Thursday, July 15, 2010

Rangas...



“Deeply off the record - I think the timetable & struggle to get candidates reflects internal poll - pre & post the ranga".

- Barry O’Farrell, NSW Opposition leader, accidentally sends a tweet public instead of private, in response to a question as to why the Liberal Party has yet to select its candidates for the federal seats of Greenway and Parramatta despite the imminent announcement of an election. The “ranga” (redhead) referred to is Prime Minister Julia Gillard. 15 July 2010



 

Interviewer:

When you became PM the talk should have been around the fact that you were Australia's first female PM. Instead it was about you being possibly the first one with red hair. How do you feel about the term ‘ranga' and the fuss that's been made about your hair colour?

PM Julia Gillard:

I think it's good. I think it's funny. And I think a lot of people with red hair think it's pretty funny too. We are getting very interesting emails and cards and you know ‘rangas' and all that type of stuff. I've thought for a long period of time, even as deputy prime minister and education minister, that when I was pulling up at schools, disproportionately, red-headed children were greeting me. I think there were a number of schools that kind of manoeuvred to put the red-headed kids up front. I think we will see a bit more of that.

- Interview with Julia Gillard, Daily Mercury 5 July 2010



 

ADELAIDE Zoo has dropped an ad campaign offering free visits to all "rangas" to highlight the plight of orang-utans after sensitive redheads complained.

Last week, advertisements ran offering "free Zoo entry for all rangas" during the school holidays.

"Ranga" - an abbreviation of orang-utan - is a common nickname for redheads.

- Daily Telegraph, 29 September 2008



 
A 12-year-old schoolboy was bashed by two groups of students because of a Facebook page which told them it was "Kick a Ginger Day".

A 2005 episode of the animated series South Park originally floated the tongue-in-cheek idea of a "Kick a Ginger Day" as a way of discriminating against "gingers", a term used to describe people with red hair.

- 9 News, Report from Los Angeles, 22 November 2009

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