Racist money stereotypes

[TBH]

I've been thinking about slang words that we don't think of as racist but that actually are racist when you think about them. It's funny how many of them have to do with money.

"I got gypped"
"She's an indian-giver"
"He jewed me down"
"He welshed on the debt"

Can anybody think of any others?

[LuxLiving]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

I went scott free on the interest.

[Broken Arrow]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Ahem.

"Shanghai"

That is all.

[Ima saver]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Wow, I just used the word gypped in my blog today!! Scottish people were always thought to be thrifty!

[TBH]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Wow, I just used the word gypped in my blog today!!

I know, Ima, and while I'm sure you didn't mean to use a racist word, it is what inspired me to start this thread. I just wondered if there are other terms like this I hadn't thought of that I might be using unawares.

[sarah]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Beware Greeks bearing gifts

[DivaJen]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Beware Greeks bearing gifts

Is this racist or simply an allusion to the Trojan horse story?

[sarah]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Its origin rests not with the Trojan Horse (Although that might be why it survived) but in Social Darwinism. Greeks were classified as Swarthies and considerred greedy.

[Ima saver]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Sorry Claire, I won't use the word again. I never thought about it that way.

[Ima saver]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Claire, I looked the word up. It says gyp is a british word for a college servant, fraud.

[TBH]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

I never thought about it that way.

I know you hadn't. This was my point. I used that word all the time until somebody pointed out that it refers to an ethnic group.

In my world anyway, very very few people would intentionally use a racist epithet. It's just these little insidious words that we don't think about.

Hope I didn't make you feel singled out, Ima. Thanks for being a good sport.

[TBH]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

Claire, I looked the word up. It says gyp is a british word for a college servant, fraud.

Hmm. Wikipedia says "A slang term (see Gyp (slang)) referencing thieving Gypsies".

Link

[Ima saver]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

No, I am fine, I never mind being corrected!

[Ima saver]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

My dictionary is 1993, no mention of gypsies! Hey, til i got this dictionary, my last one was dated 1962!

[cptacek]

Re: Racist money stereotypes

How about calling free spirited people Bohemians? Bohemia was a country until it was united with Moravia and Slovakia to become Czechoslovakia.