Is describing someone as being red with embarrassment also ‘derogatory’ in your eyes?
Well calling a white person a '
red neck' in relation to what happens to light skinned people (and particularly the area on their necks between their shirts and hair) when exposed to too much sun is a racial slur....
So I really don't see how you can argue that 'gammom' is not a racial slur by similiar measure.
The origins of 'red neck' and 'gammon' both refer to what can happen to the appearance of lighter skin tones in certain conditions as opposed to how thoose people would look otherwise.
As for saying someone was 'red with embarrassment' well it could cerianly could take on a racial dimension... .
Some groups of people are particularly prone to having their faces flush and if someone started to make a thing about this to single that group out, like with the gammon thing, then yes absolutely it could be racist..
Its not as though there are not racial slurs for other ethnicities that can have additional, circumstantial, qualifiers.... Like referring to a bald or shaven headed black person as a '8 ball' for the rough resemblance their heads have to the same number black pool ball.
Frankly its predictably depressing that it has to be pointed out to some that 'gammon' like 'red neck', and eight ball are racial slurs