Ed Do you like your cheese?

Lucian said:
"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.
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The bottom line is that the Swedish term "neger" has never been a racist slur. That distinction has been foisted upon us by Politically Correct warriors who claim that our term "neger" is pronounced closely enough to the American slur "******" and therefore must have the same intentional connotation.
 
Clutch Cargo said:
The bottom line is that the Swedish term "neger" has never been a racist slur. That distinction has been foisted upon us by Politically Correct warriors who claim that our term "neger" is pronounced closely enough to the American slur "******" and therefore must have the same intentional connotation.
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You might find it serves you better to find one line of argument and stick to it, rather than constanrtly switching to a new one every time your rubbish is shown to be rubbish.
 
The Greater Fool said:
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.
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A) Source?
B) What do you figure the name comes from then?
 
Belz... said:
A) Source?
B) What do you figure the name comes from then?
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Well do you think it's impossible that it was called "coon cheese" because it has a black covering, if what he says was right? That would have been perfectly unremarkable in a world where dyed wool was available in "****** brown". I have no idea whether this is true, but I haven't seen any indication that Edward Coon was anything but a man making cheese in New York round about the time the Australian company started trading. Does the cheese use the "Cooning process", and did it ever? If the answer to that is "yes" it strengthens the Edward Coon origin story, if the answer is "no" it seriously weakens it.

If it is named after Edward Coon then it would seem odd that a maker of cheese would have wanted an Australian rival to use his name. As far as I can tell he had nothing to do with the company at all. It might be true that they chose the name to honour this man, or stole it to boost their sales (which would assume this New York cheesemaker was widely known in Australia), but it doesn't really ring very true, does it. The black covering story is just as plausible on the face of it, although of course this doesn't mean that either, both or neither are true.
 
PursuedByABear said:
Well do you think it's impossible that it was called "coon cheese" because it has a black covering, if what he says was right?
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No, I don't think that's impossible.

I have no idea whether this is true, but I haven't seen any indication that Edward Coon was anything but a man making cheese in New York round about the time the Australian company started trading. Does the cheese use the "Cooning process", and did it ever? If the answer to that is "yes" it strengthens the Edward Coon origin story, if the answer is "no" it seriously weakens it.
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Agreed. Hence my questions to TGF.
 
Darat said:
But this has nothing at all to do with anyone doing anything to "your" language? This is a trademark and a brand.
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It is an example of "outsiders" dictating what your vocabulary means. I have given several examples of this. It applies to Coon Cheese as well. "Coon" is most certainly a common expression for "Racoon" in the southern states of the U.S. The fact that racially-minded people of the region decided to use it as a racially derogatory slur has nothing to do with Australia or the Australians. They should not be held accountable for what the American population does. There are hundreds of languages and dialects in the world and every one of them (I am sure) have words that mean something completely different in other languages. So, my comment should be clear that I disagree with "foreign concepts" determining contrarily what my or your vocabulary means .... and what we are thinking when we employ it.
 
Darat said:
What is the "coon" process?
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According to the makers of Coon cheese, it is a process invented by Edward Coon, a man from New York who did exist, but who has left little other mark on history and had nothing to do with Australia. They claim they used this process to make their cheese and named the cheese after the inventor, apparently out of a desire to serve his memory, as they presumably were not paying him to use his patented process. They certainly don't use it now. At what point in history they started making this claim about Edward Coon is not clear at present.
 
Clutch Cargo said:
It is an example of "outsiders" dictating what your vocabulary means. I have given several examples of this. It applies to Coon Cheese as well. "Coon" is most certainly a common expression for "Racoon" in the southern states of the U.S. The fact that racially-minded people of the region decided to use it as a racially derogatory slur has nothing to do with Australia or the Australians. They should not be held accountable for what the American population does. There are hundreds of languages and dialects in the world and every one of them (I am sure) have words that mean something completely different in other languages. So, my comment should be clear that I disagree with "foreign concepts" determining contrarily what my or your vocabulary means .... and what we are thinking when we employ it.
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Nobody but Australians have been involved in this at all. Who are the outsiders?

"Coon" is a racial slur in the USA and to my certain knowledge the UK, and has been for my lifetime at least. Many Australians are here telling us that it is also a racial slur in Australia; this is hardly surprising; there is huge overlap between Australian and UK slang. What is your reason for claiming all those people are lying and coon has never been a racial slur in Australia?
 
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PursuedByABear said:
According to the makers of Coon cheese, it is a process invented by Edward Coon, a man from New York who did exist, but who has left little other mark on history and had nothing to do with Australia. They claim they used this process to make their cheese and named the cheese after the inventor, apparently out of a desire to serve his memory, as they presumably were not paying him to use his patented process. They certainly don't use it now. At what point in history they started making this claim about Edward Coon is not clear at present.
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I suspect that the history of the name of this cheese brand has been - shall we say - a tad whitewashed.
 
Darat said:
I suspect that the history of the name of this cheese brand has been - shall we say - a tad whitewashed.
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It does seem extremely unlikely to me that they would have called the cheese "Coon cheese" after Edward Coon unless people actually knew what the Coon process was. Which would imply other "cooning process" cheeses had previously been sold, and people wanted them. It would surely be possible to find some reference to this. It was patented 7 years before the Australian launch, so I suppose that is not impossible.

As, however, the process appeared to be designed to mature cheese faster, not make it any better, it seems an odd thing to stress right up there in your brand name. "This cheese saves us money! There's no benefit for you, but hey."
 
Darat said:
I suspect that the history of the name of this cheese brand has been - shall we say - a tad whitewashed.
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Are you seriously suggesting that, despite everything posted in this thread about the origin of the name of the brand, that it was named deliberately to be a racial slur?

If so, this is an outrageous lie.

I’d ask for this unsubstantiated claim to be withdrawn, but I know this is a vain hope.
 
lionking said:
Are you seriously suggesting that, despite everything posted in this thread about the origin of the name of the brand, that it was named deliberately to be a racial slur?

If so, this is an outrageous lie.

I’d ask for this unsubstantiated claim to be withdrawn, but I know this is a vain hope.
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And where was that information found?
 
PursuedByABear said:
It does seem extremely unlikely to me that they would have called the cheese "Coon cheese" after Edward Coon unless people actually knew what the Coon process was. Which would imply other "cooning process" cheeses had previously been sold, and people wanted them. It would surely be possible to find some reference to this. It was patented 7 years before the Australian launch, so I suppose that is not impossible.

As, however, the process appeared to be designed to mature cheese faster, not make it any better, it seems an odd thing to stress right up there in your brand name. "This cheese saves us money! There's no benefit for you, but hey."
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Again, if you have read this thread, you will see why this cheese is so named. How about you providing evidence that it was named after a then very obscure and never used racial slur in Australia 100 years ago. Your claim. Prove it.
 
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