Words for furreners - Wordsmith.org

Hi y'all - loooong time no post, and I've missed you all muchly.

I've just spent some time travelling in the Pacific (I was closer to MaxQ and Bingley than to all you mainland US posters, which was a first for me) and had a question come to mind.

Many places seem to have a word for people not from that place - examples include gringo in Mexico, gaijin in Japan, and haole in Hawaii and, by extension, Pacific islands elsewhere (I heard it used on both Guam and Saipan). Haole even has modifiers applied to it - hapa haole meaning someone is half-islander and half-off-islander.

Are there other words that people use around the world to denote them folks from elsewhere? I can't think of any in the mainland US, perhaps because we're such a mutt nation, but maybe there are regional terms I haven't heard.

Related to my first question, what is the tone of any of these words for foreigner? "Gringo" does not usually have very positive connotations in Mexico, but it's not necessarily insulting either. I do a lot of work in Mexico and as I've gotten to know people there well, they'll use the term in a bantering sort of way (at least I think that's how they're using it...).

I don't know about gaijin's tone, but I know it's very widely used, so I suspect it's not overly offensive. Anyway, I'm interested in what these words are and whether they're used to simply state that someone ain't from around here, or to suggest that that someone is a foreign barbarian.

Oh - thought of another one, or at least a similar one - goyim. Any more, my long-lost AWAD friends?

Sadaharu Oh, the professional baseball home run king, was gaijin even though he was born in Tokyo. His father was Chinese. So it can't automatically be considered negative.

I always thought "gringo" was a specific reference to americans (or perhaps to white-skinned people. somehow i always assumed "gringo" actually meant white-skin ~ how *does it translate?). is it used for *all non-mexican nationals? would, say, italian folks visiting Cabo would be referred to by the locals as gringos?

and FWIW, in my experience "gringo" is generally only mildly--and usually in jest--pejorative

oh, and welcome back, hyla... we've missed you, too!

Many times have I been called a gringa, most times with only a very slight perjorative tinge. It is generally used only for USns and could actually be compared in value to n***er. One time, my father in-law was having a good time gringo bashing so I called him a beaner(with love, my tongue in cheek, and my heart in my mouth), just to illustrate that I felt that tinge. He didn't much like being called a beaner by someone he loved and conceded me the point. My ex-husband used to introduce me to new people as a Canadian. He thought that would be an advantageHi Ginette

.I usually didn't mind being called gringa by people that knew me. When I did mind it was when strangers called me that with the extremely perjorative intention. The Americans that truely deserve that appellation generally don't understand it anyway. There were times and places where I was ashamed of my fellow countrymen and their bad behavior. Anyway, it is my understanding that "gringo" stems from the war fought against General SantaAnna along the Texas/Mexican border. "Green Grow the Lilacs" was a popular song at that time and the American soldiers on sentry duty seemed to like singing it, thus "Green Grow" became "Gringo" as in "Shhh. Listen to those crazy gringos singing" as the Mexican soldiers crept closer to the bivoacs.

A Californian I knew in college told me that "palo blanco" was choice Mexican epithet for USns. If I recall correctly there was an allusion to a disease resulting in a depigmented membrum virile.

AHD indicates "gringo" was an earlier Spanish word, originally meaning "Greek" but then extended to mean any foreigner, much in the sense of "It's all Greek to me", or "one foreigner is the same as any other." (That proverb is clearly older.)

See http://www.snopes2.com/language/stories/gringo.htm for the same view -- but suggesting that the Spanish-American War, 1846-1848, may have brought this word from Spanish into English.

Edit: Apparently there has been some controversey over the "green grow" and "greek" theories. Various sources are summarized, with links, at:
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20000821.html

Be that as it may, I was given the explanation by a Mexican. Also, I don't hear many Spaniards use that appellation, but I have heard many Mexicans do so. My Peque�o Larousse Illustrado also mentions the English as being included under gringo.

(1) I know the word has racist connotations when used by those short of hair and social skills in Germany, but nonetheless it's a good descriptive word - "auslander" (sp?) (=out lander).

