Still pondering off & on about whether any more childish names might be considered racist – today if not then
Well I would be very careful, at least, about Fuzzy Wuzzy
Some definitely think it derogatory
Curiously in its origin as a racial term, it referred to Arab tribes in the Sudan
The fact that Kipling wrote a poem with that title probably does not help, at least in the eyes of those who consider Kipling to be an unreconstructed & unreconstructable, imperialist
The Fuzzy Wuzzies often featured in Boys Own Adventure stories, some of which I read as a child if there was nothing better to hand. They might also have figured in playground games as an alternative to cowboys & Indians
If memory serves, the term was also used in the film Zulu
In all these uses however I do not think you can say the term was derogatory, more like a nickname, even perhaps a pet name. They were considered worthy opponents, to be respected as such, even though war is war
There is also the nursery rhyme
Curiously, the version, available on various websites does not match the one I knew, which goes:
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy did not care
Because he wasn't fuzzy,
Wuzzy?
Fuzzy wuzzy bare!
(The last word to be said very loud, accompanied by much tummy tickling, if the child is very small)
All the other versions miss out the bit about how he ‘did not care’ – perhaps because it is considered unkind to men with a comb over or toupé?
However, according to one web site, it is not a traditional nursery rhyme at all, but a popular song from 1944 by Al Hoffman, Milton Drake and Jerry Livingston
I do not doubt that there are plenty of people who have been at the receiving end of the term used in a way which was definitely meant to hurt & insult - particularly perhaps those growing up in the UK in the 1970s & 1980s & the age of the Afro hair style. (I wonder if anyone ever applied it to Kevin Keagan?)
So, definitely best left, at least for the time being, unless you are very sure your companions will understand if you need it & no other term will serve in the context
I would not avoid using the nursery rhyme game however; this ultimately deserves to be uncoupled completely from any racial connotations & become just good word play
