What should the name be for various groups of people in various settings?

I really hoped that I would not need to write this, but just to be sure... THIS IS AN WHOLLY THEORETHICAL DISCUSSION ABOUT FICTIONAL USES OF VARIOUS TERMS FOR VARIOUS GROUPS OF PEOPLE (& LONE INDUVIDUALS) AND WHICH TERM IS BEST WHEN & WHERE. ABSOLUTELY NO RACISM OR THE LIKE INTENDED I JUST WANT AN POLITE DISCUSSION!!!

An story set in either historical times, in an fictional world or an alternate reality will most likely use different terms for various etnicities and minorities of all kinds than what a story set in the real-world present day uses for those same groups. However, talking about which term to use opens a really large can of worms for some reason and causes a very real chance for you being mistaken for a racist.

Lets take the Africans (Vauge and all-encompassing term I know.) as an example in our discussion and have a look for terms for them.

• To begin with, when talking about a certain group of people in an history or alternate history setting, should the term used back then be used or should the modern term be used? (I highly suspect an 1800s plantation-owner dindn\'t call his \"employees\" the modern term African-Americans and using the much more plausible N-word would prevent us from ever being published...)
• In an made-up world, like a fantasy setting, what would the term for for example African be? It is an different world, so Africa doesn\'t exist. That makes the term African and Hyphernated-African unsuitable. This leaves us older and not particulary politicaly correct words like The N-word and its various variants together with words like Black & Coloured. No decent pubisher would print those words... Well it is Medieval fantasy weare talking about, so maybe archaic words like Moor or Blackamoor then, but these words are derived from the name of an real-world ethnicity, so they probabaly are not an alternative either... The last alternative is to invent an new term. Humanity is good at inventing slurs after all.
• And don\'t let us get started on the posibility of the Medieval Morons mistaking said Africans for monsters or something...

I don't think that using terms like "black" or similar in a purely descriptive sense would be seen as offensive by most people, if that's what you're asking. (YMMW on that one though...)

As for the other stuff, remember that there's a difference between the words your characters use (whether through dialogue or when describing things from their perspective), and the words you use.

I agree with you, Corviade regarding the use of skincolours in fiction. I also agree with and are aware of the very big importance to differentiate between what a piece of fiction says & what the creator actualy thinks. Tied to the above, which word should I use when the correct word(s) to use doesn't exist in-universe, like in a fantasy-world and no real-world culture exists, only the Counter Part Culture s... Use the name for the local equavilent I guess?

I’m not really sure what you’re asking...are you looking for fantasy racial slurs?

I was thinking more about things like writing from the perspective of a character who would likely use offensive terms, versus writing as an omniscient narrator. A plantation owner in the early 1800s probably wouldn't think of his slaves as "African-Americans" for example, but using ethnic slurs while you're not explicitly writing from his POV is obviously a very different matter.

And yes, if your story has already established what most people from a certain place tend to look like, using the name of that place as a shorthand description makes perfect sense.

I think he's trying to avoid Orphaned Etymology without offending people.

Edited by Corvidae on Jun 29th 2018 at 7:31:46 PM

I'm not looking for fantastical racial slurs,rather the opposite. Corviade are right. I try to find non-offending terms to use in a story were I try to avoid Orphaned Etymology. I were allready aware that the characters can say whatever without getting into trouble while omnicient narrators can't. (The whole thing with the plantation-owner were just an example by the way.)

In an fantasy world of mine has no caracters been named after any region, culture or religion from the real world and I want the words the characters use to be the same. The same goes for the words the narrator use. I can (and plan to) use counterpart culture for most characters. However, an verybig theme in the story is the fact that the reader (and the author/narrator) only know an certain main character's skin-colour. Is the character an ordinary human or an supernatural creature, that question is left ambigious.

I agree with Corvidae on the distinction between having a character - or a character's viewpoint - using particular words and the author using those words as part of the prose.

If a character drops an 'N-bomb' or views a person in those terms, that's an indication of the era/mentality/prejudices of the character - who may or may not get called on it by other characters - if the author drops an N-bomb in describing a character, it's inappropriate.