(2) Somebody will be able to help me with the chinese phrase - something like "gwai loh" (=foreigh devil)

(3) Broken Hill is a very remote mining town/city in outback New South Wales. For more than a hundred years it's been a strongly parochial place to the point where an apprenticeship in the mines was virtually an impossible dream if you weren't born in the town. Folks not born in Broken Hill were referred to as "coming from away".

This reminds me of the little I know about the New England Puritans - don't they say something like this? I remember the movies with Harris Ford (Witness) and others whereby non-Puritans were referred to collectively as "the English".

stales

Being careful here.

Hyla, I assume you are asking about words that mean "foreigner", rather than a specific type of foreigner. The latter would of course include numerous offensive ethnic slurs. I could rattle off a dozen off the top of my head, and I suspect that those who have lived in such a polyglot city as New York hi, Helen! could quickly add to the list.

"Scholars are not in agreement about the correct use and origin of this word."

"Gringo in Malaga, what they call foreigners who (have) a certain kind of accent which prevents their speaking Spanish with ease and spontaneity; in Madrid the case is the same, and for some reason, especially with respect to the Irish."

"Another instance of its early use is in Bustamante's 1841 edition of Francisco Javier Alegre's Historia de la Companis de Jes�s en la Nueva Espa�a, in which he explains that the Spanish soldiers sent to Mexico in 1767 by Charles III were called gringos by the Mexican people."

Quotes from J.H. Coffman, Scottsdale, AZ in a letter to the editor in "Honduras This Week"

[scratching my head-e] Okay, so first they say it was a term used to describe people who couldn't pronounce Spanish because of their accents. Then they say it was used by the Mexicans when refering to Spanish soldiers.

I can totally see some Mexican soldiers making fun of the American soldiers, maybe even punning off Greek sexual habits, but I have to say that it seems that until the mid 1800's, gringo was not a word that was used much until the Mexicans started applying it to Americans.

To go back in history, "welch" comes from a Germanic root meaning foreigner.

From hazy high school memories:

Gaijin translates literally as "white man", but tends to be applied to anyone who is not Japanese parented, born and bred. It also carries with it the connotation of "outsider". While it is not always negative, and is often used in a friendly way similar to gringo, the Gaijin are (or at least were) often considered to be a lower class of citizen. It is highly unlikely that a Gaijin would reach upper management in a Japanese company, a high level in politics, or significant social standing outside the entertainment (including sports) industry. Being a Gaijin has been compared with being an African-American in the States.

Hiya, Hyla-chic! Welcome home! Missed you. I've been thinking, and I believe you must be right--we don't seem to have a generalized term for foreigners. (I like your phrase 'mutt nation', by the way.) 'Round these parts, anyway, they tend to be specific to the origin of the person or group. Quite often, here in Louisville, I hear the term 'refugee', but usually an adjective of the country of origin precedes it. Oh--alien, though its use is somewhat restricted.

I had an interesting experience the other day. I bought something from a kiosk vendor in the mall, and noticed the guy had an accent. I asked where he was from: Turkey. So I told him I had dated a Turkish guy at one time, and...it turned out that my old friend is a friend of this guy's older brother--the two had met in Miami, of all places. Small world.

Gaijin translates literally as "white man"

I'm going to stick with "outside person" till I get firm evidence otherwise. I'm looking for evidence for. The official term is "other country person" gaikokujin, at least according to this site. http://lynne.50g.com/foreigner.html

This reminds me of the little I know about the New England Puritans - don't they say something like this? I remember the movies with Harris Ford (Witness) and others whereby non-Puritans were referred to collectively as "the English."

I don't know about Puritans, but the people in Witness were Amish. The Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch, and call non-Amish "English" because of the language we speak, not because of a perceived difference in nationality.

And that's Harrison Ford, by the way.

