French teacher called her Ginger

Actually, was she given the french then marked wrong for red? Then definitely speak to the teacher!

Ginger can be used as an insult. This teenager was upset. If it was the other way round, 'what does roux mean- oh hylands dd you might know' then the child can choose the phrase they prefer. Even that is not ideal

Why are people so keen to rubbish the feelings of others? A lot of people dont like the term ginger. Some do. Now you all know you can all be more careful labelling others with a word that might have been used to insult them all their life. Of course it might not. But you dont know. Sensitivity doesnt cost
Teaching teens its best to be v careful about anything wrt personal appearance

PS Perhaps the rest of the class were laughing because your daughter hadn't learned her vocabulary very well? Hair colour is a bit A1/A2 level on the CEFR, no?

"Don't pick on kids with anything connected to appearance"

Quite.

Pointing out a girl who has ginger hair, has ginger hair is hardly the same as saying "Oi lardarse, how many pies today?" or "Speccy 4 eyes" which was what I got from the age of 5 till the day I got my contact lenses.

I think you're being unnecessarily sensitive to the word ginger, to the detriment of your daughter. My 5yo DS2 is ginger and I don't want him to be sensitive about the word at all, it's just a description of colour and not a judgement? We try and use all the silly ginger jibes (eg duracell, ranga) so he's used to them and not fussed. Otherwise I believe it would leave him susceptible to bullying.

Being ginger isn't really the same thing as being fat.

Its insensitive

This teenager was embarrassed

Bad teaching

Is it ok to ask the fat kid what the translation is for overweight? No because it might embarrass them

Rule no 1. Dont pick on kids with anything connected to appearance. Its not big n its not clever

I don't think the teacher would have meant to be offensive. She probably thought your daughter would know the word because she would have used it before when describing her hair colour in french - just as teachers in my french and german classes always assumed I would know the word for twin because I am one.
I am also ginger - I would prefer to be able to correctly describe my hair colour in french - as a previous poster said, a blonde wouldn't describe her hair colour as yellow, why should gingers describe their hair colour as red?

God i'd never call anyone ginger, esp a teenager. It can definitely be seen/used as an insult n you just dont know how the person will take it. Red head would be my translation. Ginger = food stuff.

I call my son 'ginge' (misses point)

My cousin was ginger and proud in the 50s.

Pangurban1 Fri 22-Jan-16 11:40:07
I don't know when ginger became the term for someone with red hair.

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Heard hair being described as ginger in colour since being small, so 70s at least.

Is being ginger such an issue still?

Most of the teen girls I know love red and ginger hair. They often add red and ginger into their hair if they try to dye/highlight it. They don't see it as a negative at all. Likewise, one of DD's friend with ginger hair rarely, if ever, gets negative comments on her hair - quite the opposite tbh.

I can't imagine the teacher meant offensive. She probably just assumed that the girl with ginger hair might know the French translation for it. Just like someone with blonde hair might now the translation for blonde, or someone with green eyes might know that translation, or someone with freckles might have leant that too, etc.

whatwouldrondo are you seriously telling me off for describing my daughter as cool? Well that's me told isn't it?

This was Glasgow 1970s.

I don't know when ginger became the term for someone with red hair. I never heard this before coming to London. It is kind of like a slang term. I always heard someone with red hair described as a redhead. Rua is redhead in Irish and different from the colour red. Ginger for spice not used for hair colour. We had a neighbour Seán Rua, (not his surname, but to differentiate him from his dad. Guess what colour his hair was?). I don't think roux translates to ginger. Red hair maybe?

'Ho, ginga, have ye hud yer heed up sum wummins fanny?'

I had this yelled at me as I walked to primary school. I do find the term offensive.

If the teacher had said that about the translation for 'poor people' then you'd have a point.

But ginger? Presumably your DD does, objectively, have ginger hair - and the teacher wasn't making a value judgement?

I can see that it would be a bit embarrassing not knowing an answer in front of the class, but the teacher is right, your DD is more likely to have cause to use 'roux' than the rest of them if she's the only one with ginger hair.

I was a ginger and remember nothing but compliments about my hair as a teenager and young woman even a boy at uni being delighted with my "ginger pussy" , first one he'd seen apparently

My brother and my cousin both have red hair. It was usually referred to as ginger and always much admired when they were kids (1960s and 70s).
I'm sure that if this teacher is the age you say then she would think that there was absolutely nothing wrong with saying ginger hair. I like it actually.

On the matter of her ability as a French teacher I would say that in that context ginger refers to the spice, so should be gingembre.

The teacher wasn't using it in a negative way, though. To talk to her about it would be silly and a bit precious.

I think this is one you need to leave OP.

I don't think that the teacher was being offensive either. I think that she was trying to tell the class that you should use roux for red hair rather than rouge, and in order to stress that point used the word ginger. In the same way, she might have talked about blond hair rather than yellow hair.

ancien the point is that in English schools the word "ginger" is often used in a negative way so why not point that out to the teacher, so she can use a more neutral term like redhead. Obviously someone who is ginger can use it for themselves in self irony /pride but if some people come from a perspective where it is a term of derision /prejudice, and regard it as perfectly acceptable to use it in that way, then the rest of us need to be sensitive and not normalise it, or make excuses. I have the most horrible dingy mouse hair but nobody has ever felt the need to comment on it.......

I don't think the teacher was being offensive. Is it a thing now that we aren't allowed to mention hair colour?

In fact if the teacher is actually French, it can be perceived as a compliment: red hair being highly sought after in France. Not that that has any relevance here.

I'd be more concerned quite frankly that the French teacher wasn't pointing out that roux is the masculine adjective for "red-head" so in your DD's case her hair is "rousse".