Two well known websites, Chitpawan & NewAdvent agree to replace the alleged word "Goanese" with the word "Goan"

The niz-GOANS beat the GOA-nese!

[TGF foreword: There really should be no big deal with the use of words. However, it is not what the word means, as much as the context that the word has been in use, and the connotation it carries or carried. 

Just imagine the reception that awaits a non-African American who calls  an American of African descent....nigger!

And yet, folks of African descent are quite comfortable calling each other "nigger" to mean 'a  person'. It isn't uncommon to find the usage of the phrase: "The nigger is sharp" to indicate how well appointed the person is. One may even find Afro-Americans describe a Caucasian person in the terms: "The white nigger.." to mean a Caucasian person.

The same can be said about the use of the word "coolie" in the Caribbean. A person of East Indian descent would be highly offended at being called a "coolie", and yet he might be quite comfortably looking for some real "coolie" food or gyal  - meaning Indian food or an Indian girl.  The word "coolie" in the latter context meaning Indian and NOT a labourer. (The first set on East Indians came to the Caribbean as indentured labourers aka coolies).

Of course, by now, we all know of the word "Paki". Though just a perfectly appropriate short form of the word Pakistani (a person from Pakistan), it became synonymous in Britain and Canada with1970-80's  Racial Bigotry against any brown skinned person with straight hair. No wonder Asians resent the word "Paki" !

Whether one accepts it or not, Goans have a particular problem with Indians who have not really lived in Goan society or understood the Goan psyche. They are plain ignorant about Goans and don't even have the sense to realise it.

In general, the Indian mass media has brainwashed these people into believing that the folks from Goa (also called  "Goanese" by these ignorant and bigoted folks) are lazy, drunk, promiscuous,  low class persons who are also Catholics.

Goans object to this nonsense.  It is not only demeaning,  it is bogus!

Goans would have skipped the issue if the term "Goanese" was used by folks who were simply unaware of linguistics. Unfortunately, the term "Goanese" has been used in the not so distant past and is still being used, by many educated Indians, in a very derogatory manner to describe Goans.]


One wonders why it is that some Goans, these days,  lie so much about the Portuguese. Isn't there enough material to hit them on the head with?

There is that unknown 'journalist' aka "RAUL" who spurts out nonsense indicating that the British abolished slavery somewhere in the year 1602 [1], then there is the slanderous bit from journalist Sandesh Prabhudesai about word "Goanese" being used by the Portuguese [2].

Stories like this appear every now and again in the Indian press written by individuals who claim the high moral ground by calling themselves journalists.

 

The year was 1834, and it was difficult to know if the negro passengers on board the clipper ship Morning Star leaving Bristol's harbour in England for the Caribbean were slaves or not, as slaves were legally freed by the Emancipation Act passed on August 1st about a month previous, in England, but in the islands, slaves had to go through a trial period for about three years or over. This meant that they did not become free actually until 1838 - Eric Minns ...Island Boy On August 1, 1834, the Emancipation Act came into force, after fifty years of bitter debate in Britain over the morality and profitability of slavery. It did not abolish servitude, but it was the first significant promise of freedom. The only slaves to be immediately free were those under six years old, while the incubus of slavery persisted for the others.......Black History pages

What happened?

Journalists are not supposed to check what they print? and they don't really have to correct or retract anything when they are proved to be incorrect or even, lying?!

In any event, let the revisionists be. This is about the alleged word "Goanese".

First of all, as William Robert Da Silva correctly notes[3], "Goanese" is a word used by the British and not by the Portuguese. Those who socialized and co-habited with the British in India perpetuated the derogatory slant against Goans.

Lino Leitao reminded us of the harsh reality many Goans have faced from bigoted North Indians who use the alleged word "Goanese" to think of Goans solely as cooks, butlers and caju feni drinkers [4].

