Foot in Mouth Syndrome II
Have you ever said something and wished the ground would open up and swallow you? Tell us your tales of social embarrassment.
Thanks to BraynDedd for the suggestion
( , Thu 16 Aug 2012, 14:12)
Have you ever said something and wished the ground would open up and swallow you? Tell us your tales of social embarrassment.
Thanks to BraynDedd for the suggestion
( , Thu 16 Aug 2012, 14:12)
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I'm a little confused by the claim that
'nigger' is racist in a special way because it's an assertion that all black people come from a certain location. If that were the case, a conversation like this would make sense:
A: "Don't forget John, he's a nigger too."
B: "That's not true- he's from Uganda."
Right now, both 'nigger' and 'Paki' offend some people and communities for the exact same reason- they refer to a group (people with black skin, ethnically Pakistani people- or is it South Asian in general?) and they convey or assume negative sentiment about that group. It is totally unnecessary to know anything about the history of either word to be offended or not offended by it.
What it will take for either of them to not be offensive is probably exactly the same- for that negative sentiment to be bleached from the meaning of the word, which tends to happen when the social conditions that the word is used in change. Like 'paddy wagon', 'gyp', 'fag' (maybe on its way there), in American English. I'm not confident with Br. English examples, but I bet there are some good ones. :)
( , Tue 21 Aug 2012, 18:31, 1 reply)
'nigger' is racist in a special way because it's an assertion that all black people come from a certain location. If that were the case, a conversation like this would make sense:
A: "Don't forget John, he's a nigger too."
B: "That's not true- he's from Uganda."
Right now, both 'nigger' and 'Paki' offend some people and communities for the exact same reason- they refer to a group (people with black skin, ethnically Pakistani people- or is it South Asian in general?) and they convey or assume negative sentiment about that group. It is totally unnecessary to know anything about the history of either word to be offended or not offended by it.
What it will take for either of them to not be offensive is probably exactly the same- for that negative sentiment to be bleached from the meaning of the word, which tends to happen when the social conditions that the word is used in change. Like 'paddy wagon', 'gyp', 'fag' (maybe on its way there), in American English. I'm not confident with Br. English examples, but I bet there are some good ones. :)
( , Tue 21 Aug 2012, 18:31, 1 reply)
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