The word “Perker” stems from back around the 60s & 70s Denmark.
Around that
time, Denmark was in dire need of workforce & manpower to build the
country’
s infrastructure. The state then invited what they called “Gæstearbejdere” or “Fremmedarbejdere” which translates to “Guest Worker” or “Foreign Worker”, mainly from the countries of Turkey,
Pakistan, Yugoslavia & Iran.
In
Danish, when referring to an Iranian person, you can refer to them as an “Perser” which translates to “
Persian”. (Notice the “Per” in “Pers-er”.)
In Danish, when referring to a Turkish person or a Pakistani person, you can refer to them as a “Tyrker” & “Pakistaner” which translates to “
Turk” & “Pakistani”. (Notice the “er” in “Tyrk-er” & “
Pakistan-er”.)
Someone then decided to combine the words to generalize people of foreign muslim descent. Hence “Per-ker”.
It is generally considered hate speech, racially motivated & degrading, when a person of
white descent says “Perker”. Much like the N-word in the Western Hemisphere is considered racially motivated & hate speech when
said towards people of color, “Perker” is also considered that, when uttered towards people of muslim descent.
Racism is generally alive & thriving in Denmark, with it not being as acknowledged as it rightfully should be, & at times actually considered taboo & rolled eyes upon, when pointed out. Many politicians in the Danish Parliament even claiming that racism simply doesn’t exist within it’s borders.
Pronunciation: (Paer’kar)
RACIALLY MOTIVATED EXAMPLES:
- DANISH: “Rejs hjem hvor du kommer fra din perker.”
- TRANSLATED: “Go home to where you came from you perker.”
- DANISH: “Du er bare en fucking perker, intet andet.”
- TRANSLATED: “You’re just a fucking perker, nothing else.”
PEOPLE OF SAME DESCENT EXAMPLES:
-DANISH: “Der var 10 sandwiches i kassen med 1 til hver, men Younes tog 5 stykker
haha! Fucking perker.”
- TRANSLATED: “There was 10 sandwiches in the
box with 1 for each. Younes took 5 of them
haha! Fucking perker.”
- DANISH: “Soufian var den mest perker
af dem alle.
Han gad ikke finde
sig i hvad Christoffer sagde om hans mor. Så
han sloges med
ham midt i klassen.
- TRANSLATED: “Soufian was the most perker of them all. He wouldn’t let it slide that Christoffer spoke of his mother. So he fought with him in the middle of the classroom.”