Goans should be proud of whatever work they do, but all and sundry MUST realize that there is much more to Goans than cooking, butlering and drinking caju feni. In fact, most of the folks who get drunk on that cashew or palm vodka in Goa are non-Goan Indians who head, upon arrival in Goa, to the nearest taverna.

The first Prime Minister of India, Nehru should be excused for not really knowing that there were Intellectual Giants in Goa before and during his time. The more one reads about Nehru, the more one understands that he knew precious little about people other than those he socialized with.

He was after all a British educated Kashmiri Brahmin who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth; a mouth which spoke English like the snooty upper class British!

This forum was advised by Nitin Singh that the "there was nothing linguistically incorrect with the word "Goanese"[5].

In a post which followed soon thereafter [6], Singh then proceeded to provide TGF with a list of references on the web where "Goanese" was utilised.

For obvious reasons, TGF chose to skip the CUISINE and WAITER sites(;-) mentioned in the Singh post.

TGF  also skipped the reference to a 1912, A. Le Roy article which also calls Persians and Arabs as Asiatic "nations" and then refers to something he calls "Islamism"; and the 1994 Macau article in which the author (translator) calls the sons of Goa, Goanese & the sons of Cochin, Cochimese!


That left TGF with two sites to contact

1. The Chitpawan site

2. The Catholic site : New Advent.org


TGF is pleased to report that after an initial reticence [7] the Chitpawan site decided on Sept 7, 02 to make the necessary correction [8]

On Sept 13, 02, the Catholic site New Advent also agreed to make the necessary correction.[9]

The Goan Forum is heartened by the decision of these two sites. Now, more than ever, is TGF impressed by their value for accuracy.

In conclusion, as Jorge de Abreu Noronha says [10], linguistically, it would be OK if someone called a GoAN, GoESE, but not GoAN + ESE = GoANESE

Thank you, Nitin Singh. If not for your input, TGF would probably not have contacted the Chitpawan and New Advent Sites.

Small as it may seem, together, we have managed to achieve a change.

TGF
September 13, 2002


============= references============



[1] http://www.colaco.net/1/siddhi.htm

NAVHIND TIMES February 11, 2002 Page 3: author unknown aka "Raul"

Nearly 400 years ago, when the British had abolished slavery, the Africans were brought to Goa by the Portuguese for various types of work, but they left Goa and settled at the Yellapur district in Karwar out of sheer fear of torture from Portuguese.



[2]. http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jan/18goa.htm

Goa, Haryana in culture war
Sandesh Prabhudesai : Jan 18, 2001

While it has published a photograph of a Goan drinking, which gives an impression that Goans are drunkards, the brochure stated that "authentic Goanese cuisine will be the highlight of the mela, accompanied by feni and live Goanese bands".

The Haryana authorities have not bothered to find out that Goans hate being calling Goanese, a term used by their former Portuguese rulers.


[3]
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 18:41:08 +0200 (MEST)
From: "William Robert Da Silva" <wdasilva@> |
To: tgf_coordinators@yahoo.com
Subject: goanese or goesa

Goanese is an English term, used by the Linguistic Survey of India, to begin with and perpetuated later by other linguists and journalists.

Portuguese could not have used an English term, could they?

With warm regards,
William



[4]http://www.colaco.net/1/nizgoemcar.htm

Lino Leitao: The Northerners (India) call Goans as Goanese in a derogatory fashion, as if they are a Master Race.

The Peace-Loving Nehru, who is also a Brahmin, though a failed Peace-Practitioner, belittled Goans calling them butlers and cooks, as if, such occupations are polluting.

Goan culture is not boorish or depraving as depicted in the tourist brochures in the North. It is a vibrant culture with decent moral values. It is not a culture for the bigoted minds.


[5] http://www.colaco.net/1/GoaLib20.htm

Nitin Singh: A final piece of information for TGF – there is nothing “linguistically incorrect” about the term Goanese – it is widely used all over the world, and not just by “Indian northerners” as cited by one of the writers on this forum.



