Pakeha

[jrandom]

I guess some of us just prefer to look at some things from a postive angle...

It's impossible to look at idiocy from a positive angle without disingenuousness or hypocrisy.

[janno]

I don't find it offensive.

If I were Maori, then I'd call myself Maori. If I were a Yorkshireman or Geordie, I'd call myself a Yorkshireman or Geordie - as a subset of English people. Maori or Pakeha to me are subsets of New Zealanders.

So I call myself pakeha.

Took me a while in Aus to stop looking for the "pakeha/european origin" box to tick on forms . . .

[ManDownUnder]

This is where we differ. I am always ready to tell the Emperor that he has no clothes.

"Luff you long time" doesn't count chap...

[kevfromcoro]

Dont find it offense at all;
What about Ehore?
Sounds terrible..but in fact its not.

[ManDownUnder]

But to criticize is to imply the negatives, yet to critique you look at it from all angles but still state the facts.
I guess some of us just prefer to look at some things from a postive angle, rather than always from above

No - to critique is criticise - both are done by a critic, who is in turn critical.

Same roo word all the way. Semantics are being applied (in the form of the Dept of Education I suspect). They're all actually neutral terms and the technicque can be used in a positive, negative emotional or objective manner to suit the motives of the critic.

[Dilligaf]

I dislike the word too, just as I despised being called "farang" in Thailand. (Farang = foreigner). Mainly because of its overuse.
I also think because growing up in Aus, you were Australian. That's it unless you yourself went further and identified as an ATSI. And therein I think lies the difference. You are asked on official forms if you are Aus citizen and then further on, if you are ATSI descent. You are not labelled as a non-Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander.

If we take the idea from Wikipedia that Pakeha is merely a descriptive term, then Michael Laws should then also be able to describe Tongan kings as he sees too no?

[nodrog:Me]

geez you honky's get upset easily

[scott411]

this is a pet hate of mine as well,

i write in New Zealander on all forms that ask

my beef is two fold,

one i can trace my family back 6 generations in NZ, that makes me a new zealander, the problem i have with being called Pakeha is i feel it just determins me as white or european, the fact i could be australian, or english does not matter, i am just a paheka. i do not see why i chould be called european, i am not from europe, i am from New Zealand, if i was 6th generation american, i would be called american, not something that means outsider.

the other reason i hate teh pakeha word is that i think it seperates us, i have freinds that are of moari, pacific island, indian, asian and european decent, we are all new zealanders, we all cheer when the all blacks win, we all boo when Helen takes something away or taxes us more, i like that some parts of our culture have moari origin, i like the fact i come from this little group of islands in teh south pacfic

[Albino]

I'm also uncomfortable with its' use, particularly on official documents. I always cross it out and write "New Zealander".

This approach has been causing the waitemata DHB some headaches as they get funding based on ethnicity of people in their catchment area.

What's worse - Pakeha or NZ European?

[Sanx]

Have you read Michael King's The Penguin History of New Zealand?

Not that interested in Penguins.

[Trudes]

It used to bother me, but only because I'd been brought up in a family where I was made to believe it was a derogatory way of saying white fella in Maori. I have since read a fair amount of literature on the subject and have developed what I believe to be an informed opinion of my own about it, especially after reading Michael King's words of wisdom on the subject, I am now happy calling myself Pakeha as I understand the meaning of the word as it realtes to me.
Each to their own really, but I feel it has a meaning of belonging, as opposed to calling yourself a European New Zealander which I feel somehow implys that you were not born here, whereas Pakeha belongs to NZ, as Maori does. Just my opinion.

[007XX]

I honnestly don't mind it...

I was born in New Caledonia, where there are different terms for the European Caledonian (freshly moved from France to NC), for the white Caledonian (derived from the first convicts sent on the island), and another again for the native New Caledonian...

Then I come here, and at first I'm french, then people discover I have been here for 13 years, and so I suddenly become a Pakeha...

My point is: a different title assigned to me does not make me who I am...
It is only other people trying to slot me into an identity they feel comfortable with.

[Karma]

What's worse - Pakeha or NZ European?

NZ European doesn't exist... you're either a New Zealander or you're European.

Personally I live here in NZ, no issues with that, but I'll still class myself as English, that's where I was born and raised.

If however you wanted citizenship, then you'd stop being European and start being a New Zealander... can't have both.

[Sniper]

Dont find it offense at all;
What about Ehore?
Sounds terrible..but in fact its not.

Internet prostitution is legal too?

I always put myself as South African. My NZ passport says Im a New Zealander, not a Pakeha. Either way, Im just a difficult bugger

[Dilligaf]

It's interesting alright. I see myself as Australian although it has now been over 10 years since I lived there. I am the only person in my family born there (expat parents who themselves were POMS).
Pity my poor daughter who was born in Thailand, given Australian citizenship but has never lived there... who oh who will she represent for that Olympic medal???