Rob Ford's Toronto

[Automation Gallery]

The 1930's?

Gee, my dad wasnt even born then, now im puzzled that you guys that seem to know everything... never heard the old saying (Munchy Cake)

I guess when young you never hung around with "Latinos"

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Gee, my dad wasnt even born then, now im puzzled that you guys that seem to know everything... never heard the old saying (Munchy Cake)

I guess when young you never hung around with "Latinos"

I had two amazing Greek sisters as my two of my Assistant Managers back in the 90's and I loved them to death, we still keep in touch. When I'd make an off colour joke or was goofing around they'd call me Munchy Cake, I finally had to ask what it meant! It was out of a mix of both "you silly man" & affection, it was hardly derogatory in the way they used it. Until now, I actually thought it was "Munji Cake".

 

[Ice_Burn]

Gee, my dad wasnt even born then, now im puzzled that you guys that seem to know everything... never heard the old saying (Munchy Cake)

Surely you've heard 'Cakers' to refer to white folks? It has the same origin - Mangiacake (not 'munchy cake', lol). It originates from Italians and other Europeans that came here and found North American bread to be more cake-like and less crusty, so they call white folks cake-eaters (Mangia means to eat).

This lesson about Italian vocabulary has been brought to you by the son of Trinidadian parents, lol.

 

[nfitz]

The 1930's?

It was in widespread use in the UK, where I was born, much later than that. Agatha Christie's novel "Ten Little Niggers" wasn't even first published until 1939, and remained in print in the UK under that title until the early 1980s. Anyone who was born in the UK up to the 1960s, would have been familiar with the use of the word in "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe". There's children's televisions shows from the UK from the late 1960s where the rhyme uses the N word, and sitcoms from the the early 1970s that used it as well.

I just didn't have the connotations back then in the UK that it did in the US and Canada, and that it does now in the UK.

 

[ShonTron]

Please return to the general Rob Ford mayority subject. I think this side discussion on racial/ethnic perjoratives has ran its course.

 

[Eug]

As someone with Polish Jew decent, I've never even heard of the word "pollack." Then again, I'm such a mix of various East-Central European backgrounds, it is not as if I wear my Polish background above anything else or anything.

Out of curiosity, how negative do you consider shiksa and shegetz? What about schmuck? My ex considered schmuck much more offensive.

 

[neubilder]

Out of curiosity, how negative do you consider shiksa and shegetz? What about schmuck? My ex considered schmuck much more offensive.

Schmuck isn't a racial slur, it's a pejorative word of Yiddish origin used to describe people like Rob Ford, though I don't even think he's worthy of the term - it's too gentle to describe him.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I don't know why people like Eug and JuanLennon continue to defend Ford over this.

Even if you really didn't know that Pollack is a racial slur, you don't use a word for an ethnic group other than the official one (i.e. "Polish", "Polish-Canadian") when you're talking on air to thousands of listeners as an elected official. Even easier: you don't bring up the private details of your family life on a radio show. What point does it serve? This is just common sense and the kind of judgement that most of us have figured out at about the age of 12 unless we are complete social rejects (which I'm tempted to think the Fords are).

 

[toraerach]

I had two amazing Greek sisters as my two of my Assistant Managers back in the 90's and I loved them to death, we still keep in touch. When I'd make an off colour joke or was goofing around they'd call me Munchy Cake, I finally had to ask what it meant! It was out of a mix of both "you silly man" & affection, it was hardly derogatory in the way they used it. Until now, I actually thought it was "Munji Cake".

The word is "mangiacake." I've always understood it to carry the same connotations as the words "WASP" or "whitebread," etc.

To get back on topic, it's becoming increasingly difficult to get outraged over anything the brothers Ford say/do. Call it Ford Fatigue, I suppose. If they were smarter men, I'd think that they were on a mission to lower the bar for expected conduct so low that Rob actually stands a chance of re-election regardless of campaign gaffes, poor policy, etc. Since they're not smarter men, I'm more inclined to think they share a good deal with attention starved children who act out in class, which may speak to their continued support from an element of society that, rightly or wrongly (and I'd sooner side with wrongly), feel starved for attention themselves.

 

[CanadianNational]

I agree. The comment was not as severe as bigotry, but it also wasn't something innocent one can just shrug and say 'who cares?' about it.

At the very least, it's about basic manners. Don't eat with your mouth open, don't cut in line, don't use divisive or insulting ethnic nicknames whilst on radio when you're Mayor of Canada's largest city.
People in power have the responsibility of setting an example, because, inevitably, it sets a precedent.

Gaffes like this aren't just bad because they might upset someone. They're bad because they show holes in the intelligence, awareness and skill of the Mayor - or, in this case, the councillor. This undermines people's faith in his abilities, which undermines confidence in his office. Trouble in the office means trouble in the systems that support the city. So here the personal is quite political.

In other news, Ford's executive committee voted against him to keep Riverdale Farm, 5 to 4.

Also - this is interesting -
"Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Kathleen Wynne is refusing to grant the necessary approvals to sell the Toronto Community Housing Corporation properties – all but one vacant – until a report on the fate of another 619 TCHC homes goes to council in the fall.

The delay, communicated in a May 30 letter from Ms. Wynne, prompted a sharp response from Mr. Ford. His office wrote directly to the premier asking him to intervene."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...prove-public-housing-sell-off/article4250187/

 

[MetroMan]

As it's becoming increasingly inevitable that Rob Ford's opponents will fight amongst themselves and propel Ford into the Mayor's chair, what do you think Toronto will look like in 4 years at the end of his term?

Will development stall? Will the province give up on Transit City? What services do you think will be cut? Will festivals like LuminaTO and NuitBlanche collapse from lack of support from City Hall?

Let's make some realistic predictions. Please discuss.

It's interesting to read the first post on this thread and in retrospect realize that Ford hasn't been able to inflict the kind of damage that appeared inevitable. City Council has matured since Ford took office and has taken on a role of balance. Nonetheless, Toronto has certainly changed. With the halfway point nearly behind us, what do you think Toronto will look like at the end of Ford's term?

 

[Eug]

I don't know why people like Eug and JuanLennon continue to defend Ford over this.

I don't know why people like Hipster duck chose to misrepresent my post.

Schmuck isn't a racial slur, it's a pejorative word of Yiddish origin used to describe people like Rob Ford, though I don't even think he's worthy of the term - it's too gentle to describe him.

"Schmuck" is the Yiddish term for the male reproductive organ.

 

[neubilder]

"Schmuck" is the Yiddish term for the male reproductive organ.

Yeak, so is dick. Google is only a stroke away, but thanks for the etymology lesson..

 

[Eug]

Indeed. Hence my ex's Yiddish-speaking extended family considered it a much worse insult than what most people seem to think in North America these days. The point is that such nuances sometimes get lost on us. A politician should know better, but I'd be lying if I claimed I knew how negative the word 'polack' can be perceived before this incident.

 

[canmark]

As Stanley Kowalski says in A Streetcar Named Desire:

I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles. They are not Polacks. But what I am is one hundred percent American. I'm born and raised in the greatest country on this earth and I'm proud of it. And don't you ever call me a Polack.