Pakeha: an offensive slur or an everyday word?

[Kanga]

Personally I'm not a Pakeha nor NZ European (nor Maori) as I find all of these terms divisive; I'm a New Zealander or a Kiwi.

I so know where you're going with that and almost agree with you ... but I think if my cultural heritage was Maaori I'd probably want it acknowledged as distinct from yours. But, yeah, one world and all that

[Dave in NZ]

Well even our prime minister uses the term quite frequently as you can see here

http://www.3news.co.nz/John-Key-disc...8/Default.aspx


I know this thread is not about flying the Maori flag but I am just using this to show that the wording pakeha is used widely even by the PM

[Jacqi B]

Hello and welcome.

Thank you - although really it is 'welcome back' as I was quite busy in here about two years ago when planning my move.

[JandM]

Thank you - although really it is 'welcome back' as I was quite busy in here about two years ago when planning my move.

Oh, yes, I know you were - the 'welcome' was aimed at the first-time poster just above it.

[Jacqi B]

Oh, yes, I know you were - the 'welcome' was aimed at the first-time poster just above it.

Oops!

[fury147]

I've been involved in discussions about this. It seems as though it was generally "offensive" as it was a word used by Maori to describe the "other" people on their land. However,the term has now been adopted by these "other" peoples and therefore the offensive element is dropped (people wouldn't want to offend themselves, would they?) Also, the "other" is not just those from Britain. There are migrants from Asia, the Pacific Islands etc.

Because of the range of migrants, Pakeha is no longer used to describe those that are non-Maori but some people of British/European ancestry still identify as Pakeha whereas some do not like the term and prefer "NZ European" or these days, just "NZer". It's all about how you personally identify and saying it's an offensive term may be so for some because they don't identify as Pakeha, whereas those who identify as Pakeha won't find it offensive as they "own" the term. Does that make sense?