Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Greaser (derogatory)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus. This article is certainly in need of improvement, and it may be possible to find sources to expand it into something a lot better than what it is now, but I do not see any clear consensus here on what to do with it. Beeblebrox (talk) 19:37, 5 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Greaser (derogatory)[edit]

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Violates WP:Wikipedia is not a dictionary by being just the history and definition of one word. Although the word "greaser" is probably more notable than some other ethnic slurs it is still just a word. The article also lacks good sources and is unclear on what the word means. Is it just Mexicans, all Hispanic people, Italians too, or any dark-haired young man who uses hair oil? The claim that it originates from Mexican people being hired to grease the axles of mule carts during the Mexican American War also seems a little out there to me. Jaque Hammer (talk) 13:54, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment How is this different from the other entries in List of ethnic slurs which have articles? Why don't you make this a group nomination for all the following dictionary definitions of derogatory terms or slurs, and see how far you get? See also Beaner, Celestial (Chinese), Chinaman (term), Cheese-eating surrender monkeys, Ching Chong , Chink, Cholo, Coolie, Coonass, Cracker (pejorative), Fuzzy-Wuzzy, Gringo, Gweilo, Guido (slang), Half-breed, Haole, Honky, Jap, Kaffir (racial term), Kike, Kraut, Limey, Nigger, Ocker, Pickaninny, Pikey, Polack, Redneck, Redskin (slang), Sambo (racial term), Shiksa, Spic, Squaw, Taig, Teuchter, Ugly American (epithet), West Brit, Wetback (slur), Wog, Wop, ~~Anchor baby,~~ and Fresh off the boat. Perhaps this term should be removed from Wikipedia (and perhaps transwikied to Wiktionary like Dago. Why is only this one definition or slur inappropriate for Wikipedia? Note that this is not the "OTHERSTUFFEXISTS" argument for keeping this term, but rather a proposal to transwiki the lot to Wiktionary. "Wikipedia is not censored" does not trump "Wikipedia is not a dictionary." Edison (talk) 15:21, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I generally agree with you. I have been nominating these articles one by one. However in some cases the expression is important enough so that an article is useful and interesting to the readers, for instance Jap. Also in some cases, like for instance anchor baby, the article is really about the concept not the word. Jaque Hammer (talk) 12:30, 22 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Language-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 19:10, 21 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Struck Anchor baby per your comment. Edison (talk) 03:45, 24 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
- What we need first is a "policy on policies" so that policies like "not a dictionary" are actually taken seriously. :-) Jaque Hammer (talk) 03:25, 25 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Ron Ritzman (talk) 00:38, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Delete Appears to consist largely of WP:OR. I agree with the idea proposed from the last listing that most of these articles should go. Nwlaw63 (talk) 04:38, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
move to wiktionary Wiktionary doesn't have this meaning. 184.144.169.126 (talk) 06:05, 28 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Keep Looking on Google scholar, I find no difficulty in finding a good source which discusses this ethnic stereotype at length. The word appears in the title of US law and significant cultural works and there seems to be good scholarly work on this phenomenon. At worst, we'd merge with Anti-Mexican sentiment, Hispanophobia, Mexican Americans or one of the other numerous articles in this field. This is our editing policy. Colonel Warden (talk) 08:09, 29 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I would support a merge to Anti-Mexican sentiment. That way the article would be about the topic, not the meaning and use of a word. Jaque Hammer (talk) 16:39, 30 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Delete - Not notable enough for an WP article.--Bobbyd2011 (talk) 12:03, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Keep - Its used to be a pretty common term and is still used fairly often in areas like Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Its also a term that refers to the guys in the 50's that used a lot of hair gel that gave their hair a greasy appearance (like the Fonz from happy days). --Kumioko (talk) 16:06, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Keep I've heard the American uses of the term, and have added the totally separate British English usage of the term to the article. This perhaps extends the article from a straight definition of one term. The boundary between definition and article is a tricky one to draw. Peridon (talk) 16:33, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.