Circa24's Blog - Posts Tagged "perjoritives"
How did you come up with the term "Harrie?"
I recently received a question asking how I decided to use the term "Harrie" as a degrading term for the Nameless in Silent Consent.
The pejorative use of a universal name for an underclass or group of workers happens in multiple traditions. In the United States, African American railroad porters were called "boy" or "George." Irish maids were called "Bridgettes" in the US and England, and Irish men were often referred to as "Patties." (Think of Patty wagons, which may refer to the frequency of Irish arrests in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.)
It struck me that several oppressed populations around the planet were referred to with a word beginning with the letters "Har--." Remembering the above and how Irish women bristled at being referred to as " My Bridgette" by their employers, I was off and running.
Yes, the term is used by all characters, including the Nameless themselves and their allies. Such use and self-depreciation are common among the severely oppressed, and when I tried to write it out of their vocabulary, it felt forced and diminished the story of oppression. I had to include it.
The pejorative use of a universal name for an underclass or group of workers happens in multiple traditions. In the United States, African American railroad porters were called "boy" or "George." Irish maids were called "Bridgettes" in the US and England, and Irish men were often referred to as "Patties." (Think of Patty wagons, which may refer to the frequency of Irish arrests in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.)
It struck me that several oppressed populations around the planet were referred to with a word beginning with the letters "Har--." Remembering the above and how Irish women bristled at being referred to as " My Bridgette" by their employers, I was off and running.
Yes, the term is used by all characters, including the Nameless themselves and their allies. Such use and self-depreciation are common among the severely oppressed, and when I tried to write it out of their vocabulary, it felt forced and diminished the story of oppression. I had to include it.
