Ancient Languages like Latin or Spanish shouldn't change their words just because some people take offense. Amirite?
A woman who lost her dog and posted about it in Twitter is under fire for naming her dog "Negro" because of people that find it racist when she's just Hispanic and simply named her dog black in Spanish. The word is simply the name of the color, the racist term comes from it for the same reason but a word itself has no power without intention or context.
I agree! They were written long before we were around.
I'm sure this will go over well! Spanish-speaking countries don't bend over backwards for PC bullshit the way English speaking ones do.
good they are more intelligent than we are in this respect.
No don't change words but don't expect people to understand you if you don't know English.
"Ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself." (Ricky Nelson - Garden Party)
OK but hey Ricky nelson was no deep thinker.
Probably not :)
I personally stopped using the word "black" when referring to a "Negro" because there are actually no people whose skin color is actually black. They are all darker or lighter shades of brown (although some darker browns approach black). So I just call them all "colored" people, because that is actually the more precisely accurate term. After all, that is what they themselves use in their NAACP organization title.
'Colored' is largely considered outdated, insensitive, and reflective of "colored only" sections that arose during Jim Crow. 'Black' is fine, 'of color' is fine, 'nonwhite' is fine. You won't get a warm response from many black people calling them colored.
Thank you for your opinion regarding my practice of saying "colored" people. But since I am a scientist and I insist upon using precise language when I speak, I cannot therefore use the word "black" when referring to a person whose skin is actually not black in color. That is the precise reason why I say "colored". Likewise, I cannot use the word "nonwhite" either because that is also imprecise. That would include people of Asian or Native American descent. And I even refer to myself as Caucasian rather than white because that has been a recognized race label for those like me who are of European descent for as long as I can remember.
No race is void of color, I don't know what kind of scientist you are, but it's pretty clear that black people aren't the only people who are "colored" in the more archaic approach to the word. There are several people of south and southwest asian descent who share similarly dark skintones, the word is imprecise. Afro-descendent and black are the only words I can come up with that are acceptable. Being a scientist is meaningless to me, this is a discussion of linguistics, race history, society, culture, and American history. Unless you're a scientist in those fields, your language is imprecise in the parameters of the discussion.
Therefore, you agree with me about using a reference to any color as being imprecise as to the reality of skin colors associated with the recognized racial categories. That means if you insist on using the word "black", you deliberately choose to be imprecise because the skin color of the people to which you are applying that label is definitely not black, but is lighter or darker shades and hues of brown. Afro-descendent is also poor because there are many types of people from Africa whose skin color is more similar to the Caucasian race rather than the Negro race, e.g. South African, Egyptian, Libyan, Moroccan, Tunisian, etc.
I think the problem here is that you think race is a concrete thing. It's literally a made up thing to give white people an advantage in American society. The definition of white is fluid and the definition of black is fluid, it's changed a lot over the years. It's inherently imprecise, saying "colored" or "negro" isn't more precise it's just more tone-deaf and obsolete; both of those words were dropped in favor of "black" since they denote the same people, but with different connotations. Saying "caucasian" is also imprecise since not every white person is from the Caucasus region or even has ancestry there. White and Black are the two most succinct and precise words because those are the two that the whole idea of race was built on.
I don't perceive race as a concrete thing. I am just using words that I have observed being used to differentiate between certain large groups of people based upon the color of their skin. There have also been the words used on various application forms (years ago) and the U.S. Census forms that included "Negro" and "Caucasian" and "Asian". I actually am probably Caucasian because my grandfather was born and raised in the area that used to be called southern Russia before the USSR was created and the Caucasus Mountain range is located there.
So what do you use?
This question from you came up in my Notifications list, but I think you might have directed your question to Scre3wBall. Anyway, my answer is that I had been using the word "colored", but after reading a comment from Scre3wBall, I may just start using the word "brown" instead.
Anyone afraid of PC culture is a pansy and needs to get a grip. I disagree with the retconning of ancient languages, especially when the words are not pronounced the same (neh in spanish vs. nee in english).
