This is a very useful and entertaining exploration by the New York Times. Let me just highlight — uplift and highlight — a few things that stood out for us here at Meadhouse:
First, the overview:
The least-said things in the test were politically correct neologisms — "chestfeeding" (bleechh), "Global South" (never heard of it), "Latinx," "A.A.P.I.," "BIPOC," and "Low-income" (for "third world"). The only old-time expression that was equally off limits was "spaz," which was always an insult — though John McWhorter, one of the quoted commentators, considered the possibility that some people may have thought it was a decent way to refer to a medical condition. My sense is that might have been true in England.
Speaking of John McWhorter, this caught our eye:
I don't know the histories of “A.A.P.I.” or “BIPOC” in detail, but none of these terms emerged from the folk, as it were. They are enlightened suggestions from the educated and the highly activist. It isn’t an accident that I learned of all of them on Columbia’s campus.
"The folk" — do we say that? I'm afraid I'd be shunned around here — the UW campus — if I talked about language emerging (or not emerging) "from the folk." But it's okay with me. Go ahead and contribute to making it okay, Professor McWhorter.
He goes on to observe that "African American" is a term most used by people who are not themselves in the category. He cites the long influence of Jesse Jackson, who made a point of announcing, back in the 1980s, that henceforth "African American" was the respectful and appropriate term. These days, the people most likely to use it are female Democrats.
Meanwhile:
McWhorter is denied his own preference! His "black" gets hypercorrected to "Black." But at least he can write "Black" (if not "black") and isn't forced all the way to "African American."
He's also critical of the effort to require "Latino" over "Hispanic":
I am struck... how in my overeducated world, “Latino” has all but taken the place of “Hispanic,” which I process as a relic of the 1980s and before, while in my heavily Latino neighborhood, “Hispanic” and “Spanish” are the preferred terms among Latinos themselves. This top-down approach to language is perhaps inevitable, as the people most committed to this kind of change tend to be more educated, given to thinking about groups and actions in the abstract – as opposed to those who may be too busy living an existence to be concerned about the labels for it. In any case, where we are headed is that a certain sliver of our population will control a rich jargon of prescribed terms, of little import to most people.
That's the last line of the article, which makes it seem as though McWhorter is ceding power to the "certain sliver" over "the folk." But I suspect that he prefers the language that percolates through the people — the language of the folk — and that the NYT cuts off the discussion where it does because it prefers the elite — the certain sliver — and wants to keep titillating those of us inside the sliver with a feeling that "the folk" are — in their folksy hearts — racist, sexist, xenophobic homophobes.
And then Meade sent me a screenshot of this...
... and said "I'm offended by calling it a 'panic.'"
Me, I question the causality. Let's assume the right did panic when it first heard that we needed to stop saying "pregnant woman" and "breastfeeding" and start saying "birthing parent" and "chestfeeding." Whether "the right" actually got scared or just disgusted and annoyed by this pressure toward inclusion, various righties (and others) spoke up and said it was ridiculous or otherwise bad to push people to use these weird new expressions and that it was fine for people to continue to use our normal, familiar speech or that it was important to give distinction and visibility to women. This response may have convinced a lot of people not to repress their natural speech patterns and not obediently to yield to the prescriptions of those who pose as their betters.
It's an Emperor's New Clothes situation. Everyone could see the emperor was naked. Everyone could see that "chestfeeding" and "birthing parent" were not necessary replacements for "pregnant woman" and "breastfeeding." But most people were disinclined to stand out and say so. It took the impetuous little boy to say out loud that the emperor was naked, and it took some "panicked" right-wingers to decry the prissy terms "chestfeeding" and "birthing parent."
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124 comments:
Remember when Hispanics were called Chicanos?
Nobody’s panicking, that’s a lie. People simply don’t like it. I find it funny that affluent white liberals are so utterly unconcerned about the actual preferences of the people they think they’re being respectful towards.
“34%” is not “a few”. It’s a hundred million people.
a majority of Americans
How DARE Pew and the NYT use this HATE SPEECH!!! They NEED to be Executed For Such VILE TALK!!
https://gazettengr.com/stanford-university-lists-word-american-as-hate-speech/
The Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative was launched in May, and aims to address prohibited terms listed under 10 categories which include racism, ableism, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriative, gender-based, ethic bias, homophobia and additional consideration.
The university urged readers to replace the term “American” with “U.S. citizen” because “American” often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the U.S. is the most important country in the Americas.
Seriously! WORDS ARE VIOLENCE ! DEATH! To ALL People That Use WORDS!!
My teenage kids are SHOCKED when I say "black guy", as in something like, "We had a new kid in my class back in the 80s, a black guy from the south, who only talked about soccer. I don't mean a Dominican guy, but an American South black guy. I hardly knew anything about soccer so it was interesting that this kid from Mississippi was schooling us all on it".
My kids are convinced this is racist. They can't say way but they are sure it is not something they'd say because it would be unacceptable in school. I don't think it is racist ... but I don't much care if others do, either.
At some point in the nineties, while traveling through England, I parked my car on the street in a small business district town centre. There was a big sign on the building I parked near, announcing that as of X date, they would no longer be known as the Spastic Society, their new title would be something like the Multiple Sclerosis Society (I think).
"I'm offended by calling it a 'panic.'"
SOP. HomoPHOBIA. IslamaPHOBIA. TransPHOBIA.
