any word or word combinations that are racist or innately racist should go here...then we can have a soapbox discussion on what makes the words racist, or why you dont think a particular word should be considered racist...this is a serious thread, please dont delete it:beatup

i got the idea from another thread in which i found out "nappy" is actually considered a derogatory term towards black people(i just figured it was used to describe someones hairdo or something)...the person gave links to websites that said it was racist- just curious what other terms might be racist that i or others didnt know about

4/13/2007 4:24:56 AM

fuck you, cracker

4/13/2007 4:41:37 AM

To 'jew' someone out money/whatever...I hear this more than any derogatory remarks towards blacks.

4/13/2007 8:01:42 AM

Can someone explain to me why nappy is racist? I've never heard it used except to say to someone their hair made them look like they just got out of bed.

4/13/2007 8:32:42 AM

I don't think any common English phrase that happens to have the word "black" or something that is black is safe to say anymore (and I'm serious). All you need is someone to say they are offended by it and then you'd be labeled a racist even if you had no intention of it:

- "pot calling the kettle black"
- "blacklisted"
- "black sheep of the family"
- "tar baby" (from a kid's story refers to a sticky situation... recently deemed offensive)

I guarantee you at some point those first 3 will become racist.

4/13/2007 8:57:00 AM

I think nappy has some historical context, like many black people don't have naturally straight hair like whites, and whatever's black is considered inferior in the American past. Also, "nappy" seems to imply "disorganized." So I guess calling someone nappy-haired is racist because it's saying that black people's hair is messy and low-quality.

4/13/2007 9:14:22 AM

i find it funny that you can go on tv and say you hate religious people, say you hate republicans, say you hate democrats, say you hate corporate executives, but you can't say you hate iranians, or black people, or white people, or mexican people without some huge backlash

4/13/2007 9:18:14 AM

Why does everything gotta be black with you?


Why am I the only black Jedi on the Jedi Council?

[Edited on April 13, 2007 at 9:26 AM. Reason : -]

4/13/2007 9:19:01 AM

^^skin color and place of origin isn't a belief or choice.

4/13/2007 9:29:18 AM

while you make a point, how does that make it any different? it's still hating someone for something

4/13/2007 9:33:58 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs_by_ethnicity

4/13/2007 10:03:10 AM

i am laughing my ass off reading those

4/13/2007 10:12:30 AM

^ I've never even heard 90% of these. And to think I could say them in public in reference to something completely unrelated to race. Smoked Irishman sounds like the name of a type of fish you'd buy at the grocery. I'd love to hear the story on how some of these came to be racist slurs.

Did you know "ABCD" is racist to American-born South Asians? I always thought it was "Anyone but Carolina & Duke".

Quote :

"(Subcontinentals in U.S.) "American-Born Confused Desi" used for American-born South Asians who are confused about their cultural identity. Often used by ABCDs about other ABCDs. ABCD is the most common version of the phrase, but there are variations of it that extend all the way to the letter 'z' in at least two different versions: "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, House in Jersey, Kids Learning Medicine, Now Owning Property, Quite Reasonable Salary, Two Uncles Visiting, White Xenophobia Yet Zestful" and "American Born Confused Desi, Emigrated From Gujarat, Housed In Jersey, Keeping Lotsa Motels, Named Omkarnath Patel, Quickly Reached Success Through Underhanded Vicious Ways, Xenophobic Yet Zestful""

[Edited on April 13, 2007 at 11:24 AM. Reason : .]

4/13/2007 11:23:46 AM

Quote :

"Flyin Ryan: Can someone explain to me why nappy is racist? I've never heard it used except to say to someone their hair made them look like they just got out of bed."

... from the other thread ...

Quote :

" nappy (adj.) "downy," 1499, from nap (n.). Meaning "fuzzy, kinky," used in colloquial or derogatory ref. to the hair of black people, is from 1950. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=nappy "

Quote :

" 1. nappy 279 up, 109 down one of African desent who has tightly coiled unkept hair; one with locks of hair that is tightly curled that is unwashed and uncombed 2. nappy 147 up, 90 down Tightly coiled / curled unaltered hair. Coiled hair in its natural state as found on people of African descent who do not chemically alter their hair texture. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nappy "

Quote :

" There has been a boom in marketing to target hair products at African descended people, such as Out of Africa shampoo. Slogans that promote a pan-African appreciation of Afro textured hair include "Happy to be nappy," "Don't worry, be nappy" as well as "Love, peace and nappiness" (although nappy can refer to any race with such texture). When African-descended people wear natural hair this is sometimes referred to as going 'napptural'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_hair "

4/13/2007 11:33:39 AM

I remember being called a "tar baby" as a kid, so it's definitely racist.

