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Multicultural families

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Original poster

Half caste

217 replies

Pam70 · 11/10/2005 12:01

This has been troubling me for over a week. A colleague and I were discussing Wife Swap last week and she referred to one of the wives as being half caste.

I hate the term half caste and would never refer to DS or DD as such nor would I ever want them to hear someone call them such.

I didn't say anything to my colleague then and am now wondering if I should. Bear in mind that we live in Northern Ireland which is still relatively new to the idea of multiculturalism.

I don't think she said it in malice or in a derogatory way, it just rolled off her tongue presumably because she has no other term for mixed race?

But if she's using it and she's in her 30s, what hope have I that DS won't be referred to or called such at school by other kids or other parents?

OP posts:
lyrabelacqua · 23/05/2007 23:13

"I know that black people do not like being called coloured"

MRM, you are generalising. Black people do not all have the same opinion.

People should stop agonising over hat to call people, because as long as it's not meant to be offensive, it shoudn't be taken as offensive.

lyrabelacqua · 23/05/2007 23:14

And I hate the term mixed heritage.

nappyaddict · 23/05/2007 23:31

i'm white and i was always brought up with the phrase bi-racial or mixed. i'm sure if these are offensive or not?

LoveAngel · 24/05/2007 08:00

Bi-racial is definitely an American thing, isn't it? thinks of Rikki Lake 'I'm Bi-Racial, So Get Over It!' edition)

nappyaddict · 24/05/2007 09:46

i don't know ... i'm not american though. that was just the term used in my school.

Lilymaid · 24/05/2007 09:53

Half caste was a term used in my home as my mother was brought up in India. But it is a rather old fashioned term and is only applicable to India where there is a caste system. It is also rather demeaning as it implies that you don't fit into a rigid system. Mixed race is probably more acceptable, but all these tags take something away from us as individuals.

boo64 · 24/05/2007 14:29

MRM - your opinions are useful but they aren't everyone's so I'm not sure it's as simple as that!

Therein lies the problem - the term that one person finds ok, another finds inappropriate or offensive.

Are you saying that mixed race isn't a PC term - I didn't know that.

I am in London by the way

JoolsToo · 24/05/2007 14:31

this was common parlance in my yoof.

It's bloody hard for folk to keep up with current acceptable phraseology

MissM · 28/05/2007 11:33

My daughter is mixed race and I'd be very offended if someone called her half-caste. It's a very old-fashioned term in my opinion. Was used in the 70s/80s I think but I hope we're a bit more aware now. I feel the same about 'coloured'. Ok to use in Zimbabwe perhaps as a term of classification, but def not ok here.

Cancerian · 28/05/2007 21:27

I prefer that my daughter is known as mixed race. As in my view it emcompasses her origin and cultural dual heritage. People who still use the word half caste are very much behind the times and often don't realise that they are not being very PC as it was once an accepted term.

Don't condemn me here but I also view the term half caste as a label for children who are brought up not embracing both their parents cultures and only having one cultural input. Therefore being only one half.

Rhubarb · 28/05/2007 21:30

I don't fecking know which bloody term to use that won't offend anyone these days!

I always used to think that calling black people "black" was offensive, because they are not black, they are brown. We used the terms half caste and coloured and it wasn't until I came onto Mumsnet about a year ago that I was told those terms are not offensive! No doubt mixed race will also be offensive in a few years.

Missty · 09/01/2008 17:11

"Mixed race" is the better term to use as "Half Caste" assumes that the person is infact half black and half white. I have mixed parentage but not quite in that ratio. Half cast is painting all of us mixed race people the same and we are infact not. Therefore nobody should be called half cast, not by anyone.

revgreen · 09/01/2008 18:01

I have never heard someone in RL say half caste. I think mixed race is a good term as it covers people who aren't biracial/dual heritage.

I have never heard anyone say that mixed race means part human before, I thought race was ethnic group so mixed race was mixed ethnic groups.

fwiw I find 'people of colour' offensive

chickenmama · 09/01/2008 21:58

Me too revgreen, I see 'people of colour' as 'coloured people' just swapped the other way round and I don't think it should be used either way.

Rhubarb · 09/01/2008 22:00

My brothers were always half caste, till someone on Mumsnet told me I was racist. I always thought calling people black was offensive as they are not black they are brown, so I used the term coloured and was told that this too, was racist.

Note how no-one ever says "that term is outdated", noooo, it has to be "racist" even if it isn't used in that context.

Missty · 10/01/2008 15:19

Rhubarb, I understand where your'e comming from. I used to use the term half caste too, but that was in the 1980's. Times have changed though. nobody is saying that you are racist, it's just that we're in a more considerate time where we need to think. It's like years ago mongolism was the term for downs syndrome and spastic was the name for cerebral palsy.

SmartArse · 10/01/2008 15:30

If I have to use any expression, I say mixed race, but TBH it doesn't really bother me, just as long as the expression is not used in a racist context.

DD1 looks mixed race, due to my great great grandfather having been from Jamaica, although DH and I are both as white as snow! When she was little, she referred to herself as "brown" and her sister was "peach". At 13, she never talks about the colour of her skin but gets very cross with her curly hair, which grows upwards and will not be tamed!

sleepycat · 10/01/2008 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MimisMama · 15/01/2008 12:29

I would be very upset if anyone called my DD 'half-caste' - I think 'mixed race' is better.

However, this has its problems; I'm white (English/Irish/Welsh heritage) and my DH's black (his family are from Jamaica although he was born in the UK and has lived here all his life - I'm sure a lot of Jamaican's would say he's British).

My MIL says she had a Great Uncle who was white - so, this really is just down to surface skin colour, which is pretty rubbish really! Are kids with a Spanish mother and a Danish father 'mixed race'?

We should adopt the Jamaican ethos; 'Out of many, one people' and be done!

LoveAngel · 15/01/2008 17:31

Half caste is outdated, isn't it? I haven't really heard that term since the 1980s when I was at school. We always use 'mixed race' to describe our son, but I'd be happy to go with whatever people of mixed race think is best in the future.

Bessie123 · 15/01/2008 17:36

Haven't read the whole of this thread, but I always used 'half caste' to describe someone of mixed race and was stunned when a (white) friend said a couple of weeks ago that some people might find that offensive. I have never heard before that it could be in any way derogatory.

Bessie123 · 15/01/2008 17:40

Oh, and one of the first times I heard the phrase 'half caste' was when a black person told me he was half caste and asked me if I am quarter caste, so I guess I assumed it wasn't offensive..?

crumpet · 15/01/2008 17:43

I remember that the first time I heard it as a child was by a friend of mixed parentage describing herself. She used it as a very normal term, even proud of her parentage and as such I considered it derogatory.

I just thought it was short hand for "half of one caste half of another" - which bears no resemblance to an interpretation of half empty/not complete.

An online dictionary I just googled confirms it as "race, lineage, of same origin" (as well as the indian usage of caste system)

But in many ways irrelevant as it is not a term I use.

crumpet · 15/01/2008 17:48

Blast - I considered it NOT derogatory!

hifi · 15/01/2008 17:56

my mum still uses this, she also says blackie, i cringe.