[Mihalic] retskin

[Allison Jablonko]

  I have not been following this "retskin" thread, so it is possible  
that someone else has already mentioned that among the Maring in the  
1960's white people (like us anthropologists) were referred to as "yu  
mugi", i.e.,   people red.

Allison Jablonko
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> At 18:25 +0200 25/4/04, Eva Lindström wrote:
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>> 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
>>
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Allison Jablonko, Ph.D.
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