Racoons and the like

[artee]

I just used a word that rhymes with 'loon'  only it started with a 'c'...ABE has deleted it and put asterix in it's place making it look as tho it was an indecent word.
I thought  that '****' was a shortened form of racoon, and it meant a ratbag.  Am I wrong?
I've seen other postings with deleted words as well and thought it must have been a swear word. Maybe **** is a swear word in England?
Ta very much.  Appreciate your answers.

[THECORBYLOON]

artee that word is sometimes used to describe black folk and is VERY offensive in this country. 

[jno]

one of the terms from America for black people, and just as offensive as n*gger. Americans did once use it as a shortened form of raccoon - I wonder if they still do? I don't think it means ratbag at all.

[graemer]

I don't know about NZ but in Oz we have "*OON" cheese, which always staggers visitors from uk. We don't use the word but there are people who use equally diabolical names for Aboriginal people.

[artee]

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/*********.html
Here's another answer which I found amidst a whole list of sites.   I will not be using that one again so thank you both very much for putting me straight.
My family, when growing up, used to refer to each other as 'you *********' meaning 'you silly idiot', and when I read the info on the above link I can see that it came from the earlier meaning of 'country bumpkin'.  We also were meaning 'ratbag' when we used the term

[jno]

where's the name from graemer? Made from raccoons' milk or something? (yewk)

[jno]

needless to say artee the link doesn't work with all them asterisks. The transmission of true knowledge is always such hard work!

[artee]

here     Sorry did it again 2x. maybe this link works.
We used to call each other 'you silly ----' which meant silly idiot 

[jno]

nah, the robots are working overtime to zip your mouth artee! I don't really object - this is supposed to be a family site, so it's good that profanity is removed; but just sometimes when you're trying to have a grownup discussion about words it can be irritating.

(So did you recognise my beach? On the Coromandel??)

[artee]

just going there jno

[jno]

just going to the Coromandel? You'll recognise  mybeach at Opito. Yes, URL is the link address (um, can't actually remember what it stands for at the mo!) - and it's got opito buried in it. I've had a bach there for years but have spent maybe 5 days there, what with having been in the wrong hemisphere for several decades... hmmm, seem to be filing in 2 threads at once here. Never mind, going to bed now!

[artee]

I meant going to the proper thread jno, which I did.

[graemer]

Hi jno the name comes from Edward William "Nooc" who in 1926 patented some sort of accelerated process. You can see a picture of the packaging Here

[graemer]

Don't hink that works, if not try

http://www.dairyfarmers.com.au/internet/s02_products/****_history.jsp

[THECORBYLOON]

If you try the link it doesn't work but if you replace the asterisks wi the word in question, it will.

[acw]

I am much enlightened by this post.  Thanks to everyone! I had never heard the word before and didn't even know it was racist.  Is this a term used by older people?  I don't mean that rudely, but we all know how different words are used more by different generations.  My Nana still used the term N*gger because she'd grown up with it.  She didn't mean any harm by it, she just couldn't get out of the habit (so to speak).  My ex's Dad still describes people as "c0loured" 'cos that was the newly acceptable phrase when he was at school (least I think that's the reason!) 

So is the use of the other C word something that's generation specific, or perhaps a regional or (dare I say it) class thing?  I'm genuinely interested because I'd never even heard the word!

[jno]

all very interesting! I've looked up my slang dictionary and it says that originally raccoons were considered cunning animals like foxes and that this was transferred to people. Then somehow the term degenerated and ended up being applied to blacks in a derogatory way.

It says this was also true in Oz in the 19th century but oddly enough not in South Africa, where it referred only to 'chocolate coloured c**ns' - that is, white men blacking up in shows like the Black and White Minstrel Shows that were on telly in the 1960s. (I recall that in its early days the Goon Show on radio was sometimes misheard and misunderstood as being one of these.) As far as I know it's never been used in NZ.

Personally, I've never heard it spoken either, acw, in life or even in the movies (unlike n*gger), just seen it in books. But there's no doubt it was highly offensive - and intended to be - so I guess its use is entirely restricted to Australian cheese-eaters.

[Didwot]

What words are and are not unacceptable varies with the passage of time.
Consider the workd ****, meaning someone who comes from Pakistan. This is considered by some people to be racist, but people I know who come from Pakistan tell me that Stan means Home and **** means pure or clean, so that their country is that land of the pure. They are happy to be called ****, and point out to me that the same principles give us Uzbeki, Afghani etc.
My pet hate is berk for a stupid person, but no one realises what it means.
Neither do I like the abreviation Brit.
Give us a clue to your problem 9 letter word artee

[artee]

Thanks TCL changing the link once you click on it does work with the one I posted.  graemar  The link that I posted takes us back even further to the 1800s.It's just a short read but enlightening to me, in explaining why we used that term years ago. Yes acw 'twas an old term we used in  the 40s, 50s and maybe 60s, So I've just had a look at the site and the missing letters are
           m- - - - sage
make sure you don't wipe out the comma.
So we obviously used it  as a connection to the country bumpkin explanation. They were commonly known as idiotic, or foolish I believe, and that is what we meant.

[jno]

Didwot, I agree with you (though I can't think of a better term than Brit; 'Briton' sounds very archaic).

Pakistan means 'land of the pure'; but it also stands for Punjab, Afghan, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan, according to Wikipedia. But the people who use it as a term of abuse don't know this; what matters is that they intend to be abusive, and of course their victims understand this. Uzbeki isn't abusive - though it would soon become so if a lot of Uzbekis moved to Britain. Even n*gger was once a more or less neutral term meaning 'black'; it has become taboo because it was offensive, not because of its dictionary meaning.

[THECORBYLOON]

didwot you don't like the term "Brit" which is an abbreviation of "British" or "Briton" and likewise the first four letters of "Pakistani" are an abreviation. The meaning of those letters differ according to the way or manner they are used. The original meaning of the latter is "pure" but now it is used by non-Pakistanis in an offensive, racist way. Why can folk not say "Pakistani?"

As for "berk," it is rhyming slang and I'm sure many folk would be surprised at its meaning. The same with "fiddlesticks" which refers to the male anatomy-how many folk know that?