“Ginger Jesus”

The following appeared in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

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The reference is to Carson Wentz, quarterback for and perceived savior of the Philadelphia Eagles (American) football team, whose hair would normally be called “red” in the U.S. and “ginger” in the U.K. Judge for yourself!

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12 thoughts on ““Ginger Jesus”

  1. Deification (well, nearly) of sports personalities happens in the UK too. Here are some splendid chants about Liverpool’s Mo Salah.

    When it comes to gingers, negative references seem to predominate in the UK, as has been extensively covered in the ‘Ginger’ thread.

  2. Most of the redheads I know here in Northern New England now refer to themselves as gingers. According to knowledgeable juniors at Barnard College, some of the credit (or blame) can be given to the singer Ed Sheeran.

    1. Not two hard Gs, but a hard G at the beginning and a velar nasal (aka the sound at the end of “ring”) at the end. So that it rhymes with “minger”. And when that expression appears in this blog, linguistic re-colonisation will be complete!

  3. Is ginger not quite recent in the UK, growing up in the sixties and seventies we always talked about red heads.

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