[Mihalic] retskin

[Terry H. Gilsenan]

Hello,

In many places I have been to in the Highlands, the phrase
Skin-ret is used rather than retskin. Further, it is not ususal
for that term to be applied to "White" people, they are called
"wait-man", or in Hagen they are called "Kunt" [Pronounced:
Koont].
White children are still mostly called "Mangi Masta".

As for the saying "Na Wanem" that is literally transalted "And
So-What?"

Regards,
T

> In westcoast New Ireland I've heard redskin of white people,
> as well as of Sepiks and various locals who have a redder
> skintone than the average in the region.
>
> An example of the use of retskin for whities: A boy of 7 or
> 8 years saw pictures of my Swedish family for the first time
> after I had been there for several months. He said: "A! Na ol
> i retskin olgeta!?", not having reflected that white people
> tend to have white parents and siblings. The local language,
> Kuot, also uses a phrase meaning '[those] who have red skin'
> or 'red ones' as code for white people, so it wouldn't have
> been _just_ a general expression for light-skinned people
> recruited to mean white people at the spur of the moment.
>
> The boys mother said "na wanem!" which is an expression I am
> a little curious about. It's quite common in that area and
> translates something like "of course they are" or sometimes
> "are you stupid or what" -- not to be used in polite circum-
> stances but not definitely rude. Is this known from
> elsewhere?
>
> Eva
>
> ===================Eva Lindström
> Linguistics
> Stockholm University