swayed by the South African usage, with its racist connotations, and heard 'black' as racist, but the Americans came to regard 'colored' as racist. 'Black' is accepted in the US and, now, here.

[jno]

"coloureds" in South Africa were someone else again

[DaisyNonna]

This has always worried me. When does a person who has ancestors who are black and white become either black or white? There seems to be nothing in between which is acceptable. The emphasis also seems to veer towards black.
This is just curiosity on my behalf. I hope that it upsets no one.

[Shredder11]

We are all technically speaking coloured, but the non-white cultures obviously have the historical emotional baggage of slavery, which I believe is where the term coloured came from. So that is why they are angry at white people refering to them as coloured instead of black. I do think it is taken too far though, i.e. if a board is black, it is a black board! If that offends well tough!

[katdarn79]

Shredder11 i know what you mean, when my daughter was at school they had ba ba white sheep!!

[anotheoldgit]

Zeuhl

Who do you think you are? Don't you dare question my understanding of the English language and tell me to 'read and learn'.

You do not need to copy and paste definitions from Dictionary, because how else can they describe Black and White, if not as colours? I have already told you, they are not TECHNICALLY colours, as are the colours of the rainbow.

So put away your box of paints, and forget what you were told only a few years ago in your infant classes, because I am getting a little fed-up with your attitude, so I have now made the decision to no longer debate with you, seeing that you seem totally unable to conduct a polite exchange.

[Zeuhl]

^^

I'd tell you not to be such a big girl

but I think that would be insulting to girls