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[o-honeybee-o.livejournal.com]

I work as a teaching assistant (in the UK) between 2 classes of 4-5 year olds, so here's their names!
I've put an * next to the names of the children who are ethnic, just so you know!


Girls
Jessica
Faye
Eve (x2)
Sofia *
Hafsah *
Sophie *
Amina *
Manpreea (She's mostly just called Prea though) *
Zahra *
Anna
Hannah
Millie
Sophya *
Jessica-Leigh
Megan
Lucy
Sarah
Zafira (zah-fee-ruh) *
Robyn
Poonam *
Zaneib *
Holly
Aiysha *
Faith
Sadie
Niamh
Amarni *
Aliza *
Ariana *

Boys
William
Rayhan *
Joseph (x2)
Naheem *
Abdullah *
Shakeel *
Ellis
Andrew
Benjamin
Zachary
Aaron
Bilaal *
Jake
Lewis (x3)
Wajaahat * (Wah-jar-hat)
Shakeeb *
Hyder *
Lennon
Nathan
Sukleen *
Ben

Comments

[qalanjo.livejournal.com]

I don't think the OP meant it in an offensive way at all, but I read it the same way too. The word "ethnic" is misleading in general, you hear it all the time. "Ethnic foods", "Ethnic clothing"...but isn't everyone ethnic? I think in this case it is might mean, well, of a cultural background that is a minority in the UK (whether they are British nationality-wise or not).
Hmm ;/
Again, no hard feelings to the OP, because people use "ethnic" this way all the time - usually not even thinking about the connotations, and I understand.

[tokossel.livejournal.com]

i know she probably didn't mean it in an offensive way, but that doesn't mean it's not offensive to some people.
also, if you look up the word 'ethnic' (yay for dictionary.com, i'm such a geek!) it also means 'heathen'/'pagan'. and like i pointed out previously, if you look at the names with a * next to them, at least 3 different cultural backgrounds are represented. i don't think it's fair for them all to be classified as 'ethnic'. i don't know.