Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 14:47:28 +0400
From: "Dr. Salwa Ghaly" <sghaly-AT-sharjah.ac.ae>
Subject: Re: Question: Race/Color & Thinking modes


Back in the mid-eighties in Princeton, I repeatedly heard African American
students refer to one black dean as a "banana," black from the outside, but white
from the inside.

In light of this disucssion, is it fair to suggest that many of those terms
migrated in usage from one ethnic or racial group to another?

Salwa

Dktatlow-AT-aol.com wrote:

> Soumya,
>
> a wog is, as far as i know, a "worthy oriental gentleman". and it's worth
> mentioning that for the British, who are said to have coined the term, "all
> wogs start at Calais." or so the story goes. it seems the ladies weren't
> worth classifying (wol?)
>
> the "banana" for people of asian descent with "western" minds is indeed
> common as a ironic term among asians who emigrate especially to the u.s. --
> so is the opposite, the "egg", though that is a rarer species. the egg would
> be someone who is white outside but who has thoroughly adapted to asia,
> either through birth or through long residence. of course, not all whites who
> fall into this geographic category would qualify (in fact very few of them
> do.)
>
> what a funny discussion!



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