The P-word

After the N-word, the P-word
By Rajni Bhatia
BBC News

Just as the N-word has been reclaimed by some in the black community, so some young British Asians are starting to adopt a word which has long been levelled against them as a racial slur.
The ejection of 19-year-old student Emily Parr from the Big Brother house for using a racist insult has reawakened debate about who can and who can't say the N-word.

Parr, who is white, was thrown out of the house while little was made of the fact that housemate Charley Uchea, who is black, also used the word nigger.

While many black people are still horrified by any mention of it, others believe that in adopting it themselves they can divest it of its power to offend.

While reclaiming the N-word has prompted debate in wider society British Asians are engaged in a similar quandary about the word Paki.

It's a word I heard all too often in my formative years and one which still stirs up bad memories of bovver boots, skinheads and "Paki-bashing".

The origins of the P-word, as its known in polite society, are far more recent than its black equivalent, which dates back to the 16th Century.

Its first recorded use was in 1964, when hostility in Britain to immigration from its former colonies in the Asian sub-continent, was beginning to find a voice.

Despite being an abbreviation for "Pakistani", its proponents tended to be less discriminating about its application - directing it against anyone with brown skin, be they Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi. Sometimes even non-Asians who happened to have a dark complexion found themselves on the receiving end.

Forty years on, use of the word is still highly sensitive and has the potential to cause great offence. Earlier this year, it was alluded to in unbroadcast material from the Celebrity Big Brother house, when Indian housemate Shilpa Shetty became the target of racist abuse.

White House
Only at the weekend, the Ministry of Defence removed a promotional video from its website because it included a British soldier using the word to describe Afghan insurgents.
In 2002, a minor diplomatic storm blew up when US president, George Bush, used the word, although unaware of its offensive connotations.

The episode forced an intervention from a White House spokesman who said Mr Bush had "great respect for Pakistan, the Pakistani people and the Pakistani culture".
Yet to some younger Asians, it appears to have none of the baggage their parents would associate with it.

Young Pakistanis are increasingly using the word to associate and differentiate.
Zak, a 17-year old from Leyton, east London, says he and his friends think nothing of calling each other, "My Paki brother".

"Paki is just a short-form of Pakistani," continues Talha, 16.

For years, the word stood solely for vehement racial abuse "But only Pakistanis should be allowed to say it," adds Adeel, 17.

Ask them about the historical significance of the word and they look blank. But they have strong views on how the word is used and by whom.

Ahsan, 15, says the P-word could be classed as racist if used by anyone else, including other Asians. Last year filmmaker Navdeep Kandola was forced to change the name of his work from Paki Slag after Screen Yorkshire threatened to pull funding and criticism from West Yorkshire Police.

But, in a further complicated twist, that is exactly how some non-Pakistani Asians are using it - as a term of abuse.

Sixteen-year-old Dinaz, who is of Bangladeshi origin, says at his school in Ilford Bangladeshis and Indians don't use the P-word, although their Pakistani peers do.

"It's accepted for Pakistanis to use it," he says, and they use it in a similar fashion to how rappers use the N-word.

Bonding word
John Ayto, author of the Oxford Dictionary of Slang, says it's just another example of how trying to control usage of a word can backfire.

The modern usage of something like the P-word can be seen as a "bonding device", he suggests, without taboos. So, will the P-word eventually find its way into mainstream conversation?
"Never," says Steve Chandrasonic, of the band Asian Dub Foundation. "I certainly wouldn't want it used in music, the way in which the N-word, has been widely adopted in hip hop and rap," he says.

The P-word which "encompasses anyone in brown skin... should be consigned to the dustbin of history," he adds.