From: dan@astro.uu.se (Dan Kiselman)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Newspeak (was: The Finns of Sweden)
Date: 15 Dec 1992 14:36:21 GMT
Organization: Uppsala University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: solaris.astro.uu.se

On rat-coloured hair and stroke

In article <Bz9LrM.G4x@lysator.liu.se>, aronsson@lysator.liu.se (Lars Aronsson) writes: 
[ deleted]
|> This is part of a larger pattern where vocabulary is changed in the
|> belief that peoples minds will also change. For example, a cleaning
|> lady (staederska) can no longer be called so, because that makes her
|> profession sound inferior. Rather, she should be called a house
|> caretaker (lokalvaardare) or better a hygiene technician
|> (hygientekniker).

I think this famous example no longer holds. The words "st{derska"/"st{dare"
are being more common now. (Though my trial to find a counter example failed,
my university catalogue still lists "lokalv}rdare").
 
 [ stuff deleted ] 
|> I never had a bad thought about anybody based on the color of their
|> skin, or on their cultural background. I have and show respect for
|> cleaning ladies. I believe that clean deforestations (kalhyggen) are
|> ugly and harmful. I will continue to say
|> 
|>         Negro,          not African-American;
|>         Lapp,           not Sami;
|>         Finn,           not Suomi;
|>         cleaning lady,  not hygiene technician;
|>         (kalhygge),     not (foeryngringsyta);
|>         Indian *,       not Native American; and
|>         Jew,            not Israeli-American.
|> 
|> * In Swedish language, there is no risk of mixing America's Indians
|>   (indianer) with the people of India (indier).
|> 
|> Moreover, I wish anybody to feel free to continue to say
|> 
|> 	Sweden		instead of Sverige;
|> 	Gothenburg	instead of Goeteborg; and
|> 	Linco-ping	instead of Leen-che-ping.
|> 
|> and I will promise not to feel insulted. Have a Good Yule everybody!
|> -- 
|> Lars Aronsson, Lysator, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden

I generally agree with most your points, with some qualifications.

First, I think it could be noted that the Swedish word "lapp" is originally
constructed to be somewhat insulting. "Lapp" means "small piece of paper
or cloth", a rag. It indicates that the "lapps" were poor people
(non-wealthy), dressed
in rags. Compare with the word "fattiglapp" (poor-"lapp") which is still
used to signify a very poor person.

Then it should be noted that what is insulting in many of these cases
is the naming of someone after some specific property. I am not ashamed
of having rat-coloured hair (r}ttf{rgat h}r). (Yes! "Rat-colour" 
is the national hair colour
of Sweden, hear that all you artificial blondes out there! {:-) ) I don't mind
if people, when discussing hair colours note that "you have rat-coloured
hair". Still, I would not like to be labeled as a "rat-coloured", "rat" or
similar. Another example is if someone is fat or overweight. As soon
as you start calling this person "fetknopp" or "tjockis" (fatman etc.),
you have _identified_ the person with this single property and the word
becomes an insult.

I also think that if someone really is insulted by some designation,
 this term should be avoided. (But people seldom agree about what is
insulting, this is the reason for the discussion.)

Then I must introduce some more examples. One international one is the
word "idiot", which I think originally means "ordinary citizen" in greek.
It was then used as a technical term for a person with somewhat
less intellectual capacity than the mean population. From that it developed
into today's insult.

Another idiotic (!) example, more related to Nordic culture, is the word 
"stroke". This
is now the official designation of diseases involving hemorraging/trombosis
in the brain. There is nothing wrong with the English term, but why use
it in Swedish? The old Swedish word for this is "slaganfall" or just "slag".
The word signifies the somewhat mystical nature of this disease, it comes
suddenly, like a strike from the gods without any warning. Now, this
wasn't liked by the organisation for "stricken" people and their relatives.
They put pressure on the Swedish national medical board (Socialstyrelsen)
to get the term "stroke" instead. The ridiculous thing is that this
English word means exactly the same thing as "slag" in Swedish!
I know one doctor who insists in pronouncing "stroke" in Swedish, as
a small protest.

Finally, please let this discussion be about Nordic words and their
usage. As Lars Aronsson notes, The Americans seem to be much more
obsessed with these questions and could well flood the newsgroup.


-- 
           Dan Kiselman, Uppsala Astronomical Observatory, Sweden
           Dan.Kiselman@astro.uu.se
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic