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banana
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
n. & adj. — Ethnicities, slang, derogatory
a person born in Canada of Chinese or Japanese descent who is seen as culturally assimilated into the Canadian mainstream.
Type: 3. Semantic Change — Banana is generally used as a colloquial pejorative to describe a person of Chinese descent born and raised in North America. The common explanation, "yellow on the outside, white on the inside" (see the 2014 quotation), characterizes someone as having been completely assimilated into mainstream society. The term is also used in connection with the first generation's expectation that their children should acquire their heritage language and culture, despite often challenging monolingual settings in Canada (and despite multicultural policies, see Department of Justice reference). Often, likely because of peer pressure or even racism, these children have no desire to learn Chinese language or culture regardless of their appearance. According to internet domain searches, banana in this metaphoric sense appears most frequently in Canada (see Chart 1).
Should one be needed, a substitute for banana without negative connotations is CBC, or Canadian-born Chinese (see entry). As a more precise and factual term, CBC is to be preferred.
See also COD-2, s.v. "banana" (3), which is marked "N Amer.", and OED-3, s.v. "banana", which is marked "N. Amer. (chiefly Canad.)".
Should one be needed, a substitute for banana without negative connotations is CBC, or Canadian-born Chinese (see entry). As a more precise and factual term, CBC is to be preferred.
See also COD-2, s.v. "banana" (3), which is marked "N Amer.", and OED-3, s.v. "banana", which is marked "N. Amer. (chiefly Canad.)".
The term's inclusion does not signify any endorsement, as clearly indicated in the usage label "derogatory". The term's meaning or usage is not condoned in any way.
Quotations
1979
There appears to be increasing awareness among these students that they are different, not only from white Canadian students, but also from the "CBCs" and "Juk Sings" who have the advantages of speaking English fluently and understanding all the Canadian jokes. A minority of these students have taken the stand of behaving as Chinese as possible and labelling non-conformists as "bananas" -- yellow outside, white inside.
1984
Nancy, and the other students who requested anonymity, say "bananas" try to blend in with white society to lose stigmas attached with being Chinese.
1994
Meanwhile, Prof. Wong recounts an incident in which his daughter Christina, then in Grade 9, came home from school and asked whether he had ever heard of bananas. "You're a banana," she told her father. "They called me a banana at school because I cannot speak or write Chinese."
1999
In Chinese culture, there are jokes about being born and raised in Canada. I am a "banana" because I am yellow on the outside, but white on the inside. I am a "CBC," a Canadian-born Chinese. I am a "bamboo shoot" because the stem of a bamboo is segmented. Supposedly, I am symbolically stuck in the middle of a segment.
2006
We sat down with Yee over a cup of tea recently to talk about growing up as a banana, the difficulties of integrating and how the Hong Kong Chinese defied all expectations of what it meant to be an immigrant.
2008
A stage adaptation of Terry Woo's novel of the same name, it's an exploration of what cultural identity means in a multicultural society. In this case, the titular Banana Boys -- yellow on the outside and white on the inside -- are five first-generation Canadians attending the notoriously math, science and engineering-heavy University of Waterloo. Living between two cultures and burdened by the fact that they are neither fully Canadian nor fully Chinese, each has his own set of anxieties and concerns when it comes to growing up and facing the realities of their world.
2014
This whimsical title, which signified a split personality, made reference to the term "banana" as it is used pejoratively inside the Chinese community, to refer to someone who is yellow on the outside but white on the inside, a term applicable to both Shum herself and the Jade Li character.
References
- COD-2
- Department of Justice • "Canadian Multiculturalism Act"
- OED-3
Images
