Colonial slurs for Arabs ranged from melon to the killing-term ratonnade

Evidence

Bicot, opprobrium of unknown meaning, or origin; melon, slang for “a simpleton”; figuier, “fig tree”, because the Algerian peasant allegedly spent his day sitting under its shade; sale raton, “dirty little rat”; hence, later, the odious expression ratonnade, rat-hunt, or Arab-killing (not to be confused with ratissage). — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 173

Categorization

• DEFINE: Unpacks the racial vocabulary that underwrote pied noir dehumanization and the specific term ratonnade.
• XREF: connects to: Combat in 1956 stripped both Arabic and French of their fixed colonial meanings; Colonial moral epithets encoded specific class and racial transgressions; Colonial prejudices sexualized and dehumanized the Algerian Muslim (+2 more)

Related

• Combat in 1956 stripped both Arabic and French of their fixed colonial meanings (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Colonial moral epithets encoded specific class and racial transgressions #expands (0.70)
• Colonial ethnic labels measured threat level rather than actual ethnicity #corroborates (0.65) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100
• Colonial prejudices sexualized and dehumanized the Algerian Muslim #exemplifies (0.60)
• Literary objectification dehumanizes Arabs even before they are killed #corroborates (0.55)