• grue@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      What, like a shortened version of “Pakistani?” I guess maybe that could be a thing in the States, but I’ve literally never heard it.

      I could see how it could piss off an Indian-American, though (just as I could see how being called “Indian” could piss off a Pakistani-American).

        • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          Afaik it’s definitely a slur here in the US, but most people have never met a Pakistani person and thus don’t know to be racist against them.

          • candybrie@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            They may have met Pakistani people but aren’t going to pay enough attention to know that. They’ll just go with some generic Muslim slur (it does not matter if they aren’t Muslim).

            • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              They’ll just go with some generic Muslim slur (it does not matter if they aren’t Muslim).

              “Towel head” is probably the most common slur for Muslims here in the US - and they don’t even know that they’re referring to Sikhs, not Muslims.

              • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                Hoo, I’m glad you don’t live around racists. They’ve moved on from “towel head” and now refer to them as “sand n-”

                • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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                  3 months ago

                  I am unfortunately around a lot of racists at work (school bus driver). We have a few black drivers so they can’t really use the second term you mentioned. They actually use “native” to refer to black people in polite company, a euphemism about as clever as “let’s go Brandon”.

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          Its a bit of a linguistic curiosity, because while it’s highly offensive in the UK, here in Boston, it’s a local/colloquial name for “liquor store” (literally, “packie” = “package store” as in “package of booze”). The more noticeable the townie accent, the more likely you’ll hear that term.

          • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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            3 months ago

            I have actually had British friends look at me like I had 2 heads when I asked what kind of beer they wanted at the packie