bigOz wrote:"Laz" is not an insult. They are believed to be an ethnic group that existed somewhere between Greece, Georgia, Nothern Anatolia and Armenia, but more towards Georgia. If I remeber correctly they were also known as "Colchis" (hence probably the source of the surname Kolchak in Turkey!
People living along the Northern Black Sea coast of Turkey had always been addressed as Laz by the general public, but the name became diluted when a lot of jokes were made referring to the occupants of that area as "Laz", that always portrayed them as "naive" or of little intelligence. But that is not something people believe in! It is only for jokes like the Irish jokes in UK. No one in real life really believes Irish are stupid, do they? My own experience has been, people referred to as Laz, or more appropriately as "Karadenizli" are very much loved and respected by the Turkish society in Turkey, and are never looked upon as a lower form of life in their midst!
Although TC did well to apologise, in my opinion he did nothing wrong and in fact, if anyone , it should be "talipozdemir" who should apologise for misinterpreting what was written and starting the first salvo of insults on someone who was genuinely welcoming him. That's my opinion anyway!
Thanks for clearing that up mate. Exactly what I thought too.
Laz people are in Wikipedia as 'Laz people', their language is also called 'Lazuri' so you can imagine I didnt even think twice about calling him Laz.
