Neger - a mix of Weißbier and cola

in Standard German, I think one cannot translate 'Neger' to mean 'Nigger', it translates to 'Negro'. is it really so offensive then? Germany does not have the same history the US does.
are Zebra crossings offensive to Zebras? and what about Pelican Crossings then?
it's all PC gone mad if you ask me.

@ OG who gives a toss what WIKI says, it's not very official really is it...

I read that, that's not the point. It's all cultural. The Germans never owned slaves so who would they really have offended at the time? There certainly weren't many (if any) African slaves in this country to offend. They don't and never had the same stigmas regarding the African race as the Americans do. They weren't involved. It would be a different can of worms if there was a beverage in the States that was called a Nigger/Negar. To us it means something. Not so much here. I grew up with a German mother who never flinched at using the word "negar" but would NEVER use the word Nigger because she considered it racist. Go figure.

.. you asked for it, really. So what about the redskins then, are they going to be renamed in Washington Native Americans? Redskin is damned pejorative isn't it? Racists wherever you look...

Mine too.

Except to the Germans who approached me to complain about the word on the drinks card...

Sure, there will always be some with certain sensitivities. But I would guess that the vast majority don't care.

If the vast majority "don't care", then we could switch the drinks card name to cola-weissbier so as not to annoy the people ho do care?

Why don't you find out for yourself and do what Stanford suggested. Use to someone's face and see how they like it.

You should take it off the menu altogether and stop encouraging such idiotic behaviour. Sheesh, palestines!

at last! Someone with something sensible to say!

i don't think we are talking "standard german" here but only bavarian no? i don't like the word myself but if i imagine my real-bavarian-living-in- the-country-side friends, it would look and sound wrong if they said something else but neger for this drink.

You could have come up with that idea 6 pages ago and save us the hassle

ok. Leo then. also not "official" but Neger is translated as both Nigger and Negro. and is marked "pej" in both cases.

This is all bollocks, I completely agree with Keydeck, just get rid of the stupid drink.




Dunno, I was called "white face" alot in asia. Or something like that. Who cares what the translation is anyway, they're foreign.

Jesus christ, what the fuck do you guys get up to in those swingers clubs? In your fucking eye? Dude..

Getting it in your eye HURTS!

good and interesting point. I am old enough to have grown up as a child with a generation of adults who often wouldnt flinch at using the word nassies. (nazis to you and me, they couldnt get to grips with the tee-zed thing)
For them it was culturaly acceptable to refer without any intended malice or hurt to germans in that fashion.

We've hopefully have all moved on a bit wouldnt you say.

I'm wracking my brain and i cant think of the word Negro or Neger ever being used in a nice way. In fact the only two conversations I've had involving germans and the word Neger are "we cant use that picture theres a negro in it" and "we'd like to have an illustration for a Jazz Day poster but we dont want any negros in it". hardly enlightening usages of the word.

From Wikipedia:
“In Colonial America, Neger (sometimes spelled "neggar") prevailed in northern New York under the Dutch and also in Philadelphia, in its Moravian and Pennsylvania Dutch communities. For example, the African Burial Ground in New York City was originally known as "Begraaf Plaats van de Neger."
In the United States, the word nigger was not originally considered derogatory, but merely denotative of black, as it was in much of the world. In nineteenth-century literature, there are many uses of the word nigger with no intended negative connotation. Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Joseph Conrad (who published The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' in 1897) used the word without racist intent.
Other terms denoting black people were intended to be derogatory from their conception, among them darky, jigaboo, porch monkey, coon, and Spook.
In the 1800s, as nigger began to acquire the pejorative connotation it holds today, the term "Coloured" gained popularity .�

I guess it’s the same with “neger�, although not intended to be offensive in the past it has undergone a change in meaning and since the 1960s has mostly been replaced by “Farbiger� .
Calling a drink "neger" is typical of Bavarian rustic attitudes, they also call people from northern Germany "Saupreissn" (Prussian pigs). Outside Bavaria this drink might be known, too,but not by this name.

And Dambusters

Rubbish - see previous discussion on the use of the word "Neger" e.g. "Bin ich dein Neger oder was?" used when decling to do a favour/chore for someone. "Am I your nigger or what" (i.e. slave). If that use is not considered "right off" I don´t know what is!

quiet

Films Tagline: The dramatic true-life story of the men who broke the Nazis' back!

words change gain and lose in meaning. some become so stigmatised that their usage is totaly unacceptable if you wish to reach a broad and educated audience. another simple and originaly harmless one in question is Fraulein. Now there are some women who will rip your tackle off lads if you call them that. and rightly so. you should be able to tell by the position of the bow on the dirnd'l if they are married or not.

Erm... philistines?

thats the problem with words.

you dont know who's mouths they've been in.

Twas humour Kay. Well, to me anyway. I always say Palestines instead of Philistines. Not that I say either very often in fairness. Pretty much the same bunch o'lads anyhoo.

To be honest, I first thought you were starting another non-PC topic; I was going to quote you and just add .

Keydeck? Be non-PC?? Never!

I wouldn't be so crass as to have a non-PC go at people from an individual country (well, except the Belgians) or whatever Palestine purports to be these days. I mean the entire population of that geographical area known as the Middle-East are all the same anyway. Violence loving, psychotic fucktards, the lot of 'em.

@bern
You were 100% right, obviously.

@Kwenga,

My flight is late...but since you are can not read my posts: "I SAID I WAS OKAY WITH IT"...did not say the name should be changed (cfaff!!)...

But went on to explain the difference between intention and meaning and how the word black as in Black Americans changed to African Americans for legitimate reasons...

