rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

frogbs, dan was joking.

titis

As an Chappelle example from IRL, I knew someone parroting back the "itis" routine after a particularly big BBQ dinner. He honestly had no idea what the slang word really meant or what it was short for or what its history was—which is something Chappelle clearly expected from his audience—he just thought it was a funny way to say 'full of BBQ." When he had it explained, he was pretty fucking mortified.

i hadn't seen the sketch or the boondocks ep. what is 'itis' short for and what is its history?

i wasn't aware of 'the itis' having any racist subtext tbh

i think we're all about to learn something very interesting from whiney, or about whiney.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the+itis

3rd def down

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
i seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

I'm not really sure how it makes a show 'wildly sophisticated' if 90% of your white audience (and some % of your black audience?) isn't going to get a throwaway joke

Now the standard tv audience is doing this knowing nod "that's so racist, I'm not a racist" shuck and jive. That worked occasionally when you got the feeling the writers or performers were working from a post-racial stereotype angle and being ridiculous, but usually it's just lazy shorthand for "race humor is awkward, awkward is funny"

haha i cannot tell if mh is fucking with us by casually using "shuck and jive" in this way

The itis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The itis is a Caribbean term in Black American Vernacular English to describe a condition of sleepiness associated with eating meats and sauces, a real human phenomena known as food coma. The term "itis" or "The itis" actually derives from its racial(ist) connotation "*****ritis" with the racist word later being dropped as usage of the term came to the U.S. This word derives from slave owners trying to describe why slaves did not want to work after eating. After slavery was abolished, their replacements (the Indian "coolies"鈥攁nother racist term) did such work in order to appease the former slave owners.

The foods commonly considered to be soul foods are generally high in both fat and carbohydrates, and are thus more likely to induce sleepiness. The suffix -itis, while used clinically to describe an inflammation, has come in the public mind to refer to any medical condition, along with -osis. With the advent of modern popular culture and the popularity of black comedians in the United States, the concept of the "Itis" has moved beyond its provincial roots and has become fairly well known throughout American culture, and to a certain extent beyond.

[edit] The itis in popular culture
Comedian Dave Chappelle, on his program Chappelle's Show, featured a joke advertisement for a sleep aid specifically for black consumers known as "ribs," consisting of pork ribs cooked in barbeque sauce, explaining that it induces a state known as "the itis."
Aaron McGruder's cartoon program The Boondocks featured an episode where the grandfather opened a soul food restaurant named "The Itis" serving the Luther Burger. Customers would reserve a table and, following their meal, would rent naptime in a bed provided by the restaurant.

You see when any person take food the blood is diverted to the 21 feet of intestine, hence reducing the amount of oxygen to brain, hence the body compensates by stopping all physical activities so that vital organs receive blood & oxygen . So the best option is put the person to sleep, a normal physiological phenomena.

lol are you guys for real that you couldn't actually infer that

Itis??? This is a "thing" that is, like, A THING?!? Have never heard it in my life, just watched Chapelle skit and it's making like two iotas more sense but not much.

xxxxxxxxxp holy shit

had no idea (about 'itis' or the word it comes from)

lol are you guys for real that you couldn't actually infer that

unless you know the original slur, you would have no ability to make that inference!

"a real human phenomena known as food coma."

SCIENCE

This is literally the first time I've heard "itis" or its etymological parent

"racial(ist)"

This phenomena is more common after lunch.

[/unsophistication]

I must be hanging out with the right people (for a change), never heard so much as a stray mention.

Related information

Can regular doses of apirin cause anal bleeding and diarohea ?
Not by itself. Aspirin is a blood thinner, so if you have other gastro-intestinal problems or hemmorhoids, it could.

...
How do i go about raising money for myself so i can get gastric bypass surgery i so badly need ?
Get a job.

still waiting to hear how this makes Chappelle more sophisticated than Tosh or MacFarlane (not saying he isn't, but this isn't really a good example)

frogs you are the dumbest asshole

:B

maybe you should go back and watch the show again? christ dude fuck off then

I've heard of/regularly employed the term "the itis" but I never knew it was short for that. Whoops.

This is literally the first time I've heard "itis" or its etymological parent

I only assumed it was a generic term for coming down with something… bronchitis, labyrinthitis, blahblahblahitis, etc.

Bf sez: "You don't know what it means b/c you don't smoke pot / didn't grow up watching In Living Colour"

I'm mostly shocked that you guys didnt watch Chappelle's Show when it was on

I don't even own a TV

smh @ an American adding a British u to an American TV show name

I did, but I guess I didn't catch some of the references.

Didn't get the sex jokes on Golden Girls in its original run either.

he's canadian iirc

well then, smh @ me

saying "In Living Colour" is not so much British as mixing it up with the similarly named popular band of the same era

smuh

Didn't get the sex jokes on Golden Girls in its original run either.

― pplains, Wednesday, January 18, 2012 5:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I remember asking my mom what a condom was via a GG episode

GG ballin

I did watch Chappelle's Show when it was on! Every episode, and bought the dvds years later, even though an ex still has them.

I honestly did not know the genesis of "the itis" and I am now finding it hilarious because Chappelle aimed high enough in that instance to go over my head with my lack of experience/knowledge. It's kind of awesome in a way that I didn't get everything and I should watch the show yet again.

haha i cannot tell if mh is fucking with us by casually using "shuck and jive" in this way

nah, I just deploy terms like that on threads about racism without any ironic intent (lol)

funny that someone mentioned p.g. wodehouse cuz p.g. wodehouse was my first exposure to the nword; i had no idea what it was and in retrospect it's an amazing stroke of luck that i didn't use it out loud in the year or so between reading it and finding out what it meant

Actually I was quoting bf and he distinctly said "colour"

I remember asking my mom what a condom was via a GG episode

"via" or "because of", because I really hope you mean "via"

"Mom, I have something to ask you... *presses play*"

^ I had the same thought, lol

lol

what episode of gg was wgw on?

I honestly did not know the genesis of "the itis" and I am now finding it hilarious because Chappelle aimed high enough in that instance to go over my head with my lack of experience/knowledge. It's kind of awesome in a way that I didn't get everything and I should watch the show yet again.

I think this could accurately be described as "sophisticated" unless you go to like Ron Paul rallys

hilarious because I'm laughing at my own ignorance, and because holy shit did Chappelle cut deep with one throwaway comment

*rallies