I meant fair as in lighter skinned, fair complexion - not fair as in proper had the right -

Here so no more confusion I did a thesaurus search on the word "white"
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/white

Your friend can try to find a new word from those.

PASTY?? LMAO!!!!

Ever eat that stuff as a kid? Kinda sweet, but not very nutritious.

I didn't know what to tell my friend either. Thought "Cream Puff" sounded kinda sweet, but it didn't sound very respectful.

Puts ya into a ball of confusion, doesn't it?

I'm confused why you'd ask us that question really but...

I guess there are many here in Australia who would call our first settlers invaders. In fact, invasion is a term used by some groups of the Aboriginal community in Australia.

Historically the term would probably be European settlers. They were from Europe right? They were actually settling, right?

I guess I've seen Colonials here too. from the term colonisation

Kathy, you said your friend was told that "white" was offensive.
Who told your friend that ?
Why weren't they settlers?

More to come, I just woke up

Lara

Okay - have some coffee (watch out for rainbows )

I just figured I'd ask my white friends here because it baffles me people would be offended by the term white but can't give an appropriate alternative.

I've never been offended by racial name-calling myself. I thought it was funny when they called us "honkies." What's that? Geese or trumpets? The term cracker actually cracks me up - didn't know if they were talking about Saltines or Graham. It usually made me hungry for a snack.

yes, thankyou,
am having a coffee now.

Actually I don't like racial name-calling at all or any name calling for that manner. It's something that I have seen all too much of myself when I was growing up in the area where I lived. I dunno... the term 'white' doesn't bother me in the context although if it was for historical purposes and the people were settlers and they were from Europe, I would probably use the term European settlers or colonists if I was doing the paper, but don't understand why "white" would be such a huge problem.

Often it depends on the context. We're all part of a big melting pot, if we went around all day thinking about who was white and who was part Lebanese, or who was part Chinese or who was from Italy or who was from Ireland... hey, I remember really old grandparents talking about one group of the family being "black Irish". No one ever got offended with that. I gather it meant they had dark eyes and dark hair but I never really knew.

I'm not so sure that everyone who posts here has white skin...

In fact I'm not sure I've ever thought about what colour skin any of the posters here have.

It wouldn't have crossed my mind until today lol.

i'm a mutt. pretty much an olive biegey kinda color. and my hair..it's any color i want it to be.

i guess from having folks whose parents came from different countries has given me a different take on stuff like this.

i thinks some people just have to have a reason to be defensive. not saying this of any one group..it's the individual.

over the years the terms have changed and will keep changing. everytime they do..it ticks somebody off when the old term was used.

but i do want to say...see how the written word can be taken incorrectly in the manner in which it was meant? a very good point was made.

kathy...i'm being totally brain dead here...but could your friend use a term more with the times? like colonial...frontier...settlers?

I was under the impression that the first people in Australia were criminals sent there from Europe. Were some not? Forgive ignorance in advance just what I was taught in school - and I homeschool my son and would love to give him correct teachings should I be misinformed. thx

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are our Indigenous Australians... the traditional inhabitants of the land here. They've estimated they were here somewhere between 20,000 and 60,000 years before the present. The reason for the difference in time is basically just that techniques used for dating artefacts etc. vary in accuracy. Prior to the arrival of the First Fleet of Europeans there were already hundreds of different countries within Australia and over 700 different Aboriginal languages and dialects spoken in Australia.
http://www.dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/index.cfm
Indigenous Australia

Here's a website explaining arrival of what is known as the "first fleet". That was in 1788 and it was made up mostly of convicts and sailors and the wives of the sailors and they were mostly from England, Ireland and Scotland, but there were people from other countries as well. It wasn't too long after that when the free settlers began to arrive and the "convicts" were allowed to settle as well. In the very beginning the convicts used to work in whatever trade they had. Some were nurses, some were carpenters, some were farmers etc.. After settlement, the steady flow of free settlers started. Bear in mind that a convict back then may have stolen an apple for their child and then was sentenced to transportation and a life in what is now known as Australia.
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov....cles/convicts/

At that time 1788 and until 1992 Australia as it's now known was considered to be what is termed "Terra Nullius" which means something like a land with no people which of course was totally incorrect and which finally was acknowledged in a famous land rights case here called "Mabo" when the whole principle of Terra nullius was refuted by law.

Lara, thank you so much. That is such a history lesson about AU and I cannot wait to show and share with my son the links you have provided and the facts of history you provided.

Hugs.

My pleasure, Christine.
If you ever want to know anything else, please just shout out. That seems just like a mere second in time these days. There is so much more! lol