Southern racists adopt "Canadian" as a euphemism for "black"

[god]

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/27...cists-ado.html

From Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

The Canadian National Post looks on with mild horror as American linguists report on the growing trend in the American south to use "Canadian" as a masking euphemism for black people, so that white racists can say socially inappropriate things without tipping listeners off about the cancer in their souls.

Last August, a blogger in Cincinnati going by the name CincyBlurg reported that a black friend from the southeastern U.S. had recently discovered that she was being called a Canadian. "She told me a story of when she was working in a shop in the South and she overheard some of her customers complaining that they were always waited on by a Canadian at that place. She didn't understand what they were talking about and assumed they must be talking about someone else," the blogger wrote.

"After this happened several times with different patrons, she mentioned it to one of her co-workers. He told her that ???Canadian' was the new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using to describe persons they would have previously referred to [with the N-word.]"

A similar case in Kansas City was reported last year on a Listserv, or electronic mailing list, used by linguistics experts. A University of Kansas linguist said that a waitress friend reported that "fellow workers used to use a name for inner-city families that were known to not leave a tip: Canadians. ???Hey, we have a table of Canadians.... They're all yours.' "

[Rhian]

[QUOTE=god;347759[/QUOTE]

I guess I won't be going there. Fantastic.

[windowsanddoors]

that has to be the funniest shit i have ever heard. my question is... do they call Canadians niggers now?

[Rye]

does this mean Im called a nigger now?

[windowsanddoors]

Originally Posted by Rye

does this mean Im called a nigger now?

i believe i asked that.

[kataish]

That is the most retarded thing I've ever read.

[ihatethesooners]

That's been common practice in the restaurant and bar business for years. Waitresses constantly argue over who is going to get the table of Canadians because they know that there generally will not be a tip no matter how hard they work. I don't think it's exclusively a southern thing though, as I've heard it from waiters and bartenders from all over. Specifically friends from Boston, Scottsdale and Chicago.

[naes]

Here in New Mexico, its with native americans. They dont tip very much or often. And it sucks. My wife worked at an applebees for a while, and tips is the real money. 2 bucks an hour. And if they work at night, they spend up to two hours shutting the place down. At 2 dollars an hour.

[god]

Originally Posted by ihatethesooners

That's been common practice in the restaurant and bar business for years. Waitresses constantly argue over who is going to get the table of Canadians because they know that there generally will not be a tip no matter how hard they work. I don't think it's exclusively a southern thing though, as I've heard it from waiters and bartenders from all over. Specifically friends from Boston, Scottsdale and Chicago.

The point was that in the south they call black people Canadians, not that they don't tip.

[Mr_ex]

I didn't realize how many racists were here in Canada. I hear them use it everywhere. Canadian Dollar, Canadian Tire, Molsons Canadian, Canadian Medical Association. I had no idea they meant the N-word.