Food fight

[tobyaw]

Last week Guido posted a lightweight story with the headline Mandy’s Chinky Drinky Kidney Linky. At the time I thought it was a mildly amusing headline for a mildly amusing story. But since then there has been some discussion about the use of the word ‘chinky’.

I guess there can be a fine line between language being racist or merely descriptive, but I had not considered that chinky would be considered offensive when used to describe Chinese victuals. What term would you use for a Chinese carry out?

Comments

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

We always called it the tiddly-wink - clearly a case of rhyming slang.

[tobyaw]

An episode of “The Vicar Dibley” in January 2002 was investigated by the Broadcasting Standards Commission for referring to ‘the local chinky’. The complaint was not upheld, as the standards panel found that using ‘chinky’ in that context ‘robbed it of any potential racist connotation’. (See the Broadcast Standards Commission’s’ The Bulletin No56, page 19.)

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

"A Chinese".
A Sunderland friend of mine at university (undergrad days) used to refer to the Golden Earl as "The Chinky's"; I once repeated this at home and was gently upbraided by Dad that it was offensive/patronising. I've never used it since.

[tobyaw]

In 2005 OFCOM published a Language and Sexual Imagery in Broadcasting: A Contextual Investigation which features a round-up of potentially offensive words on page 85.

They say about ‘chink’: ”A term of racial offence/abuse. However, this is polarising. Older and mainly white groups tend to think this is not usually used in an abusive way - e.g. let's go to the Chinky - which is not seen as offensive; younger groups and those from ethnic minorities feel this could be as insulting as 'paki' or 'nigger'”

As I seem to spend most of my time in an ageing, mainly white, group, I’ll continue to enjoy getting my sweet & sour veg from the chinky.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Dad is 74 in a couple of weeks.

[tobyaw]

I would never try to suggest that you come from a typical family!