refugee, IDP, evacuee

[Harrold Wilson Gray]

FWIW, as the listserv's token black, uh, Negro, uh, colored person, uh,
person of color, African-American, or whatever other lame-assed term is
currently in use, I personally do not find any of these terms
objectionable in any way whatsoever, with the sole exception of
"insurgent," which I find appallingly insulting and racist, implying,
as it does, that the black population of New Orleans is, for no reason
whatsoever, in armed rebellion against the government of the United
States, which is only trying to help.

-Wilson Gray

On Sep 7, 2005, at 4:24 PM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: refugee, IDP, evacuee
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Wed, 7 Sep 2005 16:17:09 -0400, sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> wrote:
>
>>> I hadn't heard of any "refugee" objecting to the word before the
>>> televised statement of the African American members of Congress went
>>> out last week.
>>>
>>> If the Rev. Jackson said that "refugee" implies/ means "criminal,"
>>> the
>>> objections become even more ludicrous. I hadn't heard that, either.
>>>
>> My first hearing of "refugee" was in an interview on NPR with a
>> person so
>> designated, and she was objecting to the term for herself and the
>> others
>> with her.  The Jesse Jackson echo came later, if the timing of these
>> broadcasts was in proper order.
>
> The Congressional Black Caucus started complaining about "refugee" in a
> press conference on Friday morning (Sep. 2). When was the NPR
> interview?
>
> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/02/lt.01.html
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>