Of course adding "phobia" is both inaccurate and nearly universally accepted by the weak minded. Repetition without push back is highly effective.
Labeling something a fear or saying you are in a panic is manipulating perceived motivation of someone.
No, you don't think the Trans movement goes too far.... you are afraid. You coward, you snowflake, you weakling.
Feh.
Another problem of no push back. We are unable to hit (with required 100% accuracy) an ever changing target. Especially when the target may exist only in the mind of someone who hates you.
We frequently and lovingly refer to the Springer Spaniel as Spaz. She does sometimes spaz out.
There's a Huge Difference, between Panic and Outrage
Where is the little boy who will stand up and shout, "Transwomen are dudes in dresses!"
From my English heritage, as noted 'spaz' was an insult, but it came from the non-medical (?) term spastic, used for those, typically, with Cerebral Palsy (or other muscular diseases resulting in spasms) or the effects of polio - Ian Dury bringing this to the forefront in the (punk) music industry back in the 80's.
@ Dave Begley - To be Chicano, you have to be from Mexico. Hispanic covers a lot more. Many years ago, the only Spanish-speaking people most Americans saw were Mexicans (or Puerto Ricans in New York).
To date, the pup has not complained or taken offense.
The right always reacts to the left, as the right is set in its ways and never lead cultural or linguistic changes. I think some of the right's reaction follows from cases such as the baker sued of refusal to make non-Christian, or anti-Christian, or transgender cakes. Similarly, the students of Oberlin College first stole wine from a local merchant, then protested, then accused them of racism, and then the college paid out $36M after losing. Some aggressive lefty bullies will not take no for an answer. They will not let you be traditional or follow rules the don't want, or they will destroy your life.
Regarding 'chestfeeding' - my first thought was the movie scene from Alien where the creature eats and bursts out from the victim's chest. Second, think nature or horror films where wolves or zombies eat the chest and soft inner organs from a dead animal. "Let's all chest feed off mom. She died last week and we can recycle her protein. It's a green funeral."
Merry Christmas.
'These days, the people most likely to use it are female Democrats.'
Of course. They are the neediest, 'please-daddy-government-plan-my-life-for-me' class of people to have ever lived.
At my age I don't really give a fuck anymore.
As a white guy I have been called everything under the sun.
Whatever...
With regards to 'black' vs 'African American': is Kamala Harris the former or the latter? how would one describe a 'black' French (or any European) national.
Can you not call someone born in America a 'Native American'? Of course, what would you call someone of 'indigeounous' descent, and of what 'country'?
What is an 'insult' anyway? Is it ok to put any insult in 'quotes'? I don't know these days, and the best path of action is to simply not talk to anyone who may be offended by any random word. The degradation of a society into tribes ('tribes').
"Panicked right wingers" = normal people.
". Let's assume the right did panic when it first heard that we needed to stop saying "pregnant woman" and "breastfeeding" and start saying "birthing parent" and "chestfeeding." Whether "the right" actually got scared or just disgusted and annoyed by this pressure toward inclusion" you do have to assume that there was a panic on the right, because there's no actual evidence of that. I think you get it right when you describe the reaction as disgust and annoyance, but wrong when you describe it as pressure toward inclusion. I think it is actually pressure toward exclusion of those unenlightened rubes who are failing to buy into the new social order.
Ethical religion.
That said, diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry) breeds adversity. #HateLovesAbortion
Taking offense is an act in the first place. ("I am the sort of person who is so virtuous that I take offense").
Google doesn't even know what A.A.P.I. means.
Panicked no. Disgusted Yes. Leftist Newspeak is attempting to control us by taking over our language.
The article puts it both ways but I think the actual question was "would you use" rather than "do you use." I would have a different answer for some of these based on the different question form. I could not find a link to full survey questions and results.
"Would you use" allows for higher results for some of the non-folk words.
Also, if one wished to design a polling method that allowed for manipulation it would be Morning Consult's murky, non-random, online process using selected volunteers.
Also, I was struck by just how impenetrable is the bubble in which Quoctrung Bui lives. Not to mention that that smirk really calls for a Will Smithian response even though that would be wrong and illegal and would get me thrown out of the Academy.
Tim, I don't think it's about respect. I think it's about "My consciousness is more raised than theirs" so they should listen to me and ignore their own culture.
Several years ago I watched a portion of a sports-talk program where they had a white male prog arguing that we need to get rid of "native american" (nearly every actual Indian I know just wants to be called "an Indian"), and an actual Indian (South Dakota Sioux, IIRC) who (like I believe most are) didn't give a crap about sports mascots. The latter's very first remark was something to the effect of "We don't need another white person telling us what we should think."
Isn’t BIPOC an acronym for bipolar communists?
Well, since almost all the terms on that list are purely "woke" anathemas, the key is to not give a shit if those clowns are offended. It is, on the contrary, important to use those terms. I make a point to say "Third World," "illegal alien," "gypsy," etc. since I will not be dictated to by such neurotic people who presume to have more grace than I do.
Dave Begley said...
"Remember when Hispanics were called Chicanos?"
'Chicano' is a person of Mexican descent born in the US. 'Hispanic' is someone whose ancestry or linguistic heritage is Spanish speaking (though not usually applied to people from Spain). So a Chicano may be Hispanic, but a person who is