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> those who almost universally loathe their own country's products. In Indian rural side, "desi" (native) is almost always synonyms with bad quality, not cheap

> those who almost universally loathe their own country's products. In Indian rural side, "desi" (native) is almost always synonyms with bad quality, not cheap which is implied, but bad quality. I heard that desi in many foreign country means Indian?! Desi or swadesi (home made) had a special emotional appeal to urban upper middle class leadership during freedom struggle. I don't know how they feel about it. Chandrayaan from ISRO was a very significant moment in this regard. Done by desi engineers educated in desi schools. I am one of those.

finite_depth 3y ago
American here: I've only heard "desi" used as a self-descriptor by South Asian people, usually Indian (but I think Pakistani sometimes as well?). It doesn't carry a negative connotation here that I know of, though I might have missed one that does exist.
- Conan_Kudo 3y ago
  As an Indian-American, I've heard variations of this to describe first-gen American born Indians in a negative fashion. Sometimes, the shorthand "ABCD" is used (meaning American Born Confused Desi) to insult American Indians. This is principally used by Indians who either live in India or emigrated to the US and encounter American Indians. (As an aside, it's rather difficult to accurately describe my ethno-national status given the regular confusion with people of the First Nations...)
  - samatman 3y ago
    There's no need to worry about confusion, Indian-American always means ancestry or origin in India. Native American is the usual term in the US for the indigenous, although many of them call themselves Indians and prefer it, a generation ago it was American Indian, but it's never been the other way around, hyphen or otherwise.
sfink 3y ago
As a white, vanilla American, I have always understood desi to be very similar to "hick" or "country bumpkin", but from the subcontinent. (And usually applied to people who have never been anywhere near the countryside.)

finite_depth 3y ago

American here: I've only heard "desi" used as a self-descriptor by South Asian people, usually Indian (but I think Pakistani sometimes as well?). It doesn't carry a negative connotation here that I know of, though I might have missed one that does exist.

Conan_Kudo 3y ago
As an Indian-American, I've heard variations of this to describe first-gen American born Indians in a negative fashion. Sometimes, the shorthand "ABCD" is used (meaning American Born Confused Desi) to insult American Indians. This is principally used by Indians who either live in India or emigrated to the US and encounter American Indians. (As an aside, it's rather difficult to accurately describe my ethno-national status given the regular confusion with people of the First Nations...)
- samatman 3y ago
  There's no need to worry about confusion, Indian-American always means ancestry or origin in India. Native American is the usual term in the US for the indigenous, although many of them call themselves Indians and prefer it, a generation ago it was American Indian, but it's never been the other way around, hyphen or otherwise.

sfink 3y ago

As a white, vanilla American, I have always understood desi to be very similar to "hick" or "country bumpkin", but from the subcontinent. (And usually applied to people who have never been anywhere near the countryside.)