Roy Blount Jr., who when i googled him, seems better known for his humor than serious aritcles, did a serious article on Us vs. Them-- the generic cross cultural difficulties that exist in all groups.. but i couldn't find it.. (its from back before 1998--)

in any case, human are social, cultural animals.. and we naturally from into groups.. family is one, peer; (work, school, coffe klatch), teams, towns, counties, countries, language, what ever! most of know the Sherlock Holmes story The Red Headed League and the idea of an organization based on hair color is not total strange.. not to us, or to the characters in the story.

once we become a group, we begin to define ourselves.. and what makes our groups special -- ane how we are different (and unstated, but often believed, superiour to those outside our group.) those inside the group use special jargon, or code words, that helps seperate the wheat from the chaff-- YART comes to mind. and then most groups give their group a name that implies goodness and power-- no matter what they are really doing..

which lead the Nazi's to hold the belief, they were "purifying the german race" not begin racist and commiting genocide. -it almost impossible for us today to share their belief.-- even those who would rewrite history don't claim genocide is wrong, they just claim the nazi's never did it.

all term to define outsider are at least somewhat perjorative. if nothing else, they define someone as "them" and not as "Us". and since we in the Us group have already defined ourselves as slightly superiour, them, must be, inferiour.
i have avoided using a word that was made up-- to define the Us of regular contributers to the AWAD talk group.. because it is a classical example of a word used to define a group-- and its obscure origins serve to make sure that it can be used to seperate Us (long time regulars) from them.(new comers)

i see it as a racist and ugly a word, as ugly as many other words i will not use.

some here have objected to common, vulgar words, like shit-- and all the ilk of words defined as 4 letter words. i don't. but i share a strong aversion to words that serve to define anyone as "them". words to define the "Them"s of the world are worse than vulgar. they are deliberately hurtful.

PS. YART stand for "yet another rehashed topic" and is occationally used here at AWAD.

Quite often, here in Louisville, I
hear the term 'refugee', but usually an adjective of the country of origin precedes it.

Now, Jackie, our grandparents woulda said, "Damned Yankee"

to them furriners frum the north.

Welcome back, Hyla! How's that little tadpole of yours? Growing legs yet?

This has been a great discussion so far -- especially of troy's comments about the "us vs. them" mentality. Here in Vermont, as I'm sure I've mentioned aBoard before, the distinction is between Woodchucks (natives) and Flatlanders (newcomers). Yep, that's where my handle is from Those terms are used (if at all -- they are becoming rare) very kiddingly these days, though perhaps it was not always so.

>"Damned Yankee" to them furriners frum the north....

a little farther to the south that becomes damned yanquis... and refers to US all, north and south.

Helen, I must register my violent diagreement with what you posted in white. But as it is historical, not linguistic, I imagine that frother discussion would be inappropriate, as well as divisive.

our grandparents woulda said, "Damned Yankee" to them furriners frum the north.

You mean to tell me that in additon to the common 3-syllable word "damnyankee", there's a separate word "yankee"?

When could one possibly have occasion to use the latter rather than the former?

Keiva, i am so sorry--it was not my intent to offend-- but to offer a glaring example of how Us groups can define there actions as good-- no matter how evil the actions are..

In Us vs. Them conflicts-- it is often the Them that are most like Us that become singled out for the worst punishment.. and the Us defines its self as the epitimy of goodness, health, wisdom, and the Them as evil, sick and crafty, or having false wisdom.. and since the difference between the Us and Them are so hard to disern, the violence to and fear of Them is all the greater. this is why religious conflict are often so terrible.. one can think of ireland, or bosnia, or india, -- where, if the group one choses to align with, become religious, it draws an Us/Them line that is very difficult for total outsiders to see.. but is one that is glaring inside local population.. and creates conflicts that are characterized by being extremely violent and bloody--

the Us would be the group in power, the Them the minority, or powerless group..
the most famous Us/Them example in the US i can think of is the Salem Witch trial.. where neighbor turned against neighbor-- and the Us/Them dividing line seems to have been not much more than who was neighborly, and got along, and who was reclusive, poor, old, or lived slightly further out of the small town..

but the Us group in Salem was very clear in expressing "God was on their side" -- this use of rightiousness that has absolutely no basis, is characterist of this type conflict.. i chose an example of an Us group, that, with time and history, is is clear to see as evil. but at the time, they were successfull, because of how they defined Us/Them WWII was a way for the world to re-define Us/Them. but truth be told, we didn't get involved in WWII because of the internal Us/Them conflict-- and true outsider rarely do.. it was only afterwards that we, the Us the new Power, could look back, and define the Then as evil. before and during the war, many countries, include US, closed their borders to refugees to the internal Us/Them conflict in germany.

and while gai jin is used for foriegners in Japan, and foriegners are generally considered to be "sub standard", the real mistreament of foriegners is saved for Koreans. since ethnicly (and biologically) there is almost no difference between Japanese and Koreans-- Koreans are vilified in japan.. there is a great fear that one of Them, (Koreans) could pass them selves off as Us, (Japanese).

one common characterist of Us/Them is the words and language used by the Us group. ethnic slurs, and terms to define non Us, are always perjoritive. since there is often clear visible difference, between Us/ Them, it falls to language to create the differences.. when They do it, it is lies and propoganda, when We do it, we are spreading the truth....

