Changing Names

[SteveT]

Why were indians suddenly called asians?

When did britain become the uk and why was the name changed when we are known as the british?

[Robyn0312]

On 1 May 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was created by the political union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. This event was the result of the Treaty of Union that was agreed on 22 July 1706,and then ratified by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland each passing an Act of Union in 1707. Almost a century later, the Kingdom of Ireland, already under English control by 1691, merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom with the passing of the Act of Union 1800. - from wikipedia

I don't know about india/asia though...

[OutOfFocus]

Britain has not become the UK.

- Britain = England Scotland + Wales.

- UK = Britain + Northern Island

[SteveT]

Thanks for that guys,... errr why aren't we called the 'Disunited Kingdom'

after all scotland has got her home rule thing going and wales has an assembly?

DK is owned by Germany so I guess it's not possible.

[SteveT]

Why or how did Eskimo's become Inuit's?

[SteveT]

Why did an alsatian become a german shepherd?

[SteveT]

Why did convicts become inmates.

[RosieH]

Are you having an aneurysm?

[womanofdulwich]

Rosie, some men just think that way- some sit and say nothing for a while and then pipe up,some have to get it down as soon as they have thought of it. I am married to the former, but work with the latter.

[Townleygreen]

German shepherd was the original name - changed to alsatian during the tide of anti-german feeling in WW1, when the Royal family became Windsors instead of their German surname.

I guess we have now gone back to german shepherd. Or is that an American thing??

[Santerme]

In Canada, Red Indian is now quite an insult, they are members of the First Nation.

My wife has just taken a brief from the local Metis group (although Metis are not First Nation as they are descendents from mixed marriages, etc with the original French settlers) to stop a construction project in Winnipeg, they are claiming it is being built too close to an ancient burial ground.

[Townleygreen]

I believe Inuit is that people's name for themselves. Eskimo means something like "blubber-eater" (as in whale blubber and not surprisingly they prefer Inuit to that.

[SteveT]

Some inuit's have no sense of humour, Blubber gobbler sounds much more fun.:))

[SteveT]

RosieH wrote:- Are you having an aneurysm?

Excessive widening of the wall of an artery.

What makes you pose that question? Am I showing symptoms to you that I am failing to pick up on?

[HAL9000]

Definition: Inuit

1.[noun] a member of a people inhabiting the Arctic (northern Canada or Greenland or Alaska or eastern Siberia); the Algonquians called them Eskimo (`eaters of raw flesh') but they call themselves the Inuit (`the people').

'Inuit' is not entirely interchangeable with 'Eskimo' (which usually refers to the Eskimo-Aleut peoples).

See: Inuit and Eskimo

[Huguenot]

On the Indians vs. Asians question - are you talking about Red Indians or people from India?

The "Red Indians" sobriquet was coined by some daft buggers who didn't know how far around the world they'd sailed, and mistook the Americas for the same continent as the one with the Indus river.

If you're talking about the land of the Taj Mahal, then 'Asian' refers to anyone from Asia (of which Indian is a subset). In much the same way you're probably English, British, European and Caucasian - even though you don't come from the Caucasus.

I imagine the description 'Asian' arose as did the level of education, and knuckle dragging neanderthals discovered that just because someone had different coloured skin it didn't make them all 'Pakis'.

'Asian' is quite useful as a catch-all, because it covers such a diverse range of peoples that it's almost impossible to apply just one set of filthy prejudices. In doing so, it limits the ability of bigots to apply any (this makes the bigots frustrated). Clever eh?

I think that globally one of the things that stands out most about people obsessed with the application of racial labels is that they're most often to be found creating areas of the world torn apart by mindless violence. Not so clever eh?

[EDKiwi]

In New Zealand the term 'Asian' tends to refer to people of what I guess you would call (for lack of a better definition) Asian-Pacific origin, e.g. people from China, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc, etc.

When I first arrived in the UK it took me a wee while to get my head around the fact 'Asian' included Indian, Pakistanis, etc. Other kiwis I have spoken to have found the same thing.

I guess that in NZ most 'Asian' immigrants are from the Asian-Pacific area, hence we associate the word with these countries. It does raise the question of what we'd call someone from the rest of Asia if we weren't sure of their country of origin...probably (wrongly) Indian.

Just some useless info to throw into the discussion, and I'm sure other kiwis are more enlightened than myself and have always taken the broader view of the word.

[Jeremy]

We still call people from India "Indian", as far as I know... "Indian" is a subset of "Asian".

Forgive me for saying so Steve, but I think it's rather a strange question. How would you like it if people from Asia called all Europeans "Germans"? I am guessing that you wouldn't! Therefore, people from Pakistan or Bangladesh might not like being called "Indian" either.

[Santerme]

SteveT Wrote:

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> Why were indians suddenly called asians?

>

> When did britain become the uk and why was the

> name changed when we are known as the british?

More importantly, why did the good old Marathon bar become a Snickers bar?

[SteveT]

Jif cleaner became Cif.......wot's a cif?

[EDKiwi]

SteveT Wrote:

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> Jif cleaner became Cif.......wot's a cif?

Yeah what is that about? It's still Jif in New Zealand, I just assumed it was always Cif over here.

[HAL9000]

EDKiwi Wrote:

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> Yeah what is that about?

Jif -v- Cif

[Tony.London Suburbs]

When did "Nestles" become "Nestle"?? pronounced Nestlay...

When did Basle pronounced Barll become Basle pronounced Basil ( as in Fawlty Towers).

When did Rumania become Romania or Acid Drops or Jublees become extinct?

[The Chair]

Time to move this to the Lounge - which means I may ask, what became of Constantinople, butt of schoolboy jokes?

[woofmarkthedog]

Our accountant is Japanese but call her "Asian" at your peril

W**F