Would this racial designation on your marriage license bother you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way is that offensive. outdated yes, offensive? in what way exactly?

seriously, thicker skin is needed here. stop being so defensive. I'm Italian, my grandparents papers labeled them as WAPs when they came to the US. i think it's funny, and in no way offensive. I'm proud of who I am.

OP again. Hmm..my father is 100% Italian and I wouldn't find it funny if his marriage license TODAY in this day and age (and not back in the early 20th century) called him an offensive Italian name.

[Anonymous]

OP, if it bothers you, you should change it. Yeah, it's offensive. Whether it's worth the trouble to change it is up to you.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is offensive.

To those who bring up the fact that it is not offensive in the UK- the UK and the United States are two different places with two separate histories. Things that are offensive here are not offensive there, and vice versa.

To those who say the OP shouldn't worry about it because people are homeless, starving- please log off of DCUM and go adopt some orphans, organize some food drives, etc. You are obviously very bothered by the world's problems and that's why you are posting on a parenting board instead of solving them.

[Anonymous]

PP here- forgot to mention that yes, I would have them reprinted. There is an offensive term for my race/culture in the US that is common and not offensive in my husband's country. I am fine with being called the term in my husband's country, because the negative history of the term isn't there. I would not be fine with being called it the USA.

[Anonymous]

South Carolina is such a backwards state in so many ways- they fly the confederate flag on the state capitol grounds, they hold a confederacy ball every december, the state is boycotted by the NAACP. Of all the states- it does not shock me that it woild be SC with this.

[Anonymous]

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know WHY Oriental is now deemed offensive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slightly off topic, but does anyone know WHY Oriental is now deemed offensive?

This has been addressed in a previous DCUM post, so I will quote a bit of the responses to you and then link you to the rest.

"The basic critique of the term [Oriental] developed in the 1970s. “With the anti-war movement in the ’60s and early ’70s, many Asian Americans identified the term ‘Oriental’ with a Western process of racializing Asians as forever opposite ‘others,’” said John Kuo Wei Tchen, director of the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program and Institute at New York University."

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/90/80159.page

[Anonymous]

What does WAP mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does WAP mean?

I really don't mean to be rude, but you can always check Google for the answer to such simple questions.

Typing in "WAP Italian" led me to this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wop

"Wop is a U.S. pejorative slur for people from Italy. Some[who?] say it is derived from the Neapolitan word "guappo" (often pronounced simply as "guap'" in the regional dialect), meaning a person who flaunts an overbearingly cocky and swaggering attitude."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is offensive.

To those who bring up the fact that it is not offensive in the UK- the UK and the United States are two different places with two separate histories. Things that are offensive here are not offensive there, and vice versa.
quote]

Did you actually read all that was said in the UK post or glance over it? Yes, yes, the UK has different histories, and all that jazz, but it was mentioned as a side note in that post. The point was that my DH refers to himself as Oriental. It sets a distinction. People from China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Laos have different physical characteristics than those from other regions of Asia.

[Anonymous]

15:32- Learn to quote and then we can talk.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure you could get it reprinted. If it is required by state or local law to be included, it will print that way. Interesting. I'll dig out my SC marriage license from 1996 and see if it lists DH and me as white. If it doesn't, and a race/ethnicity is included only for "non-whites", then I would suggest that the OP contact the NAACP. OP, what county were you married in? It might make a difference. We no longer live in SC for many of the reasons hinted at in this thread. It is stuck in a time warp, and not in a good way.

I do not mean to suggest that it is a good idea to include the designation (because it isn't), but if it is required for everybody, it is going to be tough to make a claim out of that.

[Anonymous]

It is outdated, but how many times do you pull out your marriage certificate? It wouldn't bother me since it stays in a file and I think we've pulled it out maybe 2-3 times since we got married (14 years married).

[Anonymous]

So if you were going to ask for it to be re-printed, what are you going to ask them to do? I have to assume it was a choice, and that it is the best choice (not saying it was a good one). Now if the clerk just added it, well then, I would complain.

I would write the office, express my displeasure and kindly but strongly suggest they update their forms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure you could get it reprinted. If it is required by state or local law to be included, it will print that way. Interesting. I'll dig out my SC marriage license from 1996 and see if it lists DH and me as white. If it doesn't, and a race/ethnicity is included only for "non-whites", then I would suggest that the OP contact the NAACP. OP, what county were you married in? It might make a difference. We no longer live in SC for many of the reasons hinted at in this thread. It is stuck in a time warp, and not in a good way.

I do not mean to suggest that it is a good idea to include the designation (because it isn't), but if it is required for everybody, it is going to be tough to make a claim out of that.

OP here again. DH's race is also listed (White), so they're at least equal opportunity race listers. We were married in Charleston County. I don't know if that particular clerk went rogue and calls Asians "Orientals" or if that is official state or local designation.

15:52, we actually need our marriage certificate quite a bit due to adopting internationally and having to submit said license to international and US agencies. No, it's not the world's worst problem, and certainly not my worst problem either, but it bothered me then and it still bothers me now.