rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

I must admit, I laughed.

x-post

Whaaaaaaaaaa?

Yeah, I never ever heard that. Wow.

ಠ_ಠ

But what do they call them? We've got Jocks, Micks, Paddys, what are they? Trevors? Brians?

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.)

The go-to phrase round these parts ime is "fuckin English bastarts".

Feb (2) British Stands for Filthy (or Fucking) English Bastard.

Haggistani Scottish Compares Scotland to a 3rd world country such as Pakistan

2-for-1!

i always thought the pontiac thing was dumb because half the white dudes i knew were aspiring to pontiac fieros and also i'd seen 'superfly'

that database was posted here years ago but I can't find the thread where we initially boggled at it

Chinless Wonder British. Reference to inbreeding and a weak gene pool resulting in poor bone structure.

hahahahahaha

sorry British people

i'm trying to think of something to say about canadians but jon's "code word" story upthread is making me wary

Frostbacks, I guess, but I think we'd be more appreciative of the attention than offended by the slur

I for one am trying to puzzle out why I've been in the dark about 95% of these slurs for so long
"Itis" poll last night w/friends, only one had heard of it b4

I originally mentioned pork chops because they are delicious with applesauce. The food dish, I had no idea about the Portuguese slur and I have never tried to combine a Portuguese person with applesauce and cannot speak to its appeal.

haven't read the newest 200 posts but

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news%2Fcrime&id=8511126

is it fair for the police chief to call the suspects 'animals'

calling little kids "monkey" is totally within the remit of this thread because it's often intended to be cute and innocent but the whole "this is also a term used to denigrate black people" thing makes it fraught with peril

I used to work for a UK children's book publisher who were doing a board book with pictures of babies matched up with random dumb "cute" things about the babies in the pics. Unfortunately, the page that said, "cheeky monkey" had a picture of a black toddler. Publisher had to change the text.

x-post - I see what you're saying but I've used "animal/s" to describe people who don't know how to behave or do so badly without linking it to race at all. Like if I see a lot of litter or something - "What kid of animals would do that?!". P sure the chief prob did so too?

yeah I'm not sure, just tossing it out there

This thread is moving rather fast, but re: not knowing the connotations of stuff like "uppity", I remember being told off for using "inscrutable" about someone who was Japanese - my mind was blown that this was a *thing* but I never used it again.

― emil.y, Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:44 AM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark

there def is a stereotype that east asians (and I don't know if this applies to ethnic east asians who were born in America and socialized as Americans) are reticent to show emotion/emotionless

Beeps and I have off-and-on been working on her very public acknowledgment of people we see and what color they are.

There was this rly interesting article last year somewhere about how kids automatically classify things by their differences, because that's how their brains are wired to learn about the world, so pretending that two people AREN'T superficially different is just confusing to them and logically more likely to make them feel that the difference is embarrassing, because no one will talk about it/adults go against what is obviously visible.

No kids, me, so I'm free to be completely fascinated by problems I'm never likely to run up against.

here's a line from saul bellow's herzog

It may be that guilt and sadness made me look Oriental. A morose, angry eye, a long upper lip-what people used to call the Chinese Gleep. It was beau to her.

Pretty sure the "beat up a 64-year old" takes precedence over "six black and Hispanic males" re: animal descriptor xp

yeah "inscrutable Oriental" is a thing. "inscrutable" by itself is a great word, though; i wouldn't chuck it completely.

My mother used the word "uppity" on phone w me the other day, in anger with a badly behaved kid in her class who also happened to be black and I was like, "Okay, let's go back to square one, here. I don't care what else you do with your life, as long as you never say that again." Tried to make the point that it has too much history to ever be a neutral word.

She got mad at me for finding fault with her AGAIN as she must feel like I'm always doing. :/

Me and my PC nonsense that only I care about, because no one else has ever corrected her, apparently.

"Oriental" shouldn't be used to describe anything except furniture and architecture afaik

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InscrutableOriental

and orientalism, obv xp

Lol, 'uppity' was already discussed ITT (my only ref was to Mr Uppity as well, NV)

"Oriental" shouldn't be used to describe anything except furniture and architecture afaik

― houses of the holey (Ówen P.), Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:31 PM (36 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes, of course, but the racist archetype is "inscrutable Oriental"

Well, like I said earlier I never ever knew that it had that history so your mom isn't the only one.

if there's a black kid acting in such a way that would cause a white kid to be described as uppity, what do you use instead, just y'know out of interest

yes, of course, but the racist archetype is "inscrutable Oriental"

Never heard that either. Jesus Christ I am never saying anything again ever.

x-post - snobby? stuck up?

wow

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermanicDepressives

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermanicEfficiency

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianAndNerdy

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianAirhead

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianRudeness

this site is like a rabbit hole

nothing wrong with "inscrutable," like i said!

why are you yelling at black kids?

I probably wouldn't say uppity at all.

Snobby would work for me, despite the bike acronym.

I would just say 'snotty little brat' because ime that label applies to every single child who has ever existed

if you find yourself wanting to describe an Asian person as inscrutable, maybe examine your assumptions but lots of things are inscrutable in a non-racist way.

lol wgw

whiney, a white person should never be allowed to yell at black kids?

BTW 10 million xps but I knew about Agatha Christie's 'ten little... ' but I guess I was just shocked to see the word in a different book that was released obviously recently enough for the Kindle.

i shout at black kids because i can't catch them to batter them obv

"uppity" does seem like kind of a problem in all contexts. it means, like "acting above your station" which seems to necessarily imply some sort of fixed social hierarchy even if that hierarchy is not about race.

only one of the Mr Men is dark brown
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_K4ncs0BvIRA/TVGi-XAhviI/AAAAAAAAKIo/YW1GvdbX4H4/s640/mr_men_grid.jpg

Well in my mom's mind, that station is "I'm your choir director, and I'm higher on the food chain than you are" so fair enough. ;)

to use "snobby" or "snotty" in place of "uppity" would likely be more precise in most people's non-racist usage.

I would just say 'snotty little brat' because ime that label applies to every single child who has ever existed

― I am that young sis, the beacon, a yardstick (dayo), Thursday, January 19, 2012 12:34 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf is OJ doing in there?

xp

or maybe "insubordinate," in your mom's case, Laurel?