these people/efugee, IDP, evacuee

[Margaret Lee]

I've also heard countless uses of "these people" to refer to those displaced by the hurricane. This is a phrase that has long been offensive in the African American community.  I did hear George Bush at one point refer to them as "our fellow citizens."


Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
Fox News now seems to have tacitly dropped "refugee." Many references to "evacuees" on tonight's _Fox Report_, none I think to the other.

"Evacuee" is a highly offensive term because it makes me (i.e., you) think of loose stools. It originated as the acronym of "Elimination Via Anal Channel Until Enteritis Eases."

Our media would be well advised to keep to the correct term, which is "persons."

JL



Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: refugee, IDP, evacuee
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Wed, 7 Sep 2005 16:49:53 -0400, sagehen 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
>>
>Sorry, I can't remember that. My impression is that I didn't hear about
>the Black Caucus press conference until later, either, but that might
>well have been in a news recap, so its actual timing could have been
>earlier.

Here's the only objection to "refugee" I could find on Nexis before the
Friday press conference...

-----
Fox News Network
SHOW: FOX HANNITY & CO 9:00 PM EST
September 1, 2005

COLMES: We're back on "Hannity & Colmes." We now go live to FOX's own
Molly Henneberg, standing by in Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- Molly.

HENNEBERG: Alan, I'm at the River Center, the biggest shelter for people
who have been displaced from their homes, and actually I was talking to a
couple of people today who do not like the term "refugee." They've been
hearing refugee in the media, not necessarily on FOX but in the media and
he said, "We're American citizens. We've had a tragedy, yes, and we're out
of our homes. We are not refugees."

So the people staying here, they definitely have their opinions about who
they are and what they are and what should happen next.
-----


Since the press conference was the following morning, it's conceivable
that the Congressional Black Caucus based their objection on this report
(that is, if any of them actually watch Hannity & Colmes...).


--Ben Zimmer


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