Cleaning out the colloquial cupboard
Monday, September 25, 2006 at 10:23AM Australians hold their unique, home-grown colloquial phrases and terms very dear, and these are often perceived as being iconic representations of Aussie culture.
Sometimes Aussie colloquial terms reflect greater ideas or ideals, the best example being “mate”. Mate is also a flexible term, ranging from open, accepting kindness to insult . Mate is Aussie and, excepting its too-frequent use by politicians and journalists aiming to separate or exclude perceived non-Australians, usually refugees, it is a harmless, functional and often charming part of the language.
Other slang is less benign, though, and I think it is high time to clean out the colloquial cupboard. Here is something that recently caught my attention:
The Australian ran this headline in its sports section and on its online front-page.
Well.
“The Pakis” is considered by some Australians as an acceptable reference to the Pakistani cricket team. The title is a part of the nomenclature of Aussie (and some other) cricket fans. In its casual use it is sometimes no more than an abbreviated reference to the team. Even Aussies who are not great adherents of cricket will often defend Paki as an ambiguous, non-toxic title.
Unfortunately these facts have little relevance or standing in light of the fact that here, and in most of the world, the word Paki is also an unambiguously derogatory racial slur.
The Cambridge Dictionary is clear about this.
Paki
noun [C] OFFENSIVE
a person from Pakistan
As a youngster growing up in Canada I heard the word Paki all too often. Paki was a word of hatred and conflict. Paki was a word that meant a) people were going to throw down their woolly mittens and have a punch-up, or more often b) a kid whose tone of skin suggested a heritage rooted anywhere in middle or south Asia was about to be bullied, degraded, humiliated and insulted.
Paki as a racial slur is not unique to youth or my Canadian origin; adults worldwide use the word. Doing so they reveal their racism—and often also their ignorance or disregard for national and cultural distinctions.
For any who regard foreign examples, or foreign dictionaries, as irrelevant for their ignorance of the Australian context and vernacular, the Macquarie Dictionary is clear enough as well.
Paki
noun 1. (Often offensive) a Pakistani. —phrase 2. the Pakis, the Pakistani Test Cricket team.
When a point like this is raised many individuals among the cultural majority are very quick to reply “who ME, racist?” while evidencing little credible sensitivity to racial issues. Also common is reference to “pointless political correctness” and the defensive citation of examples where the subject group self-applies racist terms. Any who think the word Paki is made benign by the self-application of the word by Pakistani cricket players or fans might consider this: The word “nigger”, a term of equivalent intent and stature to Paki but coined in reference to black Americans and their enslaved history, is today sometimes heard casually, colloquially or ironically coined by people of the minority to whom the word so hatefully refers. Might we suppose this makes “nigger” an appropriate word for any white-skinned person to use? I suggest that white staffers at The Australian who would answer “yes” should attend some professional sporting events and try greeting dark-skinned athletes with that term — face to face.
Paki is not a rare word in Australia. Sometimes its use is not intended to express racism or hatred. But in a headline broadcast across audiences who have no basis to assume some special non-racist cricket-culture usage, what does accepting this word’s use represent? At best: A wrong-minded devotion to culturally specific colloquialism at the expense of more urgent values. At worst: A sad reminder of the pervasive yet pervasively denied cracker backwardness that skulks beneath the culture of Australia and other western countries.
Ironically, a range of articles published in The Australian agree that ‘Paki’ is an offensive term.
- Here in an interesting article about offensive language;
- Here calling-out brainless junkie Amy Winehouse;
- Here in a review of Gautam Malkani’s book Londonstani - quote:
“Gautam Malkani’s first offering begins with a scene of visceral violence: four young British Asians are pummelling a white kid for calling them “Pakis” – a word allowed only if you are on the inside (Can’t be callin someone a Paki less you also call’d a Paki, innit”).
Since writing this post I have noticed ‘Pakis’ seems to be used less frequently in the Australian media. I do not suggest in any way that my article influenced this (although I hope the letters I sent to some newspaper editors might have made a slight contribution).
It intrigues me that this post is the most visited one at my blog. It does not appear to be listed by Google for any relevant search, leading me to think it has been passed person-to-person. Readers include people in Australia, the US, Russia, Korea and the Ukraine.

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