Chinkies

In the United Kingdom, a chinkies (sometimes known as a chinky chonky or chinkmaster [cite book|title=Britslang: An Uncensored A-Z of the People's Language, Including Rhyming S _au. page=98|year=2004|publisher=Robson|id=ISBN 1861057288] ) is a slang term for Chinese takeaway restaurant, or the meal that one buys from such a restaurant. The name "" is the plural and adjectival form of "chink", and like "chink" was originally an ethnic slur for Chinese and other oriental people. [cite news|date=2003-08-21|title=Lessons in battle against racism|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3167697.stm|work=BBC News]

The Broadcasting Standards Commission held in 2002, after a complaint about the BBC One programme "The Vicar of Dibley", that when used as the name of a type of restaurant or meal, rather than as an adjective applied to a person or group of people, the word carries no racist connotation, and given that the program is shown on BBC1 is thus representative of the views of the majority of the population. [cite web|url=http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/bsc/pdfs/bulletin/bulletin56.pdf|format=PDF|pages=p. 19|date=2002-07-25|issue=56|title=The Bulletin|publisher=Broadcasting Standards Commission] However, a year earlier the Commission's counterpart, the Radio Authority, apologised for the offence caused by an incident where a DJ on Heart 106.2 used the term. [cite web | url=http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/publications-archive/adobe-pdf/regulation/quart-bulletins/bullet42.pdf | title=Radio Authority Quarterly Complaints Bulletin: April – June 2001 | format=pdf | pages=p. 25 | month=June | year=2001 | issue=42 | publisher=Radio Authority ] Ofcom, the successor organisation of the two, classifies it as a derivative of the racist term "chink", but notes that the degree to which the term is deemed offensive varies according to age or ethnic origin of the listener. [cite web | url=http://www.ofcom.org.uk/research/radio/reports/bcr/language.pdf | title=Language and Sexual Imagery in Broadcasting: A Contextual Investigation | publisher=Ofcom | pages=85| month=September | year=2005 | format=PDF ]

ee also

* Paki shop — term used to describe a shop run by a person of South Asian decent or birth.

References