Ginger and Re: Gingerism, gingerphobia

[Wilson Gray]

Ginger Baker, late of the Stones.
--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain


On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Ginger and Re: Gingerism, gingerphobia
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I received a kind e-mail this morning saying Nexis has "gingerism" to =
> 1998 apparently of British origin.
>
> Wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gingerism) has it to 1997 and =
> labels it British.
>
> My earliest recollection of hearing the word "ginger" is within the past =
> five years, so I suspect that "ginger" itself entered general American =
> English with the South Park episode "Ginger Kids" =
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Kids) in 2005, though maybe I've =
> just been out of the loop.
>
> Gingerism/gingerphobia is interesting because AFAIK, unlike racism and =
> homophobia, nobody actually believes that people with red hair are =
> actually different, other than the red hair itself (and perhaps =
> accompanying sensitive skin). Nevertheless, http://gingerism.com/ =
> chronicles cases of gingerism, including at least one that seems to =
> genuinely be fueled by nonginger supremacism (the attacker was drunk at =
> the time, "Random Assault for Being Ginger-haired"). My grandmother =
> certainly suffered a great deal of taunting due to her red hair as a =
> child that she never got over completely; taunters can almost never be =
> held accountable because people will simply say it was "in good fun."
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos=3D
>
> On Aug 11, 2013, at 1:46 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> =
> wrote:
>
>> In discussing the Ginger Pride Walk, Shawn Hitchins is quoted as =
> saying, =3D
>> "Even although it isn't a real word, gingerism exists and bullying =3D
>> exists and you can't deny that kids are being subjected to taunts or =3D=
>
>> being bullied in schools just for having red hair." =3D
>> (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-23643831)
>>=20
>> On Google, that unreal word gets 41K raw hits.
>>=20
>> Also worthy of note is "gingerphobia," which looks like it's coined =3D
>> based on "homophobia."
>
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