Dana
Gordon
Mrs.
Heisler
English
3 AP, Period F
31
January 2015
Ginger
Ginger: a simple root growing in a lush
garden; a bursting pop of flavor in mom’s favorite recipes; the first
delightful bite of an beautifully adorned, edible house around Christmas time;
the pungent smell permeating through the kitchen after the tedious task of
holiday baking is finished; the color of fire that burns from the furnace; and a
line drawn to each tiny dot that embroiders the pasty white skin of a red head.
When asking Mrs. Heisler’s F Period AP English class what a ginger is to them,
some of the results were surprising. Answers included: the adorable, iconic
girl who represents Wendy’s; a sunburn ready to ambush the vulnerable, pale
skin on a bright sunny day; a sad boy with round glasses eating a giant bar of
chocolate in a corner; the loyal friend accompanying Harry Potter in the best
selling series written by J.K. Rowling; a roar of laughter encompassing the quiet
house during a South Park episode; the outburst of a short temper; and a
confused representation of Satan (Gordon). Seemingly impossible to possess a
negative connotation, the definition of “ginger” gets lost in the sheer
versatility of the word and its many substantial uses in the English language,
and thus, shapes the world’s need for a visual comic relief and a tasty root to
give food a kick of flavor.
Thinking back to a story based around the
word ginger, I remember taking the field on a July afternoon, my thoughts of how
the soccer game will play out is interrupted by the screech of the indicating
whistle. The match, a physical battle, turned into a game of who can hit the
other player the hardest, and an intense competition of who can instigate a
fight to draw, yet another, time-consuming foul. In the chaos, my team received
a free kick, a perfect scoring opportunity. I, stuck in the middle of the
hectic situation on the field, found myself matched up against the biggest
advocate of the dirty play. I nestled myself right next to her, grabbed at her
jersey so she could feel my unrelenting presence, and whispered, “this ball is
going in the net.” I will never forget the way she shot back in the most
unforgettable tone, “shut up, you ginger. I’ll take you out.” Surprised by the
comment, I let a mere giggle escape from my lips. Ginger? Is that supposed to
offend me? I mean I guess the girl is right; I do in fact have red hair. In the
heat of the moment, I was expecting a slightly better comeback, but all I received
was a pathetic “ginger.”
The dictionary definition of a ginger is “the
rhizome of the ginger plant, ground, chopped, etc. and used as a flavoring” or
“a yellowish or reddish brown” (“Ginger”). I had never imagined that a word to
describe a color or a root could be used as an insult. Searching the internet,
one can find that more scholarly people believe that the origin of calling a
person a ginger came from a ginger root flower called the Alpinia purpurata,
which is a brilliant red, or came from the color that a ginger root turns when
it is cooked (English Language and Usage). Based on this evidence, being called a ginger is neither
offensive nor negative, but simply a way to describe one’s appearance. For
example, when my family took a trip to Israel, I was astounded by how many
people were fascinated by the color of my hair. Seeming like a rare species, I
took up the nickname “gingy’” based on the fact that my hair was alluring and
different, not because I fit into other stereotypes of what having red hair
means.
When students in Mrs. Heisler’s F period
class heard the word “ginger” most thought of punny jokes originating from
South Park (Gordon). The misconception that the word was created by the comical
show can be quickly refuted by the evidence of its use in old British language
and the famous character named Ginger on the hit show Gilligan’s Island (English
Language and Usage).
Although South Park did not invent the word, it did create a new connotation of
it. In Season nine, episode eleven, a beloved character
on the show, Cartmann, leads a vendetta against red headed kids and even goes
as far as making a class presentation about ginger kids saying “yuck!” and
“ew!” every time one pops up on the screen (Hartman). He debates that gingers are soulless,
related to vampires, and a plague on today’s society (Hartman). Due to this episode, many kids have
taken up the word “ginger” as a way to insult someone. Although my view stands
firm that ginger is plainly a description of hair color, South Park has also
given the word a way to describe personality and characteristics of redheaded
people as a whole.
Being a ginger doesn’t mean one has to
fit into all of the stereotypes that go along with the definition, but, by
possessing that hair color, one continues to add onto the way we, as a
minority, are perceived. Ginger: a multifaceted word, a way to describe a hair
color, a root used in the kitchen, a sitting duck for discriminating jokes, and
most importantly, the way I define myself.
Works
Cited
English
Language and Usage. “What is the Origin of the Term
“Ginger” for Red-Headed
People?”.
1 February 2015bv
“Ginger.” Def. 1, Def. 3, Webster’s New World College Dictionary.
4th ed. 2002. Print.
Gordon, Dana. English 3 PA F Period
Class Survey. “Ginger” 30 Janurary 2015
Hartman, Clayton. “South Park – Ginger
Kid”. Online Video Clip. YouTube. YouTube.
7
February
2013. 1 February 2015
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