[6] http://www.colaco.net/1/GoaLib16.htm

Nitin Singh: And finally we come to the word “GOANESE”………..

I have found this word being used to describe anything that relates to Goa-the people, the food, the culture, the music etc. A few examples being:

The Catholic Encyclopedia: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15750c.htm

Christian Chitpavans: http://www.chitpavans.com/christianchitpavans.html

[7]

In response to the following from TGF on Goan v Goanese

[TGF reiterates that the term 'Goanese' is as linguistically correct as Indianese, Asianese, Syrianese, Jamaicanese & Americanese. .......TGF will stick to what TGF believes is the appropriate usage of terms to describe people & things from India, America, Asia, Syria, Jamaica & Goa i.e. Indian, American, Asian, Syrian, Jamaican]


Dr. Jay Dixit of Chitpawan.com wrote:

[>>>>>> Thanks, but I don't buy this argument. Then we have whole slue of name changes for no satisfactory reason (That's the way English language is) ....Chinese, Siamese, Burmese, Portuguese...list keeps going...Dr. Jay ]


Dear Dr. Jay,

Without wishing to convert you in one direction or another

May I submit that:

Only names which have N, M or T preceding the terminal A get converted to "ese"

May I also suggest that China and Burma are names which have the "N" or "M" preceding the terminal A

and that Siam and Portugal do not have a terminal A......and hence are unrelated examples?


please vide for your self

Sri Lanka............. Sri Lankan
Antigua ...............Antiguan
Australia .............Australian
Arabia ................Arabian
India .................Indian
Jamaica ...............Jamaican
St. Lucia .............St. Lucian
Syria .................Syrian
America ...............American
Russia ................Russian
Africa ................African
Algeria ...............Algerian
Angola ................Angolan
Rwanda ................Rwandan
Kenya .................Kenyan
Tunisia ...............Tunisian
Uganda ................Ugandan
Austria ...............Austrian
Australia .............Australian
Estonia ...............Estonian
Latvia ................Latvian
Lithuania .............Lithuanian
Croatia ...............Croatian
Yugoslavia ............Yugoslavian
Slovenia ..............Slovenian
Romania ...............Romanian
Latvia ................Latvian
Cuba ..................Cuban
Malaysia ..............Malaysian



whereas

ChiNa = ChiNese
GuyaNa = GuyaNese
BurMa = BurMese



In conclusion: the suffix is ESE and not NESE !

In any event......the Defence rests its case. Any one who insists on calling us Goans, Goanese ......................WINS!

Never mind that that would be the first example of the suffix "nese" being added in the English Language to a NAME!.... to describe the people from that place!


[8]
Date: Sat Sep 7, 2002 6:08 am
Subject: Chitpawan website replaces the word "Goanese" with Goans


--- Dr. Jay Dixit wrote:

Thanks.

The term Goanese will be replaced by the word "Goans."

I appreciate all the positive suggestions no matter how small which ultimately reflect the quality and accuracy of the material presented on our website

Dr.Jay




[9]
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 09:07:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Kevin Knight" <kcknight1@
Subject: Re: what is in a word! goa, goan, goanese?


Thank you for the note. You're right: the Catholic Encyclopedia uses an antiquated form of the word. I'm planning to assemble an online almanac soon.

When I do, I'll be sure to use the correct modern form. Thanks again.

Yours in Christ,

Kevin Knight
http://www.newadvent.org



[10]

"Jorge/Livia de Abreu Noronha" <joli.goa@m...>
Date: Thu Sep 5, 2002 11:34 am


By me, it would be OK if someone called a GoAN, GoESE, but not GoAN + ESE = GoANESE.

If GoANESE is correct, then IndiANESE, SyriANESE, AmericANESE should also be accepted as correct, but does anybody accept this?

On the other hand, a BurmESE can also be called BurmAN but never BurmANESE.

Jorge

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