How is the expression ‘an Indian’ not offensive?

[Yellownotblue]

As in, an Indian take away or delivery meal.

I find it quite odd to hear one specific type of cuisine referred to like this. Would you say “ we’re going for a French tonight” or “he invited me to his place for an Italian”? Somehow it seems dismissive and disrespectful.

For full disclosure, I’m not Indian but my husband is of Asian ancestry and our children have dual heritage. I’m British (first generation migrant). I was born and brought up in North America and can’t remember the expression ‘an Indian’ ever being used as short for Indian food before I moved to Britain.

Yes, their going for an English sketch was hilarous.

I don't like Indian or Chinese food. I often refer to going for an Italian.

It's just shorthand for an Indian meal or a Chinese meal, or whatever.

The reason you don't hear 'A French' or 'An Italian' or 'A Spanish' is because we don't have a long history of embracing those foods in takeaway form or even eat-in form, to the degree that they get abbreviated in this way and become part of the British lexicon, in the way that has happened with Indian or Chinese.

That's all. Do you have to be a little bit dim or just obtuse to not understand this?

Are you getting offended on behalf of other people? I'm from one of the groups you mention (say Indian for example) and I still refer to it as going for an Indian. Same with Thai, Chinese etc. No one usually goes for an Italian as they're usually restaurants rather than takeaways, in which case it's "grabbing a pizza".

SchrodingersImmigrant sorry there isn’t a tongue in check emoji on MN

The term having a curry used to be used more but now is that an Indian, Japanese or Thai curry (among others)

unmarkedbythat I was thinking that too I think they go for an English 😆

Although actually I have got an Italian in lockdown and called it that!

OhWhyNot and there's a woman who keeps saying "I can't have anything too bland" and everyone's egging her on to be a bit more adventurous and try something really bland, if I have remembered it right? Used to love that programme, I wonder if it's on Netflix.

@Weedsnseeds1

ThinkAboutItTomorrow that sounds like a place I had the misfortune to eat in once, in, I believe, Stoke. Lots of different stations, all different cuisines, self serve. People wandering around with plates of spring rolls, sushi, chips, Yorkshire puddings, poppadoms and gravy

Sounds like Taybarns on the A34 just outside Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Closed now but my very fussy eating autistic ds loved it!

My friend is Indian, you would hate what she says when she fancies a Chinese takeaway!! 😳

@KenAdams

Are you getting offended on behalf of other people? I'm from one of the groups you mention (say Indian for example) and I still refer to it as going for an Indian. Same with Thai, Chinese etc. No one usually goes for an Italian as they're usually restaurants rather than takeaways, in which case it's "grabbing a pizza".

One of my favourite restaurants is Italian and I definitely say we're going for an Italian if we were going there, I wouldn't get it as Take Away very often though. Yeah Pizza places are just Pizza places, different to an Italian............all this food talk is making me hungry now

Apropos nothing the first Indian restaurant in the UK opened in London, owned and managed by a Bengali, in the early 19C. But curries had been known in the UK since the 17/18C and recipes published ... undoubtedly because of our shady colonial past and shady colonial traders and soldiers.

And apropos nothing again, it's a shame that diverse food from large countries is tagged with a generic name - but that's a combination of marketing/food availability/UK tastes. But more specialist restaurants were opening pre Covid where you could choose Szechuan or southern Indian, Italian. Moroccan, Portuguese etc.

This is hilarious!! It’s not hard to find real actual racism- this isn’t it 😂

The detail you go into about your family’s Asian connection is brilliant!

I was born and brought up in North America and can’t remember the expression ‘an Indian’ ever being used as short for Indian food before I moved to Britain.

That is because the expression is not used in North America. Just like other expressions aren't used there (take the piss, hoovering, put a plaster on your wound, takeaway etc.....). Doesn't make it offensive. The speaker has just dropped the word meal or takeaway.

I take the 'an indian' as a reference to the kind of food not a person

eg an Indian curry

comefromaway if it was near a Travelodge and Allied Bakeries, that would be the one.
Roast beef, horseradish, chicken chow mein, a slice of pizza, lamb Rogan Josh and garlic bread. All together. On the same plate.....

