Coolie

created by Webster 1913

(person) by mblase (1.8 wk) (print) ? (I like it!) Tue Aug 29 2000 at 13:47:08

Word derived from two Chinese words, "koo" meaning "rent" and "lee" meaning "muscle", and referred to unskilled laborers. These laborers ranked in Chinese society above merchants but below scholars and farmers.

When large numbers of Chinese from this class arrived in California in the first half of the nineteenth century, they used this word to describe themselves. Anti-foreign sympathizers soon use the word to describe a contract laborer who was bound to a master in China and worked in the U.S. at an atypically low wage, ruining the local economy. This low-wage contract laborer was fictitious, but then, bigots rarely need to be bothered to check their facts.

(idea) by TheLibra (1.9 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Mon Dec 03 2001 at 23:16:39

I haven't actually heard of "coolie" being used as a derogatory term towards the Asian peoples before, I suppose I should remember that in the future. In any case, I noticed that while there are several nodes about it being a racist word, no one mentioned the actual item the word stems from. A hat.

The Coolie, an extremely wide semi-conical hat made from bamboo and seagrass is both light and extremely functional. It provides effective protection from the sun, while allowing ventilation to the scalp. It doubles as a hands-free umbrella, strainer, and carrying basket. A durable hat, it can withstand weather and weight far exceeding what what would expect, and a strap holds it in place against high winds. Should emergency kindling be needed, non-essential parts of the hat can be used. If the bamboo portion is boiled sufficiently it will make an unpleasant but nourishing emergency meal.

How this came to be a derogatory word for the Asian people, I will never know, because quite frankly it's one of the most clever inventions out there with more uses than a bandana. Perhaps because when these areas were first being visited by Yanks and Euro-trash, it was the majority of the people they saw.

Considering that rice makes up a very large part of the lower-budget meals even in modern-day times, and most rice grows in paddies along shores, this would not seem too surprising. The ones gathering the rice were the European equivolent of serfs, and the American equivolent of indentured servants.

I find it very ironic then, that either Anglo species should find this to be at all unusual. I find it even more ironic that this rather ingenious hat should be the item picked to represent their scorn. Because in teasing the Coolie hat, they tease ingenuity, practicality, and intelligence.

But then again... look at high school. It's the same thing.

(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) Tue Dec 21 1999 at 22:43:01

Coo"lie (?), n.

Same as Cooly.

Coo"ly, Coo"lie (?), n.; pl. Coolies (#). [Hind. kli a laborer, porter: cf. Turk. kl, kyleh, slave.]

An East Indian porter or carrier; a laborer transported from the East Indies, China, or Japan, for service in some other country.

printable version
chaos

Cooly	Webster 1913 sounding like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure	Abbey Road should never be played on random	Hotel California
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians	Coon	Chawalaleng	Charada China
The Book of the Damned: Chapter 23	Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882	Happy Chan	Nigger
derriere	East Indian	Martin Yan	derogatory
Pilfers	USS Constitution	Night of the Living Dead	defunct
Air Medal	There exists no 1:1 mapping between words in different languages	deposit	J. William Fulbright Peace Fountain

Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.

Login
Password

remember me
password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Little presents from the Node Fairy:
Is this the last four years or what?
Abstract art
Chipmunk
The swing and the death of an old man
For Translation into Latin
How to hide your hard disk porn stash
A Convoluted History of Early Telecommunications
The Squirrel Diaries
Ulcerative colitis
Kandahar
The Lovecraftian compulsion to keep writing even as one is being devoured
The Eugenics Problem
stock market analysts are full of crap

Madara
One Winged Angel	(fiction)
Tom Rook
Talk is cheap	(poetry)
shaogo
Adelle Davis	(person)
Aerobe
race car g sfjsgsd	(poetry)
Binah
Dream Log: July 5, 2008	(dream)
StrawberryFrog
Forgotten things in space	(idea)
antigravpussy
velvet revolution fairy tale	(idea)
Heitah
Nerve agent VX	(thing)
Pavlovna
shite	(idea)
wonton
Days and nights come together in a slow falling down	(fiction)
Pavlovna
wee	(idea)
katherine
root log: July 2008	(log)
Madara
There�s nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home	(fiction)
Heitah
After sneeze	(idea)
froggy7384
Why we smoke	(personal)

This affordable entertainment brought to you by The Everything Development Company