Also anyone who is pinning these individuals to a larger ideology or identity, you're really weak. If you wanna argue against certain people, actually find those people, don't put the title on anyone you disagree with.
How is it not a larger ideology or culture? Then how come people always prefer to call it "the N word" rather than "Negro"?
People have long made this word taboo, anyone using that word in a certain crowd will definitely provoke a reaction. And it's not the PC crowd that is specific here, this word is not avoided only by them but by the majority of people.
Sunny, when people say "the N word", they are referring to the word "nigger", not "Negro". Negro has been the acceptable sociological race identifying word for surveys and census forms all my life up until this latest sensitivity about political correctness.
I doubt in the US you can get away with it even if you spare a few letters and use "negro"
I'm saying you can't say these people who want the words retconned represent liberals or represent Americans or represent anything larger than just these few people taking issue with the words. You can't criticize a larger group of people for their specific actions, that's ridiculous and unfair to those people.
People prefer to not actually say the n word because it's offensive and those who are respectful and actually value black people have no desire to actually vocalize such words. People didn't make the word taboo, the word made certain people taboo. It became taboo once the victims demanded and gained more respect. The latin word for black is not that word, the spanish word for black is not that word; latin and spanish will never change and shouldn't have to whatsoever.
When have I made claims that this represents liberals or Americans in general? Please don't make assumptions when I said no such thing.
Of course it's probably better to not use that word since so many negative meanings are tied to it when a Caucasian uses it but what I'm saying is that a word itself has no power, none other but the one we give to it. By no means does it mean that using a certain word means you don't value a certain race of people, as well as a lot of people won't care about context or intentions either.
I meant you as in any given reader. Read it like I said "one" or "a person" instead of you.
Also I do not understand what you're trying to say at all. If we give it power then it has power, much like if you give someone a gift/disease/memory they have a gift/disease/memory. Words have power, all words do, that's all they have. If we didn't want words to convey information we wouldn't have invented words. A white person using that word conveys in most contexts they don't have respect of black people or don't value them.
Everyone who uses words generally knows what they mean, one can't plead ignorance toward it. What they're saying matters, who says it matters, when they're saying it matters.
What I mean to say is that this power that people have given a word makes it a taboo right? You avoid this single word because it has been used by racists to convey racist messages towards people of African decent. Banning this word doesn't achieve much, it's just a buzz word now because you don't need that one to express racism. I don't know, perhaps because I didnt grow up like you I dont feel the power of this word, for me it means nothing aside from a variation of the word for the color black from Latin.
I just want to give importance to the principle of not avoiding or being scared of a simple word just because it has a bad history, well maybe not this word because I dont see many uses for it aside from a
bad term for African people. I just think it's silly running away from this, especially because it achieves nothing.
I kinda see it like avoiding the number 666 because of the devil or black cats because they're considered bad luck. I'm more for the base idea.
I hope you get what I mean.
All except black comedians they use the word and everyone laughs. Nobody should use it if it is so taboo.
Black people are the victims of it, we can't effectively use a racial slur on ourselves with the same meaning as someone outside of our race.
youall have to stop using the word if you want it gone from language
Racial slurs don't disappear, especially not the most famous racial slur of all time. The word isn't the problem, the racism is.
I beg to differ I remember as a kid there were lots of things people said about every type of person, never hear those anymore, so those are gone, maybe not for good, but for now.
Racial slurs do not disappear, I guarantee you. As long as history classes are taught and racism is documented, they cannot. Regardless, the racism is the reason it's here and will remain. You shouldn't have a problem with the word, especially not black people saying ones directed at themselves. You should have a problem with racism.
Lorraine, yeah I remember when I was much younger there were a lot of "Polock" jokes going around. My dad even had a small book he got somewhere and that was the subject of the book! And back then I also heard people use words like "dago", "spic", "kike" and "homo" in a deliberately derogatory manner.
It's presumed that you cant be racist against your own race, this is the reason that only black people can use it freely in their speech.
It makes me wonder how deep the stupid is within the PC crowd.
Right, if those taking offense don't like language they could think up their own unused word.
I dont think that's the problem, there is no need for a new word. It's just that people should pay attention to context instead of making a word taboo.
