I have found it is in common usage and to me it basically means white boy. Nothing insulting by it.
Some places in the south commonly referred to Blacks as "pick-a-ninnies"..
Supposedly it was fairly common in some place, but I'm sure they never meant anything insulting by it.
The POINT that TJ seems to want to avoid is that it's irrelevant whether it's usage in this current day is "harmless". The origin of the term, "Gweilo" has it's origin in xenophobic and racist ideas related to how Chinese culture perceives itself amongst the rest of humanity.
Trying to avoid, or justify it's usage avoids the basis upon which the term originated.
And just because you translate it as "white boy", it means "ghost man" in Chinese and represents how historical Chinese culture has perceived foreigners by skin color.
It's very similar to how many Latins still refer to Americans as "gringos". When I was serving in the jungles of Panama, doing a humanitarian military assistance mission, all the locals referred to us as "gringos". I started passing the word, politely and tactfully, that, in general, Americans consider the term to be derogatory and insulting.
Word got out not to call the US soldiers Gringos.. And harmony was preserved, on both sides.
Discrimination will continue to exist in our societies so long as people excuse categorizing people by color, race, sex, or creed rather than the color of the blood that courses through their veins and the ideas that form in their minds.
Hawk |
