The Student Room Group

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Reply 1
Not really.
i wouldn't say it just because some people may feel more offended than others...
Reply 3
I wouldn't say it is although a few weeks back I was talking about mixed race people and referred to them as half cast and a mixed lad got really peed off. Depends on the person I spose
Reply 4
Its not a racist term but i think its nicer to used the term mixed race. Half cast just sounds negative and a bit nasty, i dont know why.
Reply 5
It all boils down to personal choice. So may find it offensive, others may not. That what makes life interesting; subjectivity.
Yes it's a holdover from British colonialism in India. I think it's offensive and I don't like it or use it.
Reply 7
Haha, I thought you were talking about the poem from the GCSE anthology.

The exams really DO take over people's brains.

Yes, it is offensive because it is not politically correct. 'Mixed race' is the approriate term.

Although my freind who is mixed race was describing herself as being 'half-caste' recently and when I asked her if she knew that wasn't considerered correct anymore she was really shocked.
Reply 8
shady lane
Yes it's a holdover from British colonialism in India. I think it's offensive and I don't like it or use it.


Exactly. The term just has lots of negative connotations and it's just better to avoid it.
Reply 9
Yes, let us alter the entirety of language so nobody gets 'offended', quickly, grab the dictionary and a black marker! Or am I not allowed to say BLACK marker anymore?

Who cares if it is offensive? Why this sudden concern with not-offending people who really need to not be so sensitive? Why can't we just say what we want to say, without worrying if someone is going to run up and go 'Hello, I'm from the ..... Commission'?

What the hell is an 'acceptable term', smacks of fascism and mind-control to me.
Reply 10
It is a racist term and it doesnt take a monkey to firgure out.

How many of you know that HALF CASTE means.. half caste

so it is a racist term.
Reply 11
Noobish
It is a racist term and it doesnt take a monkey to firgure out.

How many of you know that HALF CASTE means.. half caste

so it is a racist term.


Doesn't give anyone the right to attempt to stamp it out of existence. I personally say mixed race, because I'm not really in the business of going out of my way to offend...however I would still like the language with which to offend to exist.

Offensive people are generally dick'eads...stamp out offensive language, they will only find new ways of doing it, so why bother in the first place? Changing social attitudes will make the phrase die, not ignoring the attitude that gives arise to such language, but attempting to kill the language itself, if you see what I mean?
Excuse me
standing on one leg
I'm half-caste

Explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean when picasso
mix red an green
is a half-caste canvas/
explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean when light an shadow
mix in de sky
is a half-caste weather/
well in dat case
england weather
nearly always half-caste
in fact some o dem cloud
half-caste till dem overcast
so spiteful dem don't want de sun pass
ah rass/
explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean tchaikovsky
sit down at dah piano
an mix a black key
wid a white key
is a half-caste symphony/

Explain yuself
wha yu mean
ah listening to yu wid de keen
half of mih ear
ah looking at yu wid de keen
half of mih eye
and when I'm introduced to yu
I'm sure you'll understand
why I offer yu a half-a-hand
an when I sleep at night
I close half-a-eye
consequently when I dream
I dream half-a-dream
an when moon begin to glow
I half-caste human being
cast half-a-shadow
but yu must come back tomorrow
wid de whole of yu eye
an de whole of yu ear
an de whole of yu mind

an I will tell yu
de other half
of my story
Reply 13
Who gave me neg rep for my post?

What is wrong with pointing out that it's not PC?

Not only did you call me an idiot but you SWORE on the comment. :mad:
Reply 14
One of my friends is "of mixed race". She herself says half caste. Tbh, I think it depends how it's said, obviously if you were to say, in a loud, aggressive tone, "you're f****** half caste" it would be offensive. However if one was to say "such and such is half caste" in a normal tone of voice, it wouldn't be.

I personally think that political correctness has gone too far. i was shocked when my nan told me about 10 years ago that she couldn't go into a cafee and ask for a "black" coffee. She lived in Oldham...
Reply 15
Tehjonny, the point about not offending people is not that we should go out of our way not to offend, but rather that we shouldn't make a point of using offensive language just to show we can, which seems to be your attitude.
Being white I couldn't say if the term 'half caste' is offensive to those it is aimed at, I have used it in the past but never even considered it to be malicious. Will being 'mixed race' be deemed as offensive in the future?
nathan_neumann
Its not a racist term but i think its nicer to used the term mixed race. Half cast just sounds negative and a bit nasty, i dont know why.


actually i think mixed race (its like one half is better than the other) sounds more offensive than half cast, but then im white and i suppose the only people to answer this question effectively are well half cast people, not full white, black, asian or anything

and to those who say its a racist term from columbia. Language changes over time, 60 years ago the word gay meant happy not homsexual. 500 years ago the word b*stard would get you called out for a duel and killed. That argument doesnt hold water.
Just don't use it, it's not socially acceptable. Tehjohnny probably still thinks we should say "negro"...it just means black in Spanish, right :rolleyes:
Reply 19
FireDeuce
Excuse me
standing on one leg
I'm half-caste

Explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean when picasso
mix red an green
is a half-caste canvas/
explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean when light an shadow
mix in de sky
is a half-caste weather/
well in dat case
england weather
nearly always half-caste
in fact some o dem cloud
half-caste till dem overcast
so spiteful dem don't want de sun pass
ah rass/
explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste
yu mean tchaikovsky
sit down at dah piano
an mix a black key
wid a white key
is a half-caste symphony/

Explain yuself
wha yu mean
ah listening to yu wid de keen
half of mih ear
ah looking at yu wid de keen
half of mih eye
and when I'm introduced to yu
I'm sure you'll understand
why I offer yu a half-a-hand
an when I sleep at night
I close half-a-eye
consequently when I dream
I dream half-a-dream
an when moon begin to glow
I half-caste human being
cast half-a-shadow
but yu must come back tomorrow
wid de whole of yu eye
an de whole of yu ear
an de whole of yu mind

an I will tell yu
de other half
of my story


Was going to post that too dammit.