


Peanut galleryĪccording to linguistics experts, the origin of this phrase derives from the late 1800s Vaudeville era, a popular style of entertainment that included jugglers, comedians, singers and more. "The idea of 'paddy' is a police car that comes around to grab up Irish people who are no good drunk criminals, so it deals with a historical stereotype of Irish people as low lives, Kelly told ABC News. This 19th-century slang was used historically to reference Irish immigrants who upon being arrested were put in a police van, called a paddy wagon. Last month, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream announced it was changing the name and branding of its Eskimo Pie dessert because they "recognize the term is derogatory." Paddy wagon Going forward, we want the focus to be on the work we do in the community and our team's excellence on the field as the CFL's most successful franchise." said Janice Agrios, chairwoman of the board of directors. "We feel it is important to make this change in response to the findings of our recent engagement and research. Linguists believe the word came from the French word "esquimaux," referring to one who nets snowshoes.Įuropean colonizers used the term broadly, lumping all Native Americans in that region into one ethnic group.Īlong these lines, after launching an extensive research and engagement process on the name three years ago, with an emphasis on listening to Inuit communities, The Edmonton Eskimo Football Club Board of Directors made the decision to discontinue the use of the word "Eskimo" in the team's name to continue the tradition of being responsive to community perspective.Įskimo Pie packaging in the style of the 1920's was released for the product's 75th anniversary in 1997. This was a term that Europeans used for a huge group of indigenous people living in the Arctic regions.

However, in modern politics there has been recognition that term is racially offensive.įor example, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton netted backlash in 2016 for using the phrase in an interview with CNN when she said, "I have a lot of experience dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation in the way they behave and how they speak." Shortly after, Clinton's campaign political director Amanda Renteria took to Twitter to walk back Clinton's statement, tweeting, "Divisive language has no place in our politics." Eskimo "The phrase has very offensive roots as the Native American's who were found 'off the reservation' were killed," Kelly explained. In its earliest evidence, experts explain that this phrase dealt with policing, killing and colonizing Native Americans and removing them from their native land. Off the reservationĮxperts say this phrase, frequently used during the 19th and 20th centuries in American politics, refers to Native Americans who were forced into treaties that limited their mobility by placing them on reservations, so off the reservation would suggest they were placing themselves outside their allowed their legal, or social, parameters. "Plantation shutters" are featured in a recently-purchased condominium in Arlington, Va., Sept. It became a derogatory way to refer to natural hair texture of non-white people throughout Africa, Cedric Burrows, author of "Rhetorical Crossover: The Black Rhetorical Presence in White Culture," told ABC News.Įnglish author and poet Rudyard Kipling's 1892 poem "Fuzzy Wuzzy" opined on the brave actions of the Hadendoa warriors in colonial Sudan - the phrase in the work of literature was a reference to their hairstyle and texture. This is a late 1800's term used by British colonial soldiers to refer to the members of an East African tribe. "It's used without a lot of thought about its literal meaning, and I'm sure that there are people who, if reminded how predatory it sounds, would tee-hee rather than blush," Conor continued. Today, the phrase is a way of talking about revealing corporate information. "This shows how in our language the simplified notions of other cultures get wrapped up in expressions we use," John Kelly, senior research editor at, explained. Kimonos were also worn by geishas - highly trained hostesses who throughout history have been inaccurately depicted as concubines in various films and books.īoth amplify a stereotypical view of Japanese culture. "What's striking about 'open the kimono' is how clearly rude it is," Alan Conor, author of "The Crossword Century" and "The Joy of Quiz," told ABC News.Ī kimono is associated with formal attire in Japanese culture, over time this 1970s-era slang has been misinterpreted from myths that certain Japanese warriors would open their robes to show someone that they were not hiding their weapons.
