"refugee" a bad word

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, 2 Sep 2005 13:13:36 -0400, Fred Shapiro wrote:

>> On Sep 2, 2005, at 8:32 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> > This is the first time I've heard the notion that you perforce had
>> > to be international (i.e., a "foreigner" - now a very bad word) to
>> > be considered a refugee.
>
>Isn't the real issue the connotation of the word: "refugee" connotes
>a person in a desperate plight in a situation where order has broken down
>and government is unable to fix things, or where governmental oppression
>drives people to flee.  Naturally Republicans don't want the word being
>used about Americans, despite its obvious relevance to what is happening
>in New Orleans and perhaps what lies in the future where other
>environmental disasters and infrastructural breakdowns may await us.

No doubt true, but note that the member of Congress who spoke on CNN is a
Democrat -- Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of the Congressional Black Caucus.

-----
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/02/lt.01.html

REP. CAROLYN CHEEKS KILPATRICK (D), MICHIGAN: I'm Congresswoman Carolyn
Cheeks Kilpatrick from Detroit, Michigan.

I'd like to add my support to both of my colleagues who have spoken before
us. And in the absence of our chairman, Mel Watt, who has to be in North
Carolina, just returned to the country, we come to you this morning as a
sense of urgency.

First of all, the people are not refugees. There are American citizens.
They pay taxes. They raise their families. They help American grow, and I
wish the media would call them American citizens and not refugees, which
relegates them to another whole status.
-----

So clearly there are multiple motivations for avoiding the term "refugee".


--Ben Zimmer