AlQada fighters are insane, suisidal, terrorist... the US marines in Afganistan are couragious, freedom fighting heros..
(guess who is Us and who is Them in this conflict..)

So it's a Mondegreengo

...or, it's all Greek to me. (no mondegreengos here)

http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-gre1.htm

Flatlander:

There are two REALLY great books about rural Vermont (perhaps that's a redundancy), one called The King of Vermont and the other entitled hmm, oh yeah, Beyond Yonder. I recommend them highly to anyone who likes good humor. They were the last two books I read to my father before he died, and I can still remember the tears of laughter he shed over the confrontations between the Woodchucks and the Flatlanders.

He lived in an area of similar rurality, where the locals called everyone else the c'meres, because they would do things like c'mere and cause trouble, c'mere and spend money, c'mere and pay taxes to support the locals' unemployment checks, etc. This confrontation is almost inevitable when one culture imposes itself on another.

I'm using it in my next novel, as a matter of fact. Sheesh, one of these days I have to find the time to work on it! Maybe after I retire next year.

TEd

Helen, I think I said that this would be an unwise subject to discuss.

I have therefore deleted (except for the preceding sentence) a longer reply I made ten minutes ago.

>Evil men may subjectively claim high-minded intent. IMHO, that claim does not make them, or their actions, any less evil.

I fail to see how anything more (or less) was implied by Helen's original statement (in white).

(you're right, this line of discussion should have been left alone...)

well, i finally understood Keiva objection.. and i don't think he was being nit picking.. and i went and edited it -- to make it clear it that i was not agreeing with the nazi's.

and i have some very real reservations and concerns about our involvement in afganistan, and about the way we are using propaganda in the current confict... starting right from the idea that Bush has declared War on terrorism.. since our constitution hold only congress can declare war..

do i think the past government of the afganistan was a fair (even if not democratic) government--no.. did they harbor and protect the AlQada, the organization that seems to be responsible for the attacts of Sept 11? yes. did we (the US) need to take action? yes. do i think we have taken the right action? no, and i realize, just saying that, in the current war of propoganda that is going on, make me sound like a traitor. and that is scary. free speach, and the ability of citizen to open disagree with the government is not a crime!

the war on terrorism seem to have 2 main fronts.. one in afganistan, and one right here.. and the one here is being fought by people who are carefully crafting language to hid their actions.. and their actions in my opinion are chiselling away my rights.

Helen, thank you. Understanding you edit, I have no remaining disagreement with your original post.

http://www.plagiarist.com/poetry/?wid=511, whose ending I quote here, may set the right tone:
So mind your manners when a native, please,
And doubly when you visit
And between us all A rapport may fall
Ecstatically exquisite.
One simple thought, if you have it pat,
Will eliminate the coroner:
You may be a native in your habitat,
But to foreigners you�re just a foreigner.

i LOVE it, max!!

from The Hacker's Dictionary (http://info.astrian.net/jargon/)

Godwin's Law: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.

And speaking of laws, this thread (thus far, at least) boasts an impressive .25SI (that's 1 post for every four views, according to the Stales Index)

I remembered that in Florida, people who come down for the winter are called snowbirds.

Sorry Rapunzel - I was in a hurry. The Harris Ford thing was a typo - Mr Ford is a hero of mine, to the point that I wanted to name my sons after him. 'er indoors vetoed it both times.

I think I was muddling my Puritans and Calvanists as well.

stales

Max and Cap K - tell us about "pakeha". Does it fit the context?

stales

My Random House translates gaijin simply as foreigner. The gai character, when looked up in my Tuttle, resolves to outside, foreign. The jin is human being.

Many of the words noted here, which have taken on negative connotations, are simply words meaning foreigner. Auslander and gaijin have no implicit negative connotations; any negativity that becomes attached to these words comes, as Helen pointed out so clearly, comes from our own attitudes toward foreigners.

