Do people really still use this word? From the context, Cowen appears to be using it to mean “French person” rather than “French man,” so maybe he is being ironic? I admit to some nostalgia for various old-fashioned ethinic descriptors that aren’t exactly offensive but still don’t really get used anymore, such as Chinaman, Jewess, Turk. Something like an old Sam Spade novel where “the Turk” comes out of an alley with a knife, or whatever. Recently I’ve been hearing Latinos (Hispanics) refer to themselves as “Spanish,” which is kind of cool.
OK, time to get back to work.
As a Briton, the one that frosts me is "Brit". What, you can't manage the second syllable?
It would be fine in a flippant context, as we might say "Yank", but I've seen it used in complete seriousness in political writing. They'll write "Today, the Canadian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Brit governments expressed their concern about global warming…" The correct, matching usages would of course be "Today, the Canuck, Russkie, Jap, Chink, and Brit governments expressed…"
Yes, they do.
Igor.
Actually, Chinaman is considered offensive. More background can be found at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinaman.
Derek, it seems me that your complaint is about the use of a slang term, but your list includes some outright ethnic slurs (Chink, Jap), which is not the same thing.
A lot of Latinos don't like the term Hispanic, feeling it is a term invented by bureaucrats.
Nothing like ESPN soccer moderated by Tommy Smyth…
For example, instead of "Turkey vs Spain" he says "the Turks versus the Spaniards". No, I didn't make that up.
Why is this so gosh darn endearing?!
Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature…
Yes, I realize that "Chinaman" is considered rude. My point was that Chinaman, Turk, Jewess, etc., don't seem inherently to be slurs, but they have that old-fashioned feeling that, to me, makes them slur-like.