Well, thinking about it, I’d say “going for a curry” or “going for a pizza”. I think I must be really unique and special.

[quote Chumleymouse]@KaptainKaveman.

To me “puff on a fag “. Means something totally different 😳🤣[/quote]
Well exactly, that was my point really.

OP just suck it up. People in the UK say ' an Indian' when they mean 'an Indian meal'. Dropping the noun and retaining the adjective is not an intrinsically offensive act. Nobody gives a toss, except you it would seem. It may be a little lazy to drop the noun but maybe we are just a nation of lazy fuckers eh?

@PuppyMonkey

Well, thinking about it, I’d say “going for a curry” or “going for a pizza”. I think I must be really unique and special.

But you could have a curry in a Chinese or Indian restaurant!!

I would be offensive to call an Indian person 'an Indian'. This used to be very common and most people have stopped using this term because it is othering and dehumanising. Perhaps this is what the
OP is thinking of?

unmarkedbythat yes that’s it and they laugh at the English waiters name and accent

I love GGM

crosstalk I think the first Indian restaurant in England was, 1810. So the owner would have been Indian, even if from Bengal.

We say going for a Chinese or for an Italian. Wouldn't say going for a Thai only because we only have one Thai restaurant so would say going to (restaurant name).
We tend to say 'going for a curry', rather than an Indian, but see nothing wrong with it. As PPs have said, it's short for Indian meal, in the same way as full English is short for full English breakfast.

How would it be offensive to all an Indian an Indian? Or a Bangladeshi a Bangladeshi? Or an Afghan and Afghan?

It's not offensensive to call an Arab and Arab or a German a German.

We don't have such a thing as 'An English' because it doesn't make sense in English and neither does 'an Englan' or 'a Irelan' or 'a Francan' but we do say he/she is English/Irish/French.

We do say an Englishman, a Chinaman etc. although it's a bit outdated due to being gender specific.

But if you a German, an Indian, a Spaniard, an American, and it's not gender specific then it's absolutely fine. You just can't do that with some nationalities, it doesn't work well in the English language.

There is some massive overthinking going on here.

@Yellownotblue

"Having an Indian" is short for "having an Indian takeaway", as you say yourself in your OP and in the same way in the UK people also say "having a full English", short for "having a full English breakfast" the same way a North American might say "having a hamburger". It's referring to the place the food originates from (though may not necessarily be authentic to that place any longer) and I don't think any offense to those places is intended.

I don't think many would argue that an Indian takeaway or a full English breakfast would be considered 'fine' dining, but that is not to mean they would therefore be considered "lesser". In fact I think you would find that in surveys that have been conducted Indian takeaway food and a full English/Irish/Scottish regularly top the list of favourite foods in the UK. They are not seen as lesser but as amongst the kings/queens of cuisine! They are certainly favourites for me anyway!

That's not to say we don't have fine dining Indian options here, and probably fine dining full English options too. There are a number of Michelin starred and 'high end' restaurants serving Indian cuisine but those would probably be referred to by name, e.g. "We're going to Amaya" rather than "We're going for an Indian". That's not to say that food is necessarily thought of as any greater than a takeaway though and some might prefer the more relaxed and economical option of a takeaway.

So yes, I think it comes down to linguistics. "Having an Indian (takeaway)" or "Having a full English (breakfast)" are just shortened phrases, much used for some much loved food over here.

@Weedsnseeds1

comefromaway if it was near a Travelodge and Allied Bakeries, that would be the one. Roast beef, horseradish, chicken chow mein, a slice of pizza, lamb Rogan Josh and garlic bread. All together. On the same plate.....

It was attached to a Premier Inn but yes, it was very close to Allied Bakeries, further up the same road. The Travelodge is more in the centre of town.

I am sadly living nowhere near an Italian restaurant but where i am from (Melbourne) we would have the local Italian place deliver the most divine pasta and seafood salads and the like. How i miss it. My favourite was homemade pumpkin gnocchi in a cream and garlic sauce.

And we would say 'Shall we get the Italian tonight?' or something along those lines.