Australian racial epithet

[ace_of_something]

Okay, so i'm not Australian and have never been. But could someone explain to me the connotation of the word 'abo' i understand it's a derogatory racial epithet for an aborigine.
Here's what i don't get:
In the game dead island they fling the word around in a few places. One quest sticks out where a man wants you to "go kill that abo bastard" and the introduction for the character 'purna' shows that people called he a 'half-abo' in a derogatory manner.
I don't get why people aren't up in arms about this. The world got mad in resident evil for killing 'non whites' or in deus ex because a black person speaks poorly. So on and So on.
Yet this bothers no one.

I'm kind of confused. On a scale of 'offensiveness' where does that term fall in to? It is like the dreaded 'n-word' or more like... i dunno calling someone a 'brit' it's just descriptive and context is everything?

 

[Pat8u]

DISCLAMER:australians DO NOT say anything the people in dead island do (at least in the south coastal towns at least the ones I live in anyways)

I've seen people use the term yes but more as a short version instead of deogratory

 

[emeraldrafael]

because ultimately no one cares what happens in australia, showing once again its futility ont he world stage.

...

XD kidding, kidding, i swear.

OT and seriously, i would just hazard a guess and say its because the groups needed to be upset just arent being vocal enough or getting the right attention. Also, it is originating in australia, where the RE5 (possibly 4 too) and DE:HR were based out of (I think) the us, where race is a much bigger issue.

 

[McPulse]

I think the problem is that, historically, being 'abo' was tantamount to a criminal offence during certain parts of our history. Being British, however, has never been grounds to be discriminated against by the people who are supposed to be protecting you (i.e. the government)

 

[Hellz_Barz]

It's not always racial you can say it just using it as an abbreviation to describe someone who is aboriginal. It's kinda like the word jap, it's just an abbreviation until you use it in a certain way or throw an f-word in front of it. Although you should note they have other names which they prefer to be called usually based on what part of Australia they're from e.g Courrie(however you spell it) is for New South Wales aborigines.

Also no one would say half-abo, half-caste is the word for a mix.

 

[FateOrFatality]

Dead Island is hardly an accurate representation of Australians as a whole, but the word abo is used here sometimes as a racial slur. I wouldn't say it's considered as offensive as "******", though.

More offensive than calling someone a Brit, definitely. It's somewhere in between.

As for why people didn't get upset about it - it's an accurate depiction of mild racism in a story between two fictional characters. It would be stupid to get upset about it.

Edit: Also, people above are right. Abo doesn't have to be inherently offensive - but it can be, depending on context.

 

[ace_of_something]

Listen australians DO NOT say anything the people in dead island do

I'm aware of the dubious nature of the games portrayal of the dialect.
I've met many an Australian when I visited England and Southeast Asia. It's just what led me to the question.

Unrelated note: My twin brother used to date a girl from New Zealand she was a freaky chick. Ergo by meeting this one person i feel it's safe to make a broad (badumtish) assumption about that culture.

As for why people didn't get upset about it - it's an accurate depiction of mild racism in a story between two fictional characters. It would be stupid to get upset about it.

Well, yeah it would be stupid. I guess i just expect people to get upset about it cuz something being stupid hasn't stopped anyone before.

 

[BristolBerserker]

More offensive than calling someone a Brit, definitely. It's somewhere in between.

How exactly is calling someone a Brit offensive?

 

[Jmurray21]

I'm Australian and, although I can't speak for all of us, we really don't care about this. Most of us don't even use the word 'Abo' anymore unless we need to describe them to someone else. It's never really used as a discriminatory term anymore. It is by some though.

 

[Pat8u]

Listen australians DO NOT say anything the people in dead island do

I'm aware of the dubious nature of the games portrayal of the dialect.
I've met many an Australian when I visited England and Southeast Asia. It's just what led me to the question.

Unrelated note: My twin brother used to date a girl from New Zealand she was a freaky chick. Ergo by meeting this one person i feel it's safe to make a broad (badumtish) assumption about that culture.

As for why people didn't get upset about it - it's an accurate depiction of mild racism in a story between two fictional characters. It would be stupid to get upset about it.

Well, yeah it would be stupid. I guess i just expect people to get upset about it cuz something being stupid hasn't stopped anyone before.

sorry if that comment came out as rude I will edit it so its less assholeish

 

[cheesyman987]

Well, being Australian, I can say that "Abo" is an offensive term, but different Aboriginals take it differently. It's like the use of the n-word in America.

Now, I haven't played Dead Island, but I actually feel slightly offended at their portrayal of Australians as racist bastards with bogan accents.

The majority of Australians do feel sympathetic towards Indigenous Australians, and have since the 1960's when we gave them the right to become citizens and vote (an overwhelming majority voted 'Yes' to both referendums).

 

[cheesyman987]

It's not always racial you can say it just using it as an abbreviation to describe someone who is aboriginal. It's kinda like the word jap,

Actually, "Jap" is most definitely a derogatory term.

 

[StormShaun]

And here I am, a man that lives in Western Australia...*sigh*

Okay, we do not use that word here, at least the normal and nice people, only the bogans or a complete racist or asshole would call someone that. (True fact #1: Did you know that the Dark Side of the Force was once called "The Bogans"...weird), if you never heard of a bogan, look it up, its basically an Australian Douche bag.

Well, this is what I think anyway.

 

[FateOrFatality]

More offensive than calling someone a Brit, definitely. It's somewhere in between.

How exactly is calling someone a Brit offensive?

Calling someone a Brit isn't offensive. Therefore, calling someone an abo is more offensive.

I'm not the only one who thought that was clear, right?

 

[Pat8u]

Well, being Australian, I can say that "Abo" is an offensive term, but different Aboriginals take it differently. It's like the use of the n-word in America.

Now, I haven't played Dead Island, but I actually feel slightly offended at their portrayal of Australians as racist bastards with bogan accents.

The majority of Australians do feel sympathetic towards Indigenous Australians, and have since the 1960's when we gave them the right to become citizens and vote (an overwhelming majority voted 'Yes' to both referendums).

wait a minute I JUST realised Dead island is RACIST...I mean from playthroughs of it it seems to portray every race badly

 

[Hellz_Barz]

Actually, "Jap" is most definitely a derogatory term.

This is kind of just my opinion here, but I've used the word in front of Japanese people before and they took it what was, a shorter term for Japanese. I'm my eyes though the actual derogatory term for them is nip. Jap I feel can be used without being racial just like abo.

 

[Legit101]

......................

 

[Cazza]

When I heard abo been said. I thought shit are they allowed to say that? I have never heard abo used in a no racist way. Although the way she says it she's refering to what the people at her old job thought or say about her.

Indigenous Australias only make up around 2.5% of Australia's 22.7 million (Thanks to the new census we don't need to state statics years old). This minority has bigger fish to fry instead of a game not even made by Australians.

 

[SirDeadly]

I'm Australian and, although I can't speak for all of us, we really don't care about this. Most of us don't even use the word 'Abo' anymore unless we need to describe them to someone else. It's never really used as a discriminatory term anymore. It is by some though.

I agree with this. Nearly everyone I know doesn't take discriminatory words how the rest of the world does. We're Australian, we make fun of everyone through "racists" terms so racism gets ignored a lot by many. I didn't even blink when I heard the word in Dead Island.

 

[WolfThomas]

It's a racist term but I don't really hear it used that often these days, the one that commonly I hear used is "boong" and that's considered pretty bad to say.