4/13/2007 11:45:36 AM

hey look, i looked up the word in a REAL dictionary. can anyone tell me what's missing??

Quote :

"nap·py3 /'næpi/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nap-ee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective, -pi·er, -pi·est. 1. covered with nap; downy. 2. (of hair) kinky."

Quote :

"nap·py 1 (nap'e) Pronunciation Key adj. nap·pi·er, nap·pi·est 1. Having a nap; fuzzy. 2. Kinky; frizzy. "

wonder why people wouldnt think it's necessarily racist?

[Edited on April 13, 2007 at 11:51 AM. Reason : ;]

4/13/2007 11:47:10 AM

^ are you being willfully ignorant, or are you congenitally retarded?

4/13/2007 11:52:09 AM

what's the point of this thread?

to make an encyclopaedia of racist slurs?

they already exist:

http://www.rsdb.org (2,600 of them)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs (couple of hundred)

LOCK
LOCK
LOCK
LOCK
LOCK

4/13/2007 12:00:47 PM

what's the ACTUAL meaning of the word. the meaning a lot of people are familiar with?

it has nothing to do with being black until you decide all of a sudden it does.

up until a few days ago, i bet a lot of people would have thought this chick's hair was nappy



guess we all learned our lesson

4/13/2007 12:03:56 PM

Quote :

"nappy (adj.) "downy," 1499, from nap (n.). Meaning "fuzzy, kinky," used in colloquial or derogatory ref. to the hair of black people, is from 1950."

Should someone be held responsible for knowing the connotations of all words from all time periods? I wasn't alive in the 50s. Maybe we should state dates before we use certain words?

1st Guy: Put some faggots on the fire.
2nd Guy: You hate-monger. Are you saying we should burn homosexuals?
1st Guy: Uh, sorry... put some pre-20th century faggots, meaning pieces of wood, on the fire. And I take offense at the term "monger".
2nd Guy: What?
1st Guy: Well at one time it meant the same as "peddler" or "merchant" but since the 16th century it implies more negative connotations.
2nd Guy: Oh sorry. So what do I say... bigot?
1st Guy: No, big people might object to that word.

Starts to sound like 1984 Doublespeak doesn't it?

4/13/2007 12:08:28 PM

Quote :

"1st Guy: Put some faggots on the fire. 2nd Guy: You hate-monger. Are you saying we should burn homosexuals? 1st Guy: Uh, sorry... put some pre-20th century faggots, meaning pieces of wood, on the fire. And I take offense at the term "monger". 2nd Guy: What? 1st Guy: Well at one time it meant the same as "peddler" or "merchant" but since the 16th century it implies more negative connotations. 2nd Guy: Oh sorry. So what do I say... bigot? 1st Guy: No, big people might object to that word."

/thread

4/13/2007 12:35:12 PM

apparently the concept of "context" has never been brought up to some of you before.

4/13/2007 12:48:01 PM

Quote :

"I remember being called a "tar baby" as a kid, so it's definitely racist."

No. The phrase originally referred to a sticky situation, not a person.

Wait a second... lets start a movement saying "Tarheel" is racist. If people think "tar baby" is, it's gotta be a racist term right? If it has the word tar (or anything that happens to be the color black) and some idiot decides to use it as an insult, its gotta be a racist word that no one can right?

Just like "Oreo" is apparently an insult now (I just heard this recently)? I guess "cookies and cream" will soon be racist (which is unfortunate, because cookies and cream ice cream is yummy ). People can chose any word and make it into an insult if they are so inclined, does that mean no one else gets to use the word as it was originally intended anymore?

4/13/2007 1:55:03 PM

^Yeah, that's gay.

4/13/2007 2:46:12 PM

Quote :

"apparently the concept of "context" has never been brought up to some of you before. "

4/13/2007 2:53:25 PM

Context is very subjective. If that's your defense, when you're on the verge of being fired you're going to lose. I believe this Imus guy tried that one.

4/13/2007 5:46:59 PM

I'll be honest. I had to be told by others that "nappy" is a racial term. I grew up hearing all colors of people being told they had nappy hair. It still strikes me as a little weird that people are freaked out about this.

Did he actually call them "jigaboos," too? Seems like I read that somewhere. If so, it's inescapably racist.

4/13/2007 7:06:00 PM

I'm taking porch monkey back!

