Date: Fri, 28 Oct 1994 11:48:12 CST

From: salikoko mufwene mufw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU

Subject: Re: Offensive terms



In Message Thu, 27 Oct 1994 20:54:28 -0400,

Claudio Salvucci CSALVUCCI[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]delphi.com writes:



A friend of mine from college, born and raised (though not all of

his life) in Zaire, told me that "sand nigger" was quite a common usage

in Zaire, referring to Africans above the Sahara. What I don't

remember (if he ever told me) was whether black Zairois or Belgians

or both used it. In either case, it was not a general term of contempt

but was quite directly

imed at the Arab-speaking world.



I was born in Zaire, a francophone country, and didn't leave it till I

was 27 years old. I don't remember ever hearing the term, i.e., what "sand

nigger" must be a translation of. Could it have been used among European

expatriates? Black Africans do not consider Arabs blacks!

Sali.

Salikoko S. Mufwene

University of Chicago

Dept. of Linguistics

1010 East 59th Street

Chicago, IL 60637

s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu

312-702-8531; fax: 312-702-9861