Sunny- you know the people who get offended by normal words don't have enough education to see or understand what is IS, they just want to pi$$ and moan about everything they can. Too bad for them, I don't think the Spanish language will change for them. About time they grow up and adapt right ?:)
Like I told Bud up above, I think that some people just wait for a buzz word to come up so they can go all crazy on you.
Not sure if this is exactly the PC crowd, some people heard the word negro and didn't know that it means black in Spanish, I get their concern but context is what matters here. Sometimes I feel like people just wait for you to say something they can take offense from so they could shower you with accusations and insults.
That seems the way, like the word gay was a word that meant happy to start with. Why didn't the current gay people pick a new unused word?
The word "gay" is a good example of how I refuse to comply with PC language rules. The word "gay" means happy, joyful and that's the way I use it. And actually, it seems that most homosexuals that I see on TV are the opposite of happy/joyful because they are always complaining about the way they are treated!
When I refer to a homosexual person, I call him/her a homosexual (although I never shorten it to "homo"). I used to say "queer", but that seems to have gone the way of the word "nigger", so I can't say it any more. But the hypocrites still tell us that they can use those words among themselves without fear of censure.
Boy, that's funny.
I just noticed that after I posted my comment above, where I had typed the N-word and the Q-word were overstruck by a couple of asterisks and the text between them was bolded. I did not do that intentionally, so it must be an automatic censorship correction made by the Amirite website!
Note to self. I was advised that I needed to turn off my profanity filter setting to get rid of the asterisks when using those words and the problem was corrected.
Yes, I know that language evolves and word meanings change. I object to being told that I can't use certain words any longer that I used to use because they are not politically correct today. An example of that is "queer" person. The meaning of that has not changed, but I have been told not to use that term any more because it is not politically correct for me to use.
Are you sure?
Purdue just came out with a study claiming we need to remove the word "man" from our lexicon. It's offensive.
Search harder.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/573...#sp=show-clips
Lol. Anonymous.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/...source/608/05/
I think I once heard something about claiming and changing the word.
WONDER HOW THAT WORKS.
Why the caps?
silly keyboard sticks on caps sometimes..
I'm sure there are some that will disagree, but there is nothing at all wrong with the word "Negro". It's a word, not slang. Who other than PC knot heads would care about the use of the word?
You are 100% correct about those laying in wait for offense.
For me it really depends on context, because a person can use perfectly harmless words to offend others if they want to.
That sounds like a safe approach.
Sure a lot of hate there Bud.
Really? Exposing PC as stupid is hateful? Or, honest?
Ahh, I see.
Well, I didn't really have to go out of my way to mention the word "Negro" on this post that is discussing the word "Negro".
But hey, I really appreciate you going out of your way to clumsily attempt to shame me.
Your ATTEMPT to shame me.
Don't worry Flanders, I don't think well enough of you for you to have any negative effect on my psyche.
Sure ... though I haven't heard of anyone proposing to change Latin words. Nor have I heard anyone refer to Spanish as an "ancient" language. LOL
Spanish came from sort of a deviation from Latin, so yeah ancient.
Most European languages are derived from Latin, to some extant. English, for example, came about the same time as Spanish.
There is no formal criterion for deeming a language ancient, but a traditional convention is to demarcate as "ancient" those languages that existed prior to the 5th century.
By this definition, the term includes languages attested from ancient times in the list of languages by first written accounts, and described in historical linguistics, and particularly the languages of classical antiquity, such as Ancient Greek, Hebrew language, Old Persian, Avestan, Middle Persian, Sanskrit language, Tamil language, Chinese language, Latin, Arabic language.
Exactly, Spanish comes from Latin, it derived from it after the decline of the Roman empire so that's pretty old, anything that's more than half millennium old seems pretty ancient to me. No need to be such a prude over some semantics.
So what would be a language that is not "ancient"?
Not counting fantasy languages like Elven or Klingon, of course.
Sign language? Brail?
I once heard an ignorant caller to a radio talk show express outrage that the bubonic plague was once referred to as the 'black death'.