Is "Meewee" a racial slur?

Durnic

Knight
I was talking to another player OOG who plays a Mystic Wood Elf and the term "Meewee" came up. She told me that in her old campaign it was considered a racial slur similar to "knife ears" for elves, "pets" for wylderkin, etc. I do not see that being called such is a racial slur in the national packet.

What do you think? What other "racial slurs" do you guys know that add flavor to the game?
 
I've seen different chapters do different things- in one, "Sarr" is an insulting term as they have their own name for their race. Just a flavor thing.
 
Just about anything said with malicious intent and taken as an affront by the target can become a racial slur. Just be real careful in and out of game with what you call Dark Elves... for obvious reasons.
 
I hate the term meewee. It clearly occurred because of forum/text usage where people abbreviated the race with MWE, and the phonetics of it creeped from forum usage to game usage. Very MMOish, IMO.

I find the race remarkably fascinating, and even when I use it, I hate using it. It's convenient, but it's not immersive a moniker at all.
 
I'd say "Gypsy" but that is a completely different discussion and I don't want to de-rail this one.
 
Evan, I don't think it "clearly" evolved that way at all. I can remember the term "Meewee" being used for a VERY long time, well before the forums existed and, honestly, well before internet was even vaguely common. Yes, I am sure it developed from print usage, but in a way that is much less "MMO" than you claim.

-MS
 
Eh, as I said, it's how it felt IMO.
 
All I know is that when someone referred to my Satyrine and another's Horned Elf as "meewees" in game, I said "no one here is a 'meewee.' " YMMV.
 
I've never seen it treated as a really nasty slur IG but it always comes off to my MWE PC as being disrespectful, or rude/lazy/derogatory. Keep in mind a lot of chapters' Mystic Wood Elves don't even answer to that name, they're Camulans/Satyrine/Ansconi/Horned Elves etc so not only is it possibly perceivable as slapping someone with a pet name or childish nickname by shortening the name of their people, it's probably also not respecting the culture's name in the first place. OOG I use it because I'm lazy.

As far as other slurs, Scavenger is a derogatory term for Kin. I've heard Sarr called/been called a cat and that's really rude, but I've also heard a Sarr joking with her friends about being a kitty so hey, context is an important thing.
 
Had you called Rexsaurus a 'meewee', he'd have corrected you that he was a Camulan.

Since most mystic wood elves have never heard of / are culturally distant from / care nothing for a "Mystic Wood", the term exists as a quick way to say the race of people across Fortannis that happen to have horns, pointed ears and hate commands.

Much like 'tuskies' just happen to have a different colored skin and tusks and 'pinkies' are anyone who has a flesh tone to their skin. I've referred to dryads as 'tree-people' and some Sarr as 'fuzzies'.

I think as long as it's IG offensive and not OOG offensive, creative and has the capacity to pull some feels out of someone, it adds flavor.
 
Racial slurs are generally a very local thing and are different all over. They can also vary wildly between person.

In the mid-west though it is generally not considered a racial slur.
 
As far as other slurs, Scavenger is a derogatory term for Kin.

I don't see "Scavenger" as a derogatory term at all considering that was the race's name for 15+ years. My character still calls them that and if you got him drunk enough he might tell you that he considers "Kyn" or "Kin" to be the derogatory term for them because they are Scavengers not some silly "Kyn/Kin" thing.

It's all about intent and tone, I think. Any word or name can be a slur or insult if it's said the right tone, in the right situation, and/or in the right context.
 
Lol! My Orc uses racial slurs all the time.

Pink Skin = Humans
Ink Skin, Inky = Dark Elves
Pointy Ears = Any Race of Elf
Verdant Lords (Meant as a respectful name) = Dryads
Flea Bags = Sarr and Kin alike

The list goes on. Makes me wonder... what would you guys use as a racial slur for all the races?
 
We had an intelligent ooze NPC that referred to all the different races as just "meaty fleshbags." I'm pretty sure every race that heard it felt at least a little bit affronted.
 
I use Meewee playfully in the chapters I frequent and refer to my race usually by "Mystics". Out here in the Midwest... we Mystics have a mystic/mythical woods. So for us, its not far off of a description.
 
We had an intelligent ooze NPC that referred to all the different races as just "meaty fleshbags." I'm pretty sure every race that heard it felt at least a little bit affronted.

It amazes me how nerdbrains all seem to work on the same wavelength, I wrote an intelligent ooze about 10 years ago for another game that's typical salutation was a bellowed "GREETINGS MEATBAGS!"

I don't think Meewee is a slur, it's referring to the race and not the culture so would be technically correct in a situation where you don't know where they're from. It's probably weird to hear though. If I were in Europe and I was referred to as "Caucasian" because someone couldn't tell from my accent if I were from the US or Canada I'd probably raise an eyebrow but likely wouldn't take offense.
 
I really don't dig racial slurs that are also real world slurs. I've heard people refer to dark elves as "darkies" and I always cringe, considering that is a racial slur in our culture that has been used by some pretty evil people. I agree with Ben on the notion of being careful what you use, especially if it is close to or is a real world racial slur. That's why slurring gyspies is all kinds of uncomfortable.
 
I have played two other LARP systems which included drawbacks as a part of character creation, these ranged from a minor flaw to a major, and in my opinion almost unplayable disadvantage. One of the flaws was called 'intolerance' and the description literally ranged from 'you are uncomfortable in the presence of X race' to 'you attack the race on sight', this of course, taken at a medium or moderate level usually meant that players would constantly use in game racial slurs, pointy ear (elf) greenskin (orc or goblin) darky or damn dirty drow (for, yes you guessed it, dark elves) I never, ever had any issues with this (though I never played this particular flaw) and I see it as a character's choice, - is your particular character a bigot, does he or she hate another race for a particular reason (backstory?) and would they use in game racial slurs? yes? - then use them!

People who are drawing parallels to real life need to remember LARP is not real life! in Alliance LARP realms we don't have the history that we do in real life, on earth, in our respective country, etc. further I have never heard a real racial slur, from the real world brought into game and used in game from one character to another - I just don't think they fit the fantasy, they're just not applicable or just don't work in game.
 
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