Racial slurs in French

I was talking about the word "nègre" with Julie last night. We looked it up in the dictionary and found some interesting usages. Beyond the most obvious ones were:
  • Nègre en chemise, now just called "noir et blanc"
  • Nègre, meaning "ghostwriter". (Think about that.) The OQLF changed it to "auteur fantôme".
And in Quebec:
  • Plan de nègre: An especially ugly expression describing some kind of underhanded plot
  • Juif: This means "Jew", but, as in English, the way it is used is actually quite offensive. For example, you say to your little girl, "Eille, ma juive!" when she is doing something sneaky. This is something that an older generation is far more likely to say, but then again, maybe not. I also really dislike the English usage (to be "jewed" = to be cheated out of something).
I'd like to know of more of these types of expressions in Quebec and elsewhere in the French-speaking world.

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Well us Acadians are refered to Les Negres Blanc d'Amérique (White Niggers of America)

This is because of the genocide and the cultural massacre. We were compared to the black slaves in America. Some would say we had it worse. But that's debatable.

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This page contains a single entry by Alston published on May 21, 2009 10:19 AM.

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