The fault, dear Horatio...

stales asks:

In reply to:
Somebody will be able to help me with the chinese phrase - something like "gwai loh" (=foreigh devil)

gwailo (in any of several different romanizations, depending on who's doing the romanizing) literally translates as "ghost person" (most foreigners having lighter complexions than Han). As with most such terms, the denotation is innocuous; the connotation, however, definitely implies the "foreign devil" meaning.

Great thread! I've been missin' some good ones I've been so busy lately. Thanks, Hyla...and welcome back, Froggy Daddy!

First, here's a thread that covers a lot of initial discussion about what Flatlander was saying about regional furreners, so to speak:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=33328

And while reading through this I was also wondering about the old Amer-Indian English-language perjorative for Europeans, paleface. Though I think it was used more as a neutral descriptive than a slur. The key, I assume, would lie in a similar word in any Amer-Indian native tongue that gave rise to the English translation. Does anyone have any clue as to what this Indian word might be, and it's original language (Delaware, Lakota, Navajo, etc.) Or is paleface, as we've come to know it, just an old Hollywood fabrication?

Googling for the etymology of paleface I found this fascinating site which may be the answer I proposed!

vé'ho'e -- Cheyenne; whiteman, trickster

http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language/vehoe.htm

Hi ya, Akatsukami. Welcome to the AWAD board. How's things in the Ninth Circle of Hell? Here, have a seat, a bourbon and a cigar.

Akatsukami - Welcome aboard and thanks for the clarification on gwailo.

I felt very much a gwailo when I couldn't remember whether it was a Mandarin or Cantonese word....scuttled back to the lazy person's assumption that the language is Chinese.

Can you help again please?

stales (just another frumpy old (post) boomer grouch!!)

Thanks for the greeting and the tip both, Sparteye

.

stales, gwailo is Cantonese. The Mandarin equivalent, IIRC, would be gui3lao3.

Hyla! Belated congratulations on your recent addiction. As was said by one of your relatives prominent in beer commercials, "This Bud's for you!"

The word white-eyes was used by the Alabama Choctaws both descriptively and derisively depending on context.
Such as...
"The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years."
or...
"Let's go kill the White-eyes"

Milum.

The word white-eyes was used... both descriptively and derisively depending on context.

"The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years."

"Let's go kill the White-eyes"

I'm confused (like a pea in a pod). Which of these uses is descriptive and which derisive?

In answer to your remarks above...
Well it's a stretch but you have a picky point. But here's an example more suitable for a pea who is in a linear pod...

Let us say that there were three definitions for Faldage.

(1) faldage: The lovable you.
(2) faldage: the act of semantically dissecting words and phrases in order to arrive at a clear transfer of information between speaking/listening entities.
and...
(3) faldage: to nit-pick meanings to the extent of obfuscating meaning altogether.

Now let us use the word in a sentence.

Don't faldage my remarks, you cur, I challenge you; a duel at ten paces!

You see, Faldage, context does gives meaning.

Don't faldage my remarks, you cur

Does this make me a triple eponym?

http://notmuch.com/Speak/BBS/Odds-And-Ends/463x1.html

http://notmuch.com/Speak/BBS/Odds-And-Ends/816x3.html

All seriousness aside, I'm still not sure which is supposed to be which.

"The treaty of 1801 was broken in 1804, as the white-eyes count the years." could be taken as derisive in its implication of treachery (or perhaps irrationality in method of year counting) on the part of the treaty signers or it could be a simple description of one characteristic, totally unrelated to anything about the moral proclivities (or counting methods) of the party involved. In fact, looking back on that sentence, I don't see that the breaking of the treaty is ascribed to either of the parties, merely peculiarity in reckoning time.

"Let's go kill the White-eyes" could be taken as derisive because of the obvious antipathy of the speaker to the object of the proposed action or as descriptive of the object simply to ensure that the listener not mistakenly kill the wrong group of people.

What it would seem to me to come down to is that the negative connotation assigned to any linguistically neutral term for a foreigner is only in the attitude of the user of the term.

