Talk:Bergie

Tone

Maybe it's just me but the whole article reads as if it was about an animal, not people. I changed the first sentence "A bergie is a bum found in Cape Town, South Africa." to "Bergie is a term used for homeless people in Cape Town, South Africa.". Not sure that's correct, but it doesn't use a highly derogatory term to define some other highly derogatory term. Rl 15:50, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

Feel free to change the style of the article. I was stating facts about bergies as I know them. Obviously this is (hopefully) not the definitive article. User:Nausea 10:25, 22 August

OK, so I changed the article, but I am (obviously) finding it difficult to get the tone right. It's difficult to describe this subsection of South African society in a detached manner and without sounding condescending. Maybe someone not from SA could edit the facts into a dispassionate article or request information that might be pertinant? There's very little out there (Google) [1] not written in a joking/condescending fashion. Nausea 22:12, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

The whole second paragraph is very racist and feeds into unjust stereotypes. Shame on whoever wrote this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.97.102.233 (talk) 09:59, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

Ethnic?

I added "black" to the intro and Category:Ethnic slurs based on the observation that all sources I find are about black people. Please undo that if I am mistaken. – I also removed the link to rsdb.org because their entry on bergie doesn't really add anything substantial to what we already have. Rl 08:13, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

They are actually mostly of the Cape Coloured race. I haven't personally seen any black Bergies in Cape Town, though I might be wrong. Nausea 14:55, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

"Cape coloured". I learned a new term. Thanks :-). Rl 15:16, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

It is not a slur, in the same way that "homeless", "hobo" and "tramp" are not categorised as slurs. Its etymology is descriptive, does not target an ethnic or religious group in general, and does not have negative connotations. Most bergies are Cape Coloured, but some are white people (more so than black people in the South African social sense which does not include people of mixed race). I have removed the category (now Category:Ethnic and religious slurs) as well as Category:Pejorative terms for people, both unsourced. HelenOnline 09:11, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

Derogatory?

Is bergie really derogatory? I've never heard it used as a slur before. Páll ^{(Die pienk olifant)} 14:43, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Proposed deletion

I don't think this article should be deleted. We're not defining the word and it's not slang. We're describing a subsection of society within South Africa. Much the same as you would describe Aborigines in Australia, the San bushmen of the Kalahari or a specific African tribe. I do, however, agree that the article needs to be expanded with more references, lifestyle, habits, etc. of this unique subsection of South African society. Nausea 07:11, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Ok, my mistake. Until(1 == 2) 16:03, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

To be fair, I've had a hard time coming up with references for the actual definition of bergie even on South African sites (I've checked both IOL and News24), rather than just uses of the term. I think this article probably fails WP:N and WP:NEO and should rather be merged somewhere (perhaps just a few lines into Cape Town or another appropriate article). Zunaid©® 12:13, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Zunaid. Wizzy…☎ 13:51, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I've never remembered NOT knowing what a bergie is - when I was 6 in 1983 I certainly knew what the word meant. I find it hard to consider the word to be a "neo"logism if it's at least as old as "Internet". Does the word get used outside Cape Town? Maybe Knysna, which has forested hills? Bernd Jendrissek (talk) 13:37, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Pop Culture

In song, famous in 'Lisa se Klavier', 3rd versie? Don't know if worth mentioning198.54.202.242 (talk) 13:17, 23 March 2008 (UTC)