it's used in australia because it's an english expression like most others, it's not bad because the meaning has been lost through the years, no one walks around checking wikipedia for every expression they use before speaking , there are loads of expressions that we use every day without knowing the origin
Yes, I know what it means, I posted earlier. JJ isn't a racist. But Australia has a bad rep for racism.
My neighbour says "do you think I just got off the boat" when he thinks someone is trying to put one over on him, he is from Ireland so I think it is just a don't you city folk think us country folk are thick.
If someone is racist then they can use even the most innocuous of things as an insult. Some people claim Lord of the Rings is racist, I mean really it could be anything.
So if you say do you think I got off the banana boat, you're asking do you think I'm stupid.
If you say get back to where you come from on the banana boat you ARE stupid.
The last time I heard it was from an Irishman back in the early 80s
"Do you think I came off the banana boat? I did, but I was the captain" He used it a lot
It was meant to be self-deprecating, as though he was actually even more stupid than we thought. I got that from the context, though I never really understood it
I wonder if they can actually ever do something renumeratively constructive with their hands , or is this it ?
I don't think some people really have got the chance to experience this country and the people. I mean actually worked with people and actually seen adn done things.
I am staggered/horrified that so many people on here are so ignorant as to think that the origin being racist should be disregarded because the people that use the term are too ignorant to realise that it has a racist origin!!!!
I'm rarely shocked by what I read on here, but it isn't a phrase that the more cultured/civilised members of society would use nowadays. The phrase is thankfully dying a death like S**bo etc.
I don't want to make a sweeping (or in this case racist) statement, but the Aussies are well known for not being the most tolerant of their own native culture. JJ is no Alf Garnett, but even so....
Geeeeeezzzzz some people!!!!!!!!!!! :mad::mad::mad:
I really think we have to accept that the meanings of words & phrases can change over time & I very much doubt JJ has any idea of it's original meaning.
I am staggered/horrified that so many people on here are so ignorant as to think that the origin being racist should be disregarded because the people that use the term are too ignorant to realise that it has a racist origin!!!!
I'm rarely shocked by what I read on here, but it isn't a phrase that the more cultured/civilised members of society would use nowadays. The phrase is thankfully dying a death like S**bo etc.
I don't want to make a sweeping (or in this case racist) statement, but the Aussies are well known for not being the most tolerant of their own native culture. JJ is no Alf Garnett, but even so....
Geeeeeezzzzz some people!!!!!!!!!!! :mad::mad::mad:
Some people indeed.....maybe a mirror might help? :rolleyes:
The saying has nothing racists attributed to it at all.
You mention Alf Garnet....what about him? He used a saying that perhaps WAS racist.....but not the one we are talking about here.
"Get back on the banana boat" would, I imagine, upset many people......thats not what was said.
Australia has nothing to do with the saying either. JJ's parents are British and have obviously picked it up here.
I don't know if it's covered in any online etymology guides. They tend to be mostly American. Maybe a trip to the library may be more useful than a 'link'. If you can be arsed that is.
Oh, ok..so why was it rasist when it was first used?
Could you explain where it came from and the context please?
it started on the footballl terrace when the first black players came to the UK to play they would get bananas thrown at them and told to **** off home on his banana boat.
it started on the footballl terrace when the first black players came to the UK to play they would get bananas thrown at them and told to **** off home on his banana boat.
It's a saying that could potentially upset a black person I think. I grew up regularly hearing the saying and in my view it definitely meant that you were "thick like the West Indians who'd come to UK". I should add that I grew up in Notting Hill/Ladbroke Grove in 60s/70 so I feel that I'm pretty clear on the usage. I'd accept that the overtly bigoted application of the saying may have waned over the years but nothing will convince me that the saying does not have an unsavoury side to it.
Comments
Exactly.
Like 'Do you think I was born yesterday'
To say it meant 'I know how things work around here'
Some so really want to make it so ,
I wonder if they can actually ever do something renumeratively constructive with their hands , or is this it ?
That saying came from the growing of corn......corn grows into ears and the middle starts out green and gradually lightens.
Green behind the ears is young corn.
Yes, I know what it means, I posted earlier. JJ isn't a racist. But Australia has a bad rep for racism.
So did i.
The last time I heard it was from an Irishman back in the early 80s
"Do you think I came off the banana boat? I did, but I was the captain" He used it a lot
It was meant to be self-deprecating, as though he was actually even more stupid than we thought. I got that from the context, though I never really understood it
I don't think some people really have got the chance to experience this country and the people. I mean actually worked with people and actually seen adn done things.
No. In the sixties we would of said
'Do you think I'm thick' or
'Doyou think I'm stupid'
I don't know what people would say today, if anything. My days of insulting people are well behind me:o
I really think we have to accept that the meanings of words & phrases can change over time & I very much doubt JJ has any idea of it's original meaning.
Some people indeed.....maybe a mirror might help? :rolleyes:
The saying has nothing racists attributed to it at all.
You mention Alf Garnet....what about him? He used a saying that perhaps WAS racist.....but not the one we are talking about here.
"Get back on the banana boat" would, I imagine, upset many people......thats not what was said.
Australia has nothing to do with the saying either. JJ's parents are British and have obviously picked it up here.
IMO, I think it means "do you think I'm stupid?", however, I'm more than willing to be proved wrong.
Erm - 'D'ya think I just came off the back of my first sheep, cobber?'
Or would that be a whole different thing from 'naivety'?
Well, you never know.
I agree, to me it means exactly the above.
Oh, ok..so why was it rasist when it was first used?
Could you explain where it came from and the context please?
The term "Do you think I just came off a banana boat?" is not racist.
To say something like "Get back on the banana boat" or something like that is racist.
It's how the banana boat is phrased, used.
Wow!:eek: I thought it was a mix up of wet behind the ears (which i assume means new born?)
Poor uncle Laurie.
and it's now 2010 so we have to be PC
I guess he was receiving preferential from the snowmen......
Had they been long off the Icicle Boat ?
it started on the footballl terrace when the first black players came to the UK to play they would get bananas thrown at them and told to **** off home on his banana boat.
http://www.obv.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=112
I heard someone say that once and I've been telling people about it for years because I thought it was funny:eek::o
Just goes to show how little I know:(
I also heard someone say about a qualification "It's another string in your cap, another feather in the fire"
Pretty sure that wasn't right
that's not true