Boy do some people rub you up the wrong way!!!

Calm down Stanford...

I can not speak for Asia and shalln't dare to but I was talking about Western/European culture normally groups people by their nationality not their racial grouping (not any more at least)...and so is one reason "black" why fell out of favour in the States...(in terms of Black American to African American)...

Flight to catch...bye bye...

Sorry, Uncle Nick, but I think you are missing the point. However much YOU may dislike the word it just is not as stark as nigger. If an old lady from Berchtesgaden were to say "Neger" one would consider her out of touch with the modern world but hardly a hate-fuelled racist. No white person of any age or nationality can say "nigger" without instantly conjuring up such an image.

Why do think the dubbed German soundtracks of American films, such as "Mississippi Burning", mostly stick with the English word "nigger"? Neger just does not have the same impact. There is no equivalent word in German and should there be one then it must be something else. There are far more derogatory words for black people in German and just because the two are almost homonyms you can’t consider them to be equal.

It is not only UN that thinks so:


http://neger.know-library.net/

I admit, I did not real the whole thread. Cola/Weißbier has been a Neger for time immemoriable, just like "Dickmanns" were Mohrenköpfe or Negerküsse until pc'ed. White limo/Weißbier has also been a Russ for donkeys' years, they didn't bother changing it to Sowjetbürger under the Communist regime.
I haven't seen "Mohr im Hemd" (Moor in a Vest) being renamed although it refers to our melanin-enriched friends.
What next, change the "Goaßnmaß" to "Cola/Weißbiermaß mit Kirschlikör" so as not to discriminate against goats? Or call Schwarzbrot "hyper-dunkles Brot"?
Items of food and drink have traditional names, just like Mark Twain's language belonged to his era. Neither should be changed.

-andererheutigen Taganderer -???

What's that supposed to mean? Where did you find that kind of German?

@OG I think your quote only supports what I was trying so say. The word has acquired its racist connotation relatively recently and "Heute wird der Gebrauch des Wortes meist als rassistisch wahrgenommen..." means not always and everywhere.

I think you'll find that the idea of "racism" itself only developed in the 20th century. Just because people thought the idea of subjugating africans was perfectly ok, doesn't stop it from being racist.

I was in a bar the other night. The bartender tried to force some drink on me that I did not want.. He just kept on and on telling me that nobody else could make the drink at that price and that I would not regret it... Anyhoo, I finally relented and he started mixing it, but I noticed he was adding stuff that was not in the original description and he did, of course, try to charge me more for it. He gave me the drink which was in a dirty glass that had a crack in it so it leaked out all over the bar... The bit I did try just left a mad taste in my mouth and when I went to compain I saw the barman had just pissed off and was nowhere to be seen.

The drink was called a Pikey apparently. Now, is that racist or classist or whatever?

.

The thing I have really enjoyed on this thread is people trying to overexplain their view on german linguistic nuances to make themselves feel all high and mighty about their own knowledge of the subtleties of the gerry lingo.

"ooooh, but if you listen to some old lady in whogivesafuckwheredorf you can clearly see blah blah de blah."

You bunch of idiots.

If you asking about what it should be called on the menu then I vote "Cola-Weizen" People will know what you mean and I findd the the term "neger" highly offensive. Especially being an Anfrican-American from the southern US>

I agree Don_riina...and that is why MonksTown’s point that Germans find the name offensive should not have been dismissed out of hand by BadDoggie. As a result, I asked my wife whether Negger is offensive and she said "Yes". But Yes it has acquired negative connotations but was earlier just the word used to refer to Black people. And now only old people who know no better would use it anymore in daily speak. She claims the translation of nigger is negger...

Having said that I revert back to my original position...I don't take offense when non is intended so if you wish to call a product niggerbeer that is your right. Being political right wing, I take the following stance with doesn't include closing down the debate because it is "PC shite": brand/Products can be called what ever the firm peddling them wishes including historical names that may or may not having racial connotations; but the great thing about the market/free society is over time is if the populace begin to see the brand/product as being "tainted" then they will act accordingly... So when firms or people discuss these points it is not "PC" just as much when a firm decides a brand needs updating (change of name) or including scrapping….a la Brut perfurme/RW White lemonade (are they still around!!).

When it comes to calling people or peoples something, the British gentlemen in me (that sometimes rears his polite head) says that curtsey should be the order of the day: However, I’m left with the following two thoughts from the discussion
1. Can those that claim the word “Negro(e)/Negroid/Nigger/Negger� are technically okay because the latin/spanish roots just meant “Black� people explain if they would refer to unmarried friends off-spring as “Bastard� a la Victor Meldrew/Alf Garnet... Technically correct but highly offensive - especially if your friends are in the room inc. the bastard(s)!!!
2. @BadDoggie – your argument effectively amounts to a form of cultural relativism for foreigners in some one else’s land which accordingly to my rightwing sensitivities is more a left-wing concept. So I’m intrigued how you square that. And I’m intrigued according to your argument how you would have faired in Apartheid South Africa. Would you still have peddled the argument it is rude for Jounny Foreigner to take offensive at the norms or practices (inc. language) especially when the natives (white in this case) claim it is not racist but normal or even ordain by GOD. Or can as I expect morals and sensitivies to travel with you...so their is a limit to this understanding-relativism...I hope so...

So I’m off to cook some soul food for my Bavarian, Taiwanese American and Chinese friends……or as some would like to call it negger food!!!

Stanford the Black Mancunian

Mancunian = some one born in Born in Manchester

A friend of mine from NRW calls the cola/weizen mix, "Diesel". Couldn't tell you why though...