Ed Do you like your cheese?

[PursuedByABear]

Simply put, "Hands off my language!" It's mine, not yours.
Do I rush into your restaurants and complain that you can neither spell nor pronounce "smörgåsbord" and you insist on saying "Shkol" as if it were German? Not yet, I don't.

You don't agree with Coon cheese stopping being marketed as such in Australia becuase you want foreigners to keep their filthy foreign hands off Swedish?

Note to you : none of us are trying to do anything about Swedish. That would be other Swedes, if it is anyone who exists outside your fevered imaginings. And it has **** all to do with Australian cheese.

 

[Clutch Cargo]

Coon Family History

Coon Name Meaning
"Irish: possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cuana (see Cooney). Americanized spelling of German Kuhn. Americanized spelling of Dutch Coen or Koen."

***** It's a legitimate surname for God's sake, so can we please quit treating it as though it were dreamt up for the sole purpose of inconsiderate racial do-do and da-da.

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origi...ial-,Coon Name Meaning,Cook, Goon, Moon, Corn

 

[Elagabalus]

Coon Family History

Coon Name Meaning
"Irish: possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cuana (see Cooney). Americanized spelling of German Kuhn. Americanized spelling of Dutch Coen or Koen."

***** It's a legitimate surname for God's sake, so can we please quit treating it as though it were dreamt up for the sole purpose of inconsiderate racial do-do and da-da.

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origi...ial-,Coon Name Meaning,Cook, Goon, Moon, Corn

It was called Red Coon Cheese back in the day because it was wrapped in red wax (like Babybel!!). And if they would have kept that moniker they wouldn't be having to change the name today. Irony!!

 

[Belz...]

Coon Family History

Coon Name Meaning
"Irish: possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cuana (see Cooney). Americanized spelling of German Kuhn. Americanized spelling of Dutch Coen or Koen."

***** It's a legitimate surname for God's sake, so can we please quit treating it as though it were dreamt up for the sole purpose of inconsiderate racial do-do and da-da.

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origi...ial-,Coon Name Meaning,Cook, Goon, Moon, Corn

The claim isn't that it's deliberately racist, but that it will be interpreted as racist.

 

[Thermal]

Coon Family History

Coon Name Meaning
"Irish: possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Cuana (see Cooney). Americanized spelling of German Kuhn. Americanized spelling of Dutch Coen or Koen."

***** It's a legitimate surname for God's sake, so can we please quit treating it as though it were dreamt up for the sole purpose of inconsiderate racial do-do and da-da.

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origi...ial-,Coon Name Meaning,Cook, Goon, Moon, Corn

Over 700 posts and two threads beg to differ. Also, I think the meat here is that it was not intended as a slur, but some see it that way because of their own associations. So the question becomes "are these associations prevalent enough to warrant this name being seen as offensive enough to bag it out of consideration?"

Personally, I had to be prompted to remember the 'coon' word as a racial slur. Its not that common in the northeast US, IME. Maybe down south it is used more. Here, I thought of racoon right away. But if a significant amount of people are offended, then sure, bag it. I don't think most people care what the name of their cheese is.

 

[Clutch Cargo]

It was called Red Coon Cheese back in the day because it was wrapped in red wax (like Babybel!!). And if they would have kept that moniker they wouldn't be having to change the name today. Irony!!

Agreed.

The claim isn't that it's deliberately racist, but that it will be interpreted as racist.

Whose fault might that be? Or a better question is ... whose responsibility is it?

I know a woman who never had any children because of an automobile crash. Should it be illegal to speak about our children for fear of "offending" her?

In "Georgia On My Mind" Ray Charles sings;

"Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you ... "

What about that? Does it offend the blind? Ooooooops! Silly me!

.....
Personally, I had to be prompted to remember the 'coon' word as a racial slur. Its not that common in the northeast US, IME. Maybe down south it is used more. Here, I thought of racoon right away. But if a significant amount of people are offended, then sure, bag it. I don't think most people care what the name of their cheese is.

The expected comment to this is ... "Where will it end"?

 

[Thermal]

The expected comment to this is ... "Where will it end"?

Take that as it comes. Blacks Law Dictionary? Get over it. Porch Monkey's Deck furniture? Rebranding o'clock, if the owners weren't already tarred and feathered. Case by case won't kill anybody.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I keep saying this over and over. You can't be non-offensive on a technicality.

And no, this doesn't mean you have to buy into any version of "The offended side is always right."

 

[Clutch Cargo]

I keep saying this over and over. You can't be non-offensive on a technicality.

And no, this doesn't mean you have to buy into any version of "The offended side is always right."

