Talk:Bergie

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[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)