Re: The word white-eyes was used by the Alabama Choctaws

i know nothing about the the Choctaws languague, but since all humans have a white sclera,(the white of your eyes) might the word have been translated as "pale eyes"?

some time back there was a thread on color.. and words and perceptions of color..
certainly, in english, white is not always the same color.. (think of snow, wine, and skin!) and we have many different words for colors.. (i always find it facinating that every one speaks of traffics lights as being green, yellow and red-- except for traffic cops and their ilk.. then its green, amber, and red!)

and since blue eyes were very uncommon (but not unknown, and encourge the thinking that some europeans had made land fall at some times over the ages, in the americas), might the term have several meaning, even if only because a pale (blue) eyed person might exist in their own tribe or family? but this is getting away from words...

Personally, I've never heard chimps being referred to as troglodytes, but I would take it as referring to their being (supposedly) caveman-like, or Neanderthal, in physical appearance.

One of the definitions of troglodyte is a brutish person. The scientific name may have derived from this definition rather than from the etymologically correct cave dweller. Parbly a little OED research could disprove this conjecture.

MaxQ maintains that "pakeha" comes from "pakepakeha", a sort of white-skinned leprechaun, more commonly know as patu paiarehe. Apparently, the pakepakeha were suppose to have giant waka (canoes), with sails on them. The first Europeans semeed to fit the bill. The term "Pakeha" is not as derogatory as "tauiwi", but more controversial in its application to immigrants from non-European countries. I found a really great atrticle anout this online a ye or so ago, but it seems to have vanished.

and which article he later found and posted a URL for. However, while I have no opinion on the Maori etymology of the word's origins, I have very definite views on the use of "pakeha" and "tau iwi". Pakeha is one of those words, not at all uncommon, and of which examples have been aired above ("gringo" being a good one), which metamorphoses in meaning very much depending on who is using it and the context it's being used in. If one of my Maori friends uses it to refer to me when talking to a mutual friend, I have no problem. He's really just saying "that guy over there that we both know and who isn't a Maori". If he uses it when he's talking to someone who doesn't know me, Pakeha or Maori, he's actually being quite pejorative and is clearly no friend of mine. He is in effect saying "that whitey fellow over there." Not nice.

Pakeha and Maori (note the capital letters) can be and often are used quite neutrally. I've never heard of Pakeha being used to refer to a specific New Zealander of non-European origin, but that's a point I'm prepared to concede. I don't know everything! Even so, the Maoris I know who can actually speak Maori well use explicit names for foreign ethnicity rather than using "Pakeha" as a catchall, i.e. there is a Maori word for Chinese or Japanese or whatever.

In an official context, reference to Pakeha and Maori is, however, simply a verbal tic, a lazy person's differentiation between Maori and everyone else. That it is generally used by politicians who are too ignorant to know better (and who usually shouldn't be allowed out without parental supervision in any case) doesn't make it any better.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes. I was dragged willy-nilly to a meeting being held (or at least spoken to) by a group of Maori activists led by one Dun Mihaka. Mihaka is one of the worst kind of hate-engendering activists; he's well-educated and he should know better. It may also enthrall you to know that he mooned the Queen of England when she visited NZ's fair shores one year not so long ago. He should have known better then, too. I don't believe that making your point is a reason to be impolite to that level!

Anyway, back to the meeting. Dun, disably supported by a group of Maori activism fellow-travellers, worked himself up into an almost Hitlerian lather bemoaning the long list of the injustices that the colonists inflicted on Maori in the 19th Century and, inter alia spat the word "Pakeha!" out in what I can only describe as a less than endearing manner. Up until then I had been fairly neutral about what he'd been saying, because by and large he was right. But then he started abusing everyone who wasn't Maori, and anyone who didn't agree with him, Maori or not, dead or alive. He never once used the word "maori", referring to them as "tangata whenua", i.e., people of the land.

The silly thing is, we're all tangata whenua or maori in the direct sense of the words. We are/were all born in New Zealand and, with some exceptions in both racial camps, we're all quite ordinary.

As for "tau iwi", well, I'm not one. I was born and brought up in New Zealand.

One of the definitions of troglodyte is a brutish person.

And troglodytes are those who use offensive terms for furriners.

Has anyone read the book that came out about, oh, 30 years ago called Three Wogs? Did you like it, if you read it?