 

[Vixen]

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited portion of quote relating to material sent to AAH

"Coon" is presumably an American shortened & popular word for "racoon". It was eventually used as a derogatory slur for black people in the U.S. It has nothing to do with Australia and ought not affect their country.

Edited by Agatha: 

Edited portion of quote relating to material sent to AAH

No, it is of Portuguese origin and derives from the word for slave pens:

Probably refers to the Portuguese word for slave pens or barracks "baracoons". Could also have meaning as a shortening of "raccoon", as raccoons have a tendency to steal.

Possibly from Dr. Carleton Coon, who, in the mid-1960's, theorized that blacks were less evolved than whites.

http://www.rsdb.org/races

I doubt it has anything to do with raccoons. Likely sheer coincidence.

The word "raccoon" was adopted into English from the native Powhatan term, as used in the Colony of Virginia. It was recorded on John Smith's list of Powhatan words as aroughcun, and on that of William Strachey as arathkone.[7] It has also been identified as a reflex of a Proto-Algonquian root ahrah-koon-em, meaning "[the] one who rubs, scrubs and scratches with its hands".[8] The word is sometimes spelled as racoon,[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon

 

[PursuedByABear]

I know a woman who never had any children because of an automobile crash. Should it be illegal to speak about our children for fear of "offending" her?

In "Georgia On My Mind" Ray Charles sings;

"Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you ... "

What about that? Does it offend the blind? Ooooooops! Silly me!

The expected comment to this is ... "Where will it end"?

In order of asking the answers to your questions are:
No. What about it? No. In a world without racial slurs on cheese.

You'll hate it. Which is a good thing.

 

[Belz...]

Whose fault might that be? Or a better question is ... whose responsibility is it?

I know a woman who never had any children because of an automobile crash. Should it be illegal to speak about our children for fear of "offending" her?

Hey, I'm the guy who thinks offense is overrated. Don't ask me!

 

[Myriad]

British Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans prefer that the British use refer to them as South Asians. This is because they find referring to this group of people as coming from the “subcontinent” a demeaning outdated colonial reference.

Huh. I always thought the "subcontinent" was the same thing as the "land of submarines" the Beatles sang about.

 

[The Greater Fool]

It was called Red Coon Cheese back in the day because it was wrapped in red wax (like Babybel!!). And if they would have kept that moniker they wouldn't be having to change the name today. Irony!!

In the 30's the cheese had black covering and was called 'coon cheese';
Production was stopped during World War 2;
After the war production resumed with a red covering, nick-named 'red coon cheese'. It became popular because of the texture and flavor;

Then the company decided it was named for an American Cheesemaker that developed a new process for maturing cheese quicker. Edward Coon is barely mentioned in cheesemaking, having left virtually no mark when he died in 1934.

Coon cheese never used the cooning process.

 

[Clutch Cargo]

Hey, I'm the guy who thinks offense is overrated. Don't ask me!

I was thinking out loud.

 

[Meadmaker]

I don't think most people care what the name of their cheese is.

They only care what the name of that other guy's cheese is.

 

[Lucian]

Not true. "neger" is an old germanic term for black or dark.

"Neger" is absolutely not Germanic. It comes from the Romance languages. Specifically, Swedish borrowed it from French. "Svart" is Germanic (Old Norse svartr), as is "black" (Old English blæc). "Neger" only seems to refer to humans. "Svart" has the double advantage, then, of being non-offensive and native Swedish.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

It's so easy to Google this stuff.. No excuse for getting it wrong.

 

[EHocking]

No

Geezes. Read.

My point is the exact opposite.

It is something a lot of aussies find in-offensive that is.

I need the head banging wall icon again.

And my response was that Pakistani cricket fans find it offensive.

Racists claiming that they don’t think people actually find their racist slurs offensive is the basic point of the discussion.

 

[EHocking]

It’s about as meaningful as your anecdotes. You posted one about living in Brunswick. One single point of data. What was it’s point?

Because it is, or should be, an interesting story. And yours could be so described. But mine (it was Essendon vs Richmond by the way and it was a Tigers supporter spraying bile) somehow, what, reinforces my inherent racism?

So, please, next time you post an anecdote, put it in full historical perspective, including evidence that the use of the word “wog” was tolerated in Coburg Market by stall holders, but not customers. That you were actually worked at Coburg Market and we’re actually born in Brunswick and are not culturally appropriating inner-urban Melbourne cred. Obviously you will need to do this before someone can see a point to it.

pointing out that using racist slurs is inappropriate really shouldn’t require an autobiography to back that opinion up.