Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 May 6

Language desk
< May 5	<< Apr | May | Jun >>	May 7 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 6

Describing these people

1- A policeman is murdered by a bandit, and his daughter marries the bandit.

2- The character played by Samuel L Jackson in Django Unchained. A Black man supporting White slave masters.

3- Japanese Army committed genocide in China during Second World War. After a few weeks, a Chinese family invited the Japanese soldiers for dinner and told other angry Chinese "We believe in peace, we don't want hate, let us forget the past".

I am not looking for words like ungrateful, unfaithful, or renegade. How could they be described in a sentence? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Alvarejuui (talk • contribs) 15:19, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Which people, specifically? --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:24, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

For the Chinese family in 3, the word "forgiving" would be appropriate. It might also fit the daughter in 1. I have not seen Django, so I do not know the possible motives for that character. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 17:15, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

I assume the OP is seeking a descriptive term that applies to all three. They have in common that their behaviour does not conform to that what some would stereotypically expect from people obeying kinship or group bonds. They should, stereotypically, have been harbouring hate towards those who treat(ed) their kinsfolk or members of their group badly.  --Lambiam 17:24, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Depending on what you want to say about them, they could be called nuanced, objective, oblivious, or pragmatic. Perhaps peacemaking or reconciliatory.  Card Zero  (talk) 20:46, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Samuel L Jackson's character was a House slave - a term which has the literal meaning of simply a slave that works in their master's house, but (along with variants that I won't repeat here) has also come to imply the sort of character that Jackson portrayed. Other terms for a similar sort of character or personality (but not specific to slavery or race) include "toady" and "bootlicker". If the "master" is a foreign invader, a common term is "quisling" (named after a Norwegian officer who ran the country on behalf of the Nazis). Iapetus (talk) 19:45, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Not sure this is what you are looking for, but "traitor" and its synonyms come to mind. 98.170.164.88 (talk) 10:30, 13 May 2022 (UTC)