To not know if describing a person as coloured is politically incorrect.

[WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid]

Was talking to a friend today and I mentioned I had met one of his colleagues (but I wasn't sure who). He said. Oh was she a coloured lady?

I said yes and we each knew who it was I had met. I was a bit taken aback as you don't really hear the word coloured used anymore. But it was probably the best way to describe her (kind of Mediterranean / Indian).

Was I being too politically correct for being at the way he described her?

Nothing to do with the 'langauge police'. The word has connections with the Apartheid era.

Arf at "lalalala I can't hear you"

The term is considered outdated, offensive and racist.

If you refuse to believe this fact, and would rather continue to use it, that's your decision. But be prepared for the conclusions that people will draw about you.

If it's important to you not to be thought of as racist, try not using racist and/or offensive terms. If it's not, go right ahead. It's simple.

No, I know so. They won't say it to your face, but they'll think it. No doubt about it.

Didn't Alf Garnett say coloured?

i was not aware a until a few years ago that oriental was considered by some to be offensive, i learnt this while in the states. since then i have not used the word when talking about south east asian people. it was not hard to drop the word it was just something i had got used to, i learnt it was incorrect so never used it again.

i apologised to a friend (parents are from vietnam) for maybe offending her but she herself had never heard of this but in the last few years people have become more aware and she is now not keen on the term it was something she too had got used too (and she gets a terrible amount of racist remarks towards her especially from men and how they perceive her to be subservient and so on)

it was not hard to do so i fail to see how hard it is to stop using the word coloured is unless of course you do not want to as you feel it is your right to call people what you want and not what they prefer

OriginalJamie I like the link. Good website for children and about my level too ! Thanks.

Oh shocker, fabbychic and whatmeworry are here to tell us that coloured is just fine and we're all pathetic for being bothered by something as inconsequential as racist terminology.

I think if it was based on something rational I wouldn't mind, but it's not. Defining "people of colour" as Non Racist but "coloured people" as Racist is semantic wanking. Also, the people doing the defining are not the actual race half the time, but white people doing it on their behalf, all too frequently unasked and in contravention of actual usage.

And of it had any intellectual rigour it wouldn't be continually changed and even reversed - in fact often, the best predictor of the new "racist" term is if it was the last acceptable one.

IMO the whole thing is more like branding of consumer goods ("New" Daz, "Natural" bluergh, Country Fresh wotsit) which is why I suspect a lot of PC thing is more about various academics trying to elbow themselves to the front of their particular gravy trains.

Everything whatmeworry said just then (and I can't because I can't write posts like that) :o

It's not semantics, whatme, it's different usage in the US and the UK due to different culture, different use of language and different history.

The French probably have different expressions to French-speaking Algerians or French Canadians. What's rude in one country isn't in another. That's not hard to understand, is it?

"Also, the people doing the defining are not the actual race half the time, but white people doing it on their behalf, all too frequently unasked and in contravention of actual usage"

You know that for a fact, do you?

The thing about 'coloured' in my experience is that it's almost always used by older people who make clear their not wanting to be racist by using 'gentleman' or 'lady' after the word 'coloured', as a mark of respect. so while it's not a term i would use myself i do think it's fairer (ha, more loaded terminology) to regard the intent rather the vocab.

Aitch. That is true.

Which can only lead me to believe that Fabby et al are kindly old ladies

OTOH, kindly old ladies would, when the error of their ways had been gently pointed out, would not be so belligerent about continuing to use it

well you see, if you live in an area where there aren't many black people then you learn your language from your parents, don't you? (just as a racist person learns their racism).
my folks would certainly have said coloured gentleman etc when i was growing up, so it's actually something i have difficulty with. i do say black but i definitely feel self-conscious as i'm saying it, because it feels like a reductive way to describe a person. thankfully (for me and my self-consciousness) most black people round here are ex-students who hung around so i can tend to say 'the woman from the Ivory Coast' or wherever they might be from.
that's what i was always told was the most polite thing, because where i live our immigrant community was mostly Pakistani but with some Indians, and it was always best, because of the tensions between those two countries, to know where a person was from rather than use a more generic 'Asian'.
i sympathise with the people who are unsure on this thread, basically... it takes a couple of generations to sort these things out, and some of us are still on our first generation, iykwim?

or maybe they take offence at being told they'd said something racist when they emphatically had been trying not to, and are uncomfortable with instantly swapping to using a term that they had always been told would hurt people's feelings?

I was actually talking about this to a friend at work. She is from Jamaica and I asked how she likes to be thought of and she said she prefers to be called black, she doesn't like coloured, not that she is offended or thinks it racist but she thinks it is just not the right term.

I usually use the term black too but my parents used to say coloured. When I was a child my dad said there was a colured man at the door and I went running to have a look as I though he was going to be blue or pink or something, I was quite dissappointed that he was just brown

I knew 'coloured' was offensive when I was at primary school and I'm 31 now. It is the same with offensive words which relate to certain disabilities.

I love the link BTW - I'm just going to write to the ICC and complain most voraciously that the West Indies have to rebrand their cricket into the African-Caribbean Cricket Team.

There thats that sorted.

I might then start having a go at cartographers as well.

If the best was to describe her was "Mediterranean / Indian" why didn't your friend just say that ?

Any way I think it's peoples actions that are more worrying than words will ever be

Coloured hasnt been used for years and was mainly a US term anyway.
People can use it and not be racist, they are generally older people.
But there are a fair few racist who use it because they are too fucking ignorant to use anything else. They quite often follow it up with 'cos you cant say black now can you its not PC enough'

FFS.

If you want to say it, say it but you will sound like a twat.

So probably quite a useful tool in a way.

i sympathise with the people who are unsure on this thread

and its perfectly ok to say you are unsure...instead of getting all hot under the collar and complaining that the world has gone 'PC Mad'

When did 'oriental' become a non-PC word? I've always though it quite a nice description but will not use it again if it is deemed offensive.

Fabby in what circumstances can you not use the word black?

Well, I've just read that the police and other public sector workers have been told that they are not to use the terms 'coloured' or 'non white' because they are offensive. Apparently, as part of their training they are also told not to underestimate how their own cultural backgrounds could affect how they treat others.

This is the point, really, that people should be prepared to think daily about what they say and even what they think to avoid upsetting others.

I grew up where really nearly everyone was white and the term coloured (think it was seen as less offensive than black), pakki (this was usually never meant offensively and usually to describe the corner shop) and chinky (mostly for the folk and food at the local take aways/restaurants). And not forgetting the Tally vans.

I must admit when coloured went out and black was put forward as the preferred racial word I found it quite strange to say 'black' - i really had to force myself and re-educate my thinking etc. For some strange reason 'black' just sounded so harsh and almost as an insult. And it was strange when you found yourself face to face with black or asian people, it did feel strange and different to address them. Took time to not really notice their colour and not feel self conscious when talking.

But if you are told that certain words are considered offensive then surely you would try and change your vocab and ways. Who wants to deliberately offend someone when these things have been pointed out.