Not too difficult.

If you’ve read anything by Orson Scott Card, you’ve probably come across my favorite hierarchy of classification for “otherness,” adopted from concepts and words in the Nordic languages. It sticks in your mind after you experience it in the context of the book, and I’m fascinated by how people may move from one category to another by dint of deed or an imposed group perception.

utlänning: a human from another city or country främling: a human from another world (this one is tricky and fluid…the dead are sometimes främling) raman: a human of another species (aliens, mermen / mermaids, elves in LOTR, anything you can empathize with but that is not technically human, yet with time you perceive it as human) varelse: animals with whom no conversation is possible djur: the dire beast that comes in the night, an irreconcileable enemy.

We are all someone else’s främling or raman, and often the djur of our exes. Politicians generally profit from making utlänning into djur.

You haven’t spent much time in Gult-land, have you ? Actually, the pronunciation using an ‘e’ in the place of ‘u’ is plain wrong( but maybe valid in some other language).

‘paradesi.’” (Presumably she meant, as we always do, a non-Indian American.)

Paradesi means NRI, doesn’t it?

Regarding Southies’ generally being less open to paradesis — well, I feel that we are pretty closed, but don’t have much to compare that to.

Are you speaking for all of us?

Pretty closed compared to whom?

Kush I saw your Pardesi up above, but I’ve never heard anyone I know under the age of 40 use it!

Cheers for the research. It’s originally Persian, not Arabic. Tragically one of my mates accompanying me on my US jaunt is an Iranian with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Hindi swear words and an insatiable desire to tell me how much Hindi is from Farsi. Fair-hangi is how he pronounces it.

Epoch I’d agree with you. Firangi is always used at me when someone’s irritated. Actually I just remembered a scene from Monsoon Wedding, when Neha Dubey is getting pissed off with the Aussie fella: “You’re such a bloody firangi” [storms off]

Ah my Aussie pal, I feel your pain.

I did little research on “firangi” – it is originally a Persian or Arabic word “farang” – has been in India vernacular for time immemorial. It means “not of the same color” or “European (Franks)“.

One could see “Pardesi” as a super-set that encompasses more. Just some trivia for you guys.

I like firangi as the word for foreigner, though it’s not one I’ve ever heard before. The Star Trek link is an added bonus. I was asking my aunt just now, and of the words given in the comments, paradesi is the one she recognized, saying, “If you’re in India and an American comes, everyone calls ‘paradesi.’” (Presumably she meant, as we always do, a non-Indian American.)

Regarding Southies’ generally being less open to paradesis — well, I feel that we are pretty closed, but don’t have much to compare that to.

ISA= Indian Student Association SASA= South Asian Student Association SALSA= South Asian Law Student Association TANA= Telugu Association of North America

I mentioned that my friend’s girlfriend was Brahmin not to get into caste snobbery, but just to emphasize how her family’s traditions would be different from my family, which is Velma. Caste does make a difference that way, and I think when you remove the hierarchy (as mostly happens in the move to the U.S.) there’s nothing toxic about the differences.