Originally Posted by DAL 88 Driver

He used the term "beaners" in a remark (that I think was intended to be humorous and critical) about the announcement of Delta's agreement with AeroMexico. To be honest, I had never seen or heard that term before and it initially flew right over my head... until I started seeing the reaction to it in replies. A quick Google search yielded the following from Wikepedia:

"Beaner is a slang term, widely regarded as derogatory, that refers to people of Mexican descent. The term originates from the prevalence of frijoles pintos and other beans in Mexican food.

According to The Historical Dictionary of American Slang, the word was first seen in print in 1965, although the term has reportedly been in use at least since the 1940s (perhaps having evolved from previous slurs such as "bean-eater" and "bean-bandit" that were in use since as far back as the 1910s.)

Although the word is generally considered pejorative, its usage is not always overtly offensive and can be fairly benign depending on the context (similar to the term "frog" for a French person.)

Though perhaps once considered strictly offensive, it appears that the term may be going through a phase of melioration, where the negative connotation of an ethnic slur is "reclaimed" by those it is directed against and used in a neutral or even positive manner.

Other ethnic slurs based on food include "Curry muncher" (East Indians) and "Frog" (French)."