About that eskimo pie thing.

[labellementeuse]

So, in New Zealand we have a couple of long-standing sweets called Eskimos - a kind of lolly, and an icecream (they're not related to each other at all.) An Inuit woman visited NZ recently and pointed out that this was, you know, kind of OFFENSIVE. Naturally, everyone has responded to this with the usual PC GONE MAD!1! nonsense.

This is a pathetic response. For a start, if we had any other culture represented in a comestible, ffs - well, we wouldn't. Little chocolates called Maoris? Or - well, insert any ethnic group here. No. Not possible. Think about how ridiculous and offensive that sounds to you and then think about why your response is so different.

AND THEN, on top of that ridiculousness. Eskimo is a kind of complicated word. It refers to a range of indigenous peoples of the top of North America. Some of them don't have a problem with it (Alaskans, apparently.) Some of them feel that Eskimo is a pejorative (Canada, Greenland.) Some of them aren't sure. My point is that the associations with this word are kind of a linguistic nightmare. It's not like having a lolly called Maori. It's a bit more like having a lolly called Horis (an offensive word in New Zealand for Maori, somewhat akin to nigger, perhaps a little milder.)

My point? COME THE FUCK ON, CADBURY. Don't you already make the same stuff as Penguins, anyway? Ugh.

Comments

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've done a bit more research and apparently that is a myth, although I think it may be a myth partly perpetuated by the 'Eskimos' themselves in order to get the name de-applied to them... certainly I've only heard it from people sympathetic to the idea that 'Eskimo' is not the correct word.

So... at the risk of appearing nit-picky, what is your position on Afghan biscuits? (The name, not the taste!)

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's interesting!

I'm happy to rename them. Crunchy chocolate conrflaky things! OK, obviously I won't be the one to rename them...

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

In the Afghan case, it seems like it is describing a style or location that describes the biscuit rather then claiming to eat a culture. Whereas the Eskimos are shaped liked eskimos and don't describe a style of lolly that originated there.

If you can follow me.

Depending where the biscuits come from,

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Actual fact: my bff's ex is Afghan and he found the whole concept of the Afghan biscuit hilariously funny. He used the term "Afghan" not "Afghani" to describe himself and his culture, and I never heard the word "Afghani" till 9/11.

Their daughter has been bullied via the ostentatious eating of Afghan biscuits and "oh look I am eating an Afghan". She, however, has pointed out to said bullies that the Afghans she is eating are not real ones since they lack the walnut.

I know I feel more weird about Afghan biscuits due to knowing actual Afghans.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Their daughter has been bullied via the ostentatious eating of Afghan biscuits and "oh look I am eating an Afghan".

That this happens makes me think there's enough reason to at least *want* to change it. I love to bake those biscuits and the idea that children could be hurt like this out of them makes me feel kinda sick.

I know I feel more weird about Afghan biscuits due to knowing actual Afghans.

Yeah, I really feel that this is the issue. Culturally we don't "know" Inuit in Aotearoa - even in as basic a way as we know Aussie indigenous peoples. So we don't recognise this as an issue. (I think Afghan, although much more difficult to change because of not being and brand but a baked good, is likely to have more impetus to change because there are surely going to be more Afghani immigrants than Inuit ones in the next few years.)

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

I think some recuperation can be done by calling them Afghan biscuits rather than afghans. After all, we eat Anzac biscuits, not Anzacs.(Broken bodies of boys far from home and never to return, om nom nom!) The difficulty remains then only in why they are called Afghan biscuits in the first place, since, unlike Afghan rugs, Afghans don't make them.

Proper Afghan biscuits should not be lost to the world. Those horrible ones you get from shops that are just like hardish round things covered in melted chocolate do not deserve the name.

FWIW, child in question gets hassle for "difference" all the time and unfortunately I don't think it is *ever* going away. Even well-meaning stuff hurts - "where are you from", "how come you can speak English without an accent", "why don't you wear a scarf", etc etc. The eating of biscuits is nothing to when a friend of her mother's opined that "we should bomb the lot of them" after 9/11. She was eight then.

I tell you, having a different ethnicity quasi-niece has opened my eyes a LOT.