Frank Devine - theaustralian.news.com.au
March 03, 2006
"Has cheerful Australian irony exorcised the evil in "wog"? Old enough to have developed good control of insouciance, I nonetheless stop short of openly advocating "wog". If we wish to discourage it as the people's choice in discussion of ethnic affairs, however, we need to find an informative, non-euphemistic, non-insulting substitute.
Maybe it's time to consider American style: "Italian American", "Chinese American" and so on.
There may be a greater element of imposition in this than Burchfield would recommend, but it's a usage that might win support in our post-multiculturist interest in inclusiveness. "Martian Australian", for euphemistic example, neutralises finger pointing with an embrace."
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