O/T:- Banks

[MarcusCole]

It's a term I sometimes used based on the amusing stereotype definition:

An old conservative Englishman who bickers on about minorities instead of helping solve the country's issues. The sort who goes red in the face with anger at the perceived erosion of "their" type of Britain. The kind of person who thinks that flour is a spice, that there's too many Spaniards in Spain, and they "Don't want any of that foreign muck" when abroad instead only eating Sausage and Chips. The sort who reserve the right to move anywhere in the world, but don't want any "bloody foreigners" in our country.

There are still quite a few about, but their numbers are diminishing.

My wife is from Singapore, she gets called a Banana. Is that an amusing stereotype or is it racist?

I see no difference in using one or the other, they are both aimed at the target based on their race.

[Elite_Pie]

My wife is from Singapore, she gets called a Banana. Is that an amusing stereotype or is it racist?

I see no difference in using one or the other, they are both aimed at the target based on their race.

I see a distinct difference. If your wife is called a banana simply because of the colour of her skin, I would class that as racist. While the gammon reference pertains to the colour their skin would go when angry, it's more related to it going that colour because of their bigoted political views rather than them simply having white skin. My skin goes a red colour when I play squash for an hour. Your skin and mine might go red when we are extremely angry when Macauley Langstaff is denied a blatant penalty. Neither of us would be gammons, because the stereotype is only based on the colour their skin goes when accompanied by xenophobic political views. It only tends to apply to white people because if you have a dark skin colour, the redness would not be apparent!

It's based on bigotry not race, if I thought it was racist I wouldn't use it.