4/13/2007 7:12:22 PM

so saying "i might be able to jew him down" is racist?

i say jew a lot

4/13/2007 7:41:13 PM

do as well

4/13/2007 7:50:03 PM

heh i do it unintentionally just from being around ppl that did a lot (read: Kris). now im in wisconsin, where there are quite a few jews (surprisingly) and have to watch myself.

4/13/2007 7:56:36 PM

Quote :

"No. The phrase originally referred to a sticky situation, not a person."

Quote :

"apparently the concept of "context" has never been brought up to some of you before."

4/13/2007 8:27:08 PM

Quote :

"I'll be honest. I had to be told by others that "nappy" is a racial term."

It's not a racial term on its own. It's still okay to describe people whose hair happens to be nappy, as having nappy hair.

However, Imus wasn't commenting on these girls' hair cuts, he was using it as a way to identify their race. It's like referring to an asian person as squinty-eyes (ex. "that squinty-eyed prick cut me off"), which is offensive on a racial level.

4/14/2007 12:31:30 AM

off topic, but that guy wasn't the only black guy on the jedi council....Samuel L Jackson was on it as well

4/14/2007 1:23:25 AM

he's right, you know.

4/14/2007 2:02:29 AM

macaca

4/14/2007 6:12:15 PM

Hymietown

New York City (due its large Jewish population).

While seeking the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1988 Jesse Jackson referred to New York City as "Hymietown," a remark for which he later apologized.

4/14/2007 6:16:57 PM

Quote :

"synchrony7: No. The phrase originally referred to a sticky situation, not a person. Wait a second... lets start a movement saying "Tarheel" is racist. If people think "tar baby" is, it's gotta be a racist term right? If it has the word tar (or anything that happens to be the color black) and some idiot decides to use it as an insult, its gotta be a racist word that no one can right? Just like "Oreo" is apparently an insult now (I just heard this recently)? I guess "cookies and cream" will soon be racist (which is unfortunate, because cookies and cream ice cream is yummy ). People can chose any word and make it into an insult if they are so inclined, does that mean no one else gets to use the word as it was originally intended anymore?"

You didn't know that calling someone an oreo was insulting?

And, of course, you can still say "tar baby" if you feel like it. Keep in mind that 1) many people don't know the definition you're referring to and 2) it has other usages that are highly offensive. If you're interested in effective communication, you're better off using "predicament," "quagmire," "dilemma," etc...

"Cookies and cream" and "oreo" are more common terms that everybody's familiar with so you can feel free to ask where the Oreos are in the grocery store and not worry that you'll offend the employee or that he or she will point you in the direction of a group of black folks.

What are the odds that "tar baby" is used more often to describe a black child than a quagmire? I was actually at a free concert this past weekend (Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band and The Wailers performed.), and as we were leaving, two guys started bitching about "all the fuckin' tar babies runnin' around."

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 7:57 PM. Reason : ]

4/14/2007 7:56:25 PM

Quote :

"i say jew a lot"

Me too, but usually in phrases like "Jew eat yet?"

(yes, I know that's technically the southern contraction d'you)

What's the proper term for Jewish people, when talking to Jewish people?

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 10:38 PM. Reason : .]

4/14/2007 10:35:58 PM

banker

4/14/2007 10:39:09 PM

coon

The "N" word

spic

cracker

honkey

redneck

[Edited on April 14, 2007 at 11:20 PM. Reason : w]

4/14/2007 11:18:57 PM

man so cracker and honky are racist? damn, i use those a lot also

4/15/2007 3:43:36 AM

Here's a good overview:

http://www.pollyticks.com/item/2058/catid/31

4/15/2007 7:50:34 AM

imagine if that aired nowadays

4/15/2007 3:43:39 PM

i wish shit like that did air now a days

4/16/2007 3:34:32 AM

Quote :

"And, of course, you can still say "tar baby" if you feel like it. Keep in mind that 1) many people don't know the definition you're referring to and 2) it has other usages that are highly offensive. If you're interested in effective communication, you're better off using "predicament," "quagmire," "dilemma," etc..."

Why should I have to restrict my vocabulary and valid usage of the English language due to other's ignorance and/or paranoia, always looking at everything as if they are being attacked?

There's no way in hell I am going to apologize to someone for using the word "niggardly". It means stingy, frugal, etc. Yes it sounds similar to a racial slur. And using it is "effective communication", I will not be penalized for other people's stupidity.

4/17/2007 9:47:49 AM