From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:31:47 +1000, Aqua   
    wrote in   
    in   
   rec.arts.sf.misc:   
      
   > Brian M. Scott wrote:   
      
   [...]   
      
   >> I wasn't talking about the sound pattern.  I assume that   
   >> *any* non-standard ethnic term is likely to have negative   
   >> connotations, especially short forms (paki, jap, chink, nip,   
   >> yid, abo, nigger, spic, mick, ...).   
      
   > What about desi, koori, murri, or ndn?   
      
   As you might expect, with the possible exception of 'desi'   
   I'd not have recognized them as ethnic terms without a   
   context.  Given such a context, I'd be cautious about using   
   any of them without more information.   
      
   I'd forgotten it, but I have encountered 'desi' before, as a   
   general term for South Asians, usually used by South Asians;   
   I don't think that it's problematic when used by others.  By   
   their form 'koori' and 'murri' are probably derived from one   
   or another of the Australian languages; a little searching   
   suggests that 'Koori' (NSW) and 'Murri' (northern NSW and   
   eastern Queensland) are acceptable and used as regional   
   self-designations.  In this context I suspect that 'ndn' is   
   a short form of 'Indian', but I don't know, and I don't know   
   whether it covers both common senses of the word.   
      
   Brian   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)