rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

"Gyp" over here means a pain or ache, never heard the other definition, though I imagine it's probably British

tbh I never even associated the term 'jipped' (which I think is the more common spelling?) with gypsies!

bit of a debate as i recall back in the heady days before My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding put an end to discrimination here in the UK

"gyp" is a weird one. I also didn't know where that came from until maybe five years ago or so? Also, we don't really have gypsies the here the way they do in Europe so we're a bit more removed from it which maybe makes it seem less offensive somehow? Not saying it's not a bad term - it obv is. Oh Lord this show and the comments on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HAUmII_hcg

iatee, that is kind of why people don't realize it! And yeah, I always saw it as "jipped" in North America. It's divorced from the origin enough that people don't realize it, but it's definitely descended from an ethnic slur.

lol NV

HAVE YOU WATCHED THIS SHOW? I COULDN'T STOP.

Now at least I know the diff between Gypsies and Travelers. I didn't know that before.

yeah learning where "jipped" came from was a real "oh shit what have I been saying????" moment for me

another one was the term "Indian giver" once we got to studying more American history in 6th grade

tbh I never even associated the term 'jipped' (which I think is the more common spelling?) with gypsies!

― iatee, Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:09 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah it comes from being short changed or tricked/fooled by gypsies. Right?

i've seen little chunks of it E but it's not really my kind of show plus i don't really think it helped cross-community relations tbh

well, I learned something today

i accidentally once drank a friend's beer at a bar and he accused me of "irishing" him out of a pint.

Dan - I had the same moment with Indian giver although I don't think I made that connection until much later (embarrassingly).

Are you Irish, omar?

i've seen little chunks of it E but it's not really my kind of show plus i don't really think it helped cross-community relations tbh

― the smell of Whiney's cheap perfume (Noodle Vague), Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:12 AM (47 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it obviously didn't. I had basically no knowledge that travelers/gypsies still existed so it was fascinating for me even though I realize it's total trash tv. Also, THE DRESSES omg.

Then there's the case I mentioned on ilx of the dude who I knew in college who said "He jewed me out of $5!" and I instinctively punched him. He claimed that he never thought about the phrase?!?

― mh, Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:05 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wait, did you punch him him in the shoulder like "oh you dick" or did you cold-cock him?

i accidentally once drank a friend's beer at a bar and he accused me of "irishing" him out of a pint.

wtf?

TBH I'd never heard of the racist connotations of "uppity" before this thread
Never used the word
Get called it sometimes

Never really thought about it before but I do say things like "my foot's giving me jip". Hmm.

This page seems to think it's not from gypsy:

We’re not certain where it comes from, but the English Dialect Dictionary gives one sense of the word as “to arouse to greater exertions by means of some sudden, unexpected action”. That fits with the suggestion in the Oxford English Dictionary that it’s a contracted form of gee-up, a conventionalised version of the cry one utters to get a horse to move. Presumably the pain sense evolved through the excessive use of that unexpected action in persuading a person or animal to do one’s bidding.

xposts iatee's usage OTOH is almost certainly derived from gypsy...

don't call it iatee's usage!

irished, tbf, is on-point because i would totally steal ur pint given a chance

Wait I still don't understand how/why "uppity" has facist connotations. Can someone explain?

i tried to do some sort of comeback about him being german but i couldn't think of anything that didn't involve accusing him of mass murder and also the point that he made was a fair one.

"uppity" has historical associations w/ blacks who 'didn't know their place'

tbh, there's a part of me that's always a little :/ at American ppl who get pissed at like irish/italian/french/german slurs because like, "there, there, white people still run the world, its ok"

Beeps calls sitting cross-legged "criss-cross, applesauce". Back in my day, it was "Indian style".

And I still can't believe that some bars server "Irish Car Bombs" on St. Patrick's Day.

wait, did you punch him him in the shoulder like "oh you dick" or did you cold-cock him?

Light punch to the gut

irished, tbf, is on-point because i would totally steal ur pint given a chance

Oh, now I understand, thought it meant the Irish were mean when that's obv. the Scots

That's "mean" in UK/Irish sense, not the US sense, which always sounds silly to me

Beeps calls sitting cross-legged "criss-cross, applesauce". Back in my day, it was "Indian style".

haha my day too, which was like the 90s

"uppity" has historical associations w/ blacks who 'didn't know their place'

― iatee, Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:18 AM (53 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?

I didn't know people used "jew" as a verb until my sophomore year of college, when I was on a choir tour and our host's mother in Tupelo was telling us about how her daughter went up to NYC and argued with her landlord to get her rent reduced. I have never seen someone change the topic of conversation faster than our host did. (As a horrifying aside, two out of the four of us being hosted were Jewish.)

xp: he is not shitting you, E

I have never in my life heard that or known that before. I thought it just meant when people were snobby. I've definitely said and used uppity just to mean snobby people before. I mean it's not something I say often but I've definitely used it.

Woah. That one is seriously blowing my mind. I had no idea!

i'm staggered you've never heard the phrase "uppity n____"

altho my introduction to the u word was

http://images.wikia.com/mrmen/images/f/fd/Mr._Uppity.jpg

I just that it was a fancier way of saying stuck up. :/

I'm surprised so few people know about "uppity"

yeah, e, you can call a white person "uppity" and it still means snobby

well I think it can still be used in other contexts without being objectively offensive but probably needs to be handled delicately

ENBB, it does mean that as well, but really it's best avoiding the word altogether at this point.

lol at that barrage of posts.

"uppity n____"

Nope. Never.

Woah. This is a very educational thread!

btw how the hell did I miss/forget this:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/rush-limbaugh-says-first-lady-was-booed-partly-because-nascar-fans-hate-her-uppityism/

Use "uppish" instead.

eh uppity is a lot more innocuous than eg monkey, as in it has a clear and usable everyday meaning but can have racist connotations, it's not a 'racist' word tho

Yeah, I knew about "uppity" when I was growing up, and it was kind of understood that "this is a thing bad people say about minorities." Then, my freshman year of college, a girl actually said to me, "I don't mind black people, but I don't like when they get all uppity." I nearly shit my pants. True story.

Beeps calls sitting cross-legged "criss-cross, applesauce". Back in my day, it was "Indian style".

And I still can't believe that some bars server "Irish Car Bombs" on St. Patrick's Day.

― pplains, Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:18 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Criss-cross applesauce just sounds ridiculous to me. The first time I heard it I was like "You're sitting what now?"

Irish Car Bombs are pretty popular year round here in Boston. smdh.

uppity 28 up, 94 down

a nickname for a man's penis

He had an uppity when he fell asleep in class.

xxpost Is the part that you almost shit in your pants true?

I can walk four blocks from my office and get Irish Car Bombs every day at that noted Irish establishment "Flannery's Pub" in downtown Cleveland.

xxxp No, that part's a lie. I actually *did* shit my pants.

"criss cross applesauce" is probably more offensive than indian style. if a teacher said that to my kid, i'd change school districts