Talk:Bergie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Tone

Maybe it's just me but the whole article reads as if it was about an animal, not people. I changed the first sentence "A bergie is a bum found in Cape Town, South Africa." to "Bergie is a term used for homeless people in Cape Town, South Africa.". Not sure that's correct, but it doesn't use a highly derogatory term to define some other highly derogatory term. Rl 15:50, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Feel free to change the style of the article. I was stating facts about bergies as I know them. Obviously this is (hopefully) not the definitive article. User:Nausea 10:25, 22 August

OK, so I changed the article, but I am (obviously) finding it difficult to get the tone right. It's difficult to describe this subsection of South African society in a detached manner and without sounding condescending. Maybe someone not from SA could edit the facts into a dispassionate article or request information that might be pertinant? There's very little out there (Google) [1] not written in a joking/condescending fashion. Nausea 22:12, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ethnic?

I added "black" to the intro and Category:Ethnic slurs based on the observation that all sources I find are about black people. Please undo that if I am mistaken. – I also removed the link to rsdb.org because their entry on bergie doesn't really add anything substantial to what we already have. Rl 08:13, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

They are actually mostly of the Cape Coloured race. I haven't personally seen any black Bergies in Cape Town, though I might be wrong. Nausea 14:55, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

"Cape coloured". I learned a new term. Thanks :-). Rl 15:16, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Derrogatory?

Is bergie really derrogatory? I've never heard it used as a slur before. Páll ^{(Die pienk olifant)} 14:43, 5 June 2006 (UTC)