I just stumbled over this article. All I did was Google "expat and connotations". http://www.antropologi.info/blog/anthropology/2011/expats-and-migrants
See update 1.
I am an immigrant ( from Africa) in the UK, when I worked in the mid East I was an expat.
The difference is when I am an Expat my income is derived from my country (wages or pension perhaps) as an immigrant my income (welfare or wages) it derived from the host country.
Colour is irrelevant.
I don't think I ever used it at all until moving to France, although I had heard and seen it. I do not know of an equivalent in my other languages and asking my OH whether it exists in Italian the other day she had ask me to explain what it is although her English is excellent. I don't think I have ever read anything by people like Bill Bryson who has made a career of being an American in England use it. I also did a literature search for expatriate with various nationalities behind it and only found it used by English authors, referring also to people who had gone to the UK but no use of expat Welsh or Scots strikingly. All languages have jargon, is this simply part of that? I don't mind being an étranger since I seem to have made a career of it, so I'll raise my glass to that!
I must admit to never having considered the white expat or black immigrant thing before. It never struck me as anything other than just how it is. Nowt to do with being racist or differentiating between different colours creeds or religions etc But reading the Guardian piece enlightened me. Yes, the statements made are correct so how did it come to this ? Many questions remain unanswered for me like, is this a british thing or worldwide ? The passionate poster from North Carolina hinted all this was 'bull$!@t' which may mean this doeesn't exist across the pond ? So say, an italian moving to the USA 50 years ago was an expat italian or an italian immigrant ? I must admit to never having heard the term 'expat' used too often among non-brits or is this just me ?
I don't understand too much about the deeper implications regarding prejudices and the like Brian alludes to as I find the face-value of the question posed deep enough for my addled grey cells but maybe we are prejudiced in our sub-conscious ?
Yep, interesting stuff all right and one thing is for sure, no matter how 'perfect' my french accent is I will always be regarded as an étranger by the locals however 'french' I feel I may be...
This has been an interesting and in a way enlightening post. I have never got the hang of prejudices myself, certainly influenced by early experiences but perhaps an acceptance of difference that came from being different myself. I am never sure what makes people explain or justify why they are X or Y, since they are essentially just the same flesh and bones as each other, although nature made us able to perpetuate our species by giving us a particular difference. The whole business of class, race and gender that I have had opportunity to learn a lot about is only part of the picture, we have all the other physical aspects of disability, age, size and so on. Such questions as why we have issues about colour, culture, belief, language and other things that make society into a hotchpotch of superficial differences add to it. It is and shall remain perhaps the most enigmatic of all questions. No doubt when human beings are able to travel across the universe in search of other inhabited or habitable planets, the questions about ourselves as a species will be as unresolved as ever. That so much effort is invested in whether we are 'expats' or whatever is just a momentary, passing matter but one that will continue on forever I suspect. Despite that, there is much to be learned from a thread like this which makes it worth the thought that people have put into it and the various ways of being or not being what the questions asks, thus whether we are that are actually inconclusive, never to be concluded. I have enjoyed it very much.
I know who the monkeys are, Brian! I didn't realize they were dinner guests here as well. So I'll just finish what I wanted to say: The Guardian article was interesting. Much food for thought. Some of us must be relieved to know the neighbours have properly sorted us out so we don't fall into the category of 'those immigrants', and some of us did a great job of perpetuating a stereotype. And now I'll go scrape off my plate in the kitchen :-)
Whoops, as in the Japanese three wise monkeys who represent humanity who see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.The three are Mizaru, who covers his eyes to see no evil; Kikazaru, who covers his ears to hear no evil; and Iwazaru,who covers his mouth thus can speak no evil.
Mind you, you are probably right, they might make a bit of a mess of the dinner table ;-)
Sorry Brian, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean, in this context. I was sort of hoping to resume the topic of discussion, observing the dinner party conversation rules I thought we were supposed to follow on this site. I guess everyone is busy chewing, or digesting :-)
Yes, that's correct but he wasn't a big nancy boy frightened of spiders !!!
Wasn't Blyth the captain in the Mutiny on the Mars Bar? Yohoho man!
Last time I went to Blyth it was closed !
Not as bad as Hartlepool Untied! They're propping up the whole league system at the mo.
As ever, follow the example of the three wise monkeys...
Meanwhile, down at the other end of the dinner table, in between the sports chat and the latest news headlines, silence reigns.
Mackems ?
Who will replace big Gus ?
How many times can they escape the drop ?
Sure, I 'love' the entire human race for good or bad but I really hate spiders. I am absolutely serious, not spurious in saying that but tend to question the ability of the supposedly most advanced and intelligent species on this planet to be as hateful and prejudiced as it is toward itself. I think Netanyahu's final gambit for winning the election by rejecting peace with the Palestinians that he has so avidly supported negotiating until last week epitomises that and is a good example of how prejudice can be used. Forgive me for being so political but that is headline news today, so not exactly a prejudice out of my own making or one that I wish to harbour.
I get that all the time, reassurances from the locals that although I'm an 'étrangère', I'm not like those 'other' French foreigners. How does it make the rest of you feel when you hear that? Do you feel a sense of relief that you 'pass' in good company? That you're in the right club? Do you feel happy that your neighbours don't think of you as immigrants, not like those 'others' in 75? I just want to point out something, and this is not an attack, just think about it first. After witnessing that explosion at the dinner table later yesterday by a reader who was upset (and I think I can understand why now), after reading that we are all one under our skin, it's interesting to see how easy it is to make comments, in all innocence and with good intentions, that reveal that we all have prejudices.
Aha, fire and brimstone on you ;-)
Just realised - "BILLY BOY" sounds very "Paisleyish" and should have been avoided !
What yer gannin' on aboot Billy ?
I divn't like " geordies ", me being a "mackem"!
Can't wait for the derby to thrash you lot, again !!
Where you from Billy Boy , I'm from Consett and living near Clermont Ferrand ?