Gingerism

[Roger O'Keeffe]

Is <a href=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6725653.stm>this</a> a particularly English phenomenon?

[The Weekenders]

I heard a few redhead jokes when i was a kid. The only thing I ever hear nowadays are from a few guys who I know who go nuts over red-haired women.

When I was a kid, I always heard that redheads have terrible tempers and are usually freckled.

I eventually concluded that this was leftover racism against the Irish in America. But I sure don't hear much about it nowadays except in complimentary terms.

[gonzo914]

There was a South Park episode that had Cartman stirring up hate against gingers (Ginger Kids) until Stan and Kyle dyed his head red while he was sleeping, but that is the only time I've ever seen any indication of prejudice against red-haired people here in the US, or even in Texas.

But then, we are a melting-pot nation comprising immigrants from many nations and cultures, and with such a rich offering of minorities to torment, we simply may not have gotten around to the gingers yet.

[jbarter]

Is <a href=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6725653.stm>this</a> a particularly English phenomenon?

It's an Anglo-Saxon anti-Celt thing.

[buddhu]

Probably, and it's flippin' ridiculous.

Just another "ism" for people who still haven't solved the important "ism" problems to sound off about.

"Is gingerism as bad as racism?" Well, have gingers been enslaved en masse, murdered for the gingerness, banned from establishments and made to use separate facilities to other people?

There is no comparison, and the people who started this line of thinking need a kick in the arse.

Note: When I had hair - especially when I was young, my hair was red. They don't come much more ginger than my two beautiful daughters, or my grandson.

[Walden]

There were some guys talking. One said "blondes are beautiful." Another said "brunettes are nicer." A third guy said, "red-heads are mean." The fourth guy said, "I don't know. My wife's been all three, and I couldn't tell the difference."

[djm]

I don't think of Irish when I see red hair. I think of Norwegians. And no, I've never been aware of anyone picking on redheads, but there is certainly no shortage of jokes about "dumb blondes", so from that perspective, yes, there are lots of jokes here based on hair colour.

djm

[chrisoff]

Not just an English thing, happens a lot up here as well (ridiculous considering the number of gingers we have).

Mostly it's just banter, I've got 3 or 4 close friends of the ginger persuasion and they don't mind me or other people making the odd joke (they give it back just as good). But one of them who I go to football matches with is constantly getting into arguments with people who resort to being pretty abusive towards him on account of being ginger.

Frankly his life's hard enough what with freckles, sunburn and, well, ginger hair, without people giving him abuse for it

[Roger O'Keeffe]

I've never seen it being worse than banter, but I suppose some people need to have someone to hate.

Right up to the early 1970s I could take anti-Irish jokes from English people in the spirit of banter and share the joke, but then, for obvious reasons, it turned into something nastier. As Frank Carson used to say, "It's the way you tell 'em".

Catherine Tate has done a few good sketches on gingerism, which I found hilarious precisely because of their absurdity. It never occurred to me until now that there could be a more serious side to it.

[Wombat]

Catherine Tate has done a few good sketches on gingerism, which I found hilarious precisely because of their absurdity. It never occurred to me until now that there could be a more serious side to it.

I've seen those; refuges for gingers. I've never encountered ginger jokes in real life.

Lots of people from Irish and Scottish backgrounds are ginger. Growing up, my best friend, an Irish-Australian, was about as ginger and freckly as one could be but his sister was dark. I have a ginger moustache but my hair was dark brown until it went grey. You'd think that would attract jokes but it hasn't in Australia and it didn't in England.

[hyldemoer]

I don't think of Irish when I see red hair. I think of Norwegians.

I read some where that red haired Irish is something that came to be from when the Vikings used to come by.

I live about a half block out of where many of Chicago's northside Irish live but if I see someone with red hair, she's usually got a thick Polish accent.
Since most of the red heads around here are also usually older than me, its probably a safe bet the red came from a bottle.

[Nanohedron]

Mom was definitely the auburn side of ginger. Don't recall hearing if she ever got any grief for it. She dyes it now, but to the same color it was naturally. Looks good to me.

A lot of redheads hereabouts are of Danish descent.

[BrassBlower]

I had a girlfriend once who claimed to get her red hair and freckles from her Irish dad, but she was actually the spittin' image of her Spanish/Portuguese (actually Galego, I think) mom.

[crookedtune]

It must be a pretty pervasive phenomenon. 'Red-headed stepchild' has become an entrenched part of the American vernacular.

[Nanohedron]

It must be a pretty pervasive phenomenon. 'Red-headed stepchild' has become an entrenched part of the American vernacular.

First I've heard it.