I'm working on a new book, and I've been using the word "coolie" in a way totally different from it's racist slang definition. I didn't remember at first that the word already existed; I'm using to refer to people who live in a neighborhood called The Cooler. It makes perfect sense in context, but do you think the word is so strongly-typed that I should change the slang in my book?
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The District Attorney might get offended ;)
BFT: Yeah, I don't want to offend anyone, particularly not with a word rather than an idea. I should probably just change it and quit being lazy.
Your use of the word should be niggardly. ;)
BB: I can't believe I missed that myself... curses!
I would guess that the use of the word would be predicated on what you're trying to do with the book. The left has long proven there's a lot of money to be made in protest baiting. So what are your goals for the book?
TML: It's not political at all, it's a fantasy novel.
I have read about "coolies" working on the Great Wall in a history book, and then again in an historical novel describing workers on rubber plantations in what is now Vietnam.
These books used the original intent of the world - "worker" - although "peasant" or someone attached to the land might be a more accurate description.
Because the use was in Asia, it became attached to race and eventually became a something of a slur, although I have never witnessed it used in this way.
My understanding of the word "coolie" is that its origin is actually in a Chinese term for a worker-- in other words, "coolie" was what the Chinese who came here to work called themselves. Other ethnic groups then picked up the usage of the term. In that sense it's not an ethnic slur on the order of "nigger," "wop", or "kike" (all slurs that were originally used by others against the target ethnic group). Still, you might consider something else like "coolerites" or "cooleroos" or "icecubes" (found in a cooler, get it?).