Ginger, redhead, carrots (blonde, complexion, brown, light)

[JustJulia]

Ginger

This term seems to be more common abroad, like in the UK. Does it mean any type of redhead or those who have light red or strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and lots of freckles?

Does Justine Joli (http://www.flickr.com/photos/consensualmedia/150046605/in/faves-mjm/ - broken link)have ginger hair? It's usually dark red.

Also, I can't tell if "ginger" is impolite. Sometimes it seems like a slur, and other times it just seems like something that is not exactly negative but never complimentary either ... like "dishwater blonde" or "mousy hair."

Redhead

What sort of hair and complexion do you think of when someone is called a redhead? I tend to think of women with pink skin, few freckles, and brown eyes, like Alicia Witt or Julianne Moore. (Okay, Moore was probably a bad example. She can have porcelain or freckly skin; it probably depends on her makeup.)

Carrots

Although carrots are orange, when I read or hear this term, the person usually has dark hair. Anne Shirley didn't have bright orange hair, did she?

Who is someone you consider to have carroty hair?

[OngletNYC]

In the UK, "ginger" is most definitely a slur. It's usually used by the English to refer to the Irish and Scottish, and as I am sure you know those groups have their history. A few years ago I had a business meeting with a Brit and an American redhead (who happened to be horribly rude). When the redhead left the table, the Brit referred to the redhead as "that g-damn ginger" and "bloody gingerhead kunt" in a way that very much reminded me of an angry southerner spitting out the N word.

After that meeting I did some googling...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6725653.stm

[michelleleigh]

My Dh hates the term Ginger, he has had people at work call him that and one guy even told him he was a fallen angeal becuase of his red hair. Then again there are people like me who love all shades of red hair