Pejorative words (was: Introducing myself, and several questions)

Barry Garcia wrote:
> But it wasn't consciously borrowed, with the intent to stir the shit,
> as would using an racist or offensive word in a conlang. Pickaninny is
> most likely due to phonetic development from the Portuguese word for
> "small". It was often taken into 19th and turn of the century English
> *as* an offensive word, from what I recall. That's the difference.
Pequeninho IIRC; the word arose from the early Portuguese adventures in
Africa; and many West Africans were already using a Port.-based trade pidgin
by the time the slave trade developed to mass proportions. The word may have
been used (non-pejor.) by early slaves in the US; then as you say, the
whites adopted it and pejorized it. BTW I think I've seen the form _pikin_
reported from some pidgin or other.

My little secret-- lately I've been adapting some Yiddish slang terms into
Kash slang, but with phonological distortions, of course. They haven't made
it online yet, however.

çamak(a) /Sa'mak(a)/-- penis, erection (schmuck)
takas-- butt, rear end, ass (tuckas)
peçukas-- crazy, silly, ridiculous (meshugas); pepecuci-- such a person
nundik-- a boring, irritating person (noodnik)
In genl. I'm viewing them as loans from Gwr languages........

Would anyone consider these offensive?

Still working on çelep (schlep)-- something like 'drag s.t. heavy; (fig.)
carry around an unwanted or undeserved burden ~bad reputation etc.'

Other recent additions:
calupa /tSa'lupa/ --a great big mess; total disorder
kahuna-- young of the kawu /kaU)/, a food animal......

:-))))))

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