Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Ethnicity and The Grauniad

Dear Grauniad,
Your use of the term "Ethnic" is breaking the rules from your style guide.

20th September 2004: main section p6 "Illegal Meat Racketeers Exposed"
"The trader was also taped discussing his involvement in the supply of 'smokies' - sheep carcasses illegally slaughtered and prepared for the ethnic market"

21st September 2004: BT Education Awards Section p4
"One of the few ethnic pupils . . ."

No. No. No.
Anthropology 101 - Everyone has ethnicity ergo everyone is ethnic.

Another guilty party is my local Co-op. It sells bhajis, samosas and pakoras as "Ethnic" food but does not so label "Black pudding" and what could be more ethnic than "Black Pudding"?


An Epicure writes: Surely the ethnic dish par excellence is "avocado puree", or "Yorkshire caviare"?

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