• JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      3 months ago

      Afaik it’s definitely a slur here in the US, but most people have never met a Pakistani person and thus don’t know to be racist against them.

      • candybrie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        3 months ago

        They may have met Pakistani people but aren’t going to pay enough attention to know that. They’ll just go with some generic Muslim slur (it does not matter if they aren’t Muslim).

        • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          3 months ago

          They’ll just go with some generic Muslim slur (it does not matter if they aren’t Muslim).

          “Towel head” is probably the most common slur for Muslims here in the US - and they don’t even know that they’re referring to Sikhs, not Muslims.

          • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            3 months ago

            Hoo, I’m glad you don’t live around racists. They’ve moved on from “towel head” and now refer to them as “sand n-”

            • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              3 months ago

              I am unfortunately around a lot of racists at work (school bus driver). We have a few black drivers so they can’t really use the second term you mentioned. They actually use “native” to refer to black people in polite company, a euphemism about as clever as “let’s go Brandon”.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      3 months ago

      Its a bit of a linguistic curiosity, because while it’s highly offensive in the UK, here in Boston, it’s a local/colloquial name for “liquor store” (literally, “packie” = “package store” as in “package of booze”). The more noticeable the townie accent, the more likely you’ll hear that term.

      • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        3 months ago

        I have actually had British friends look at me like I had 2 heads when I asked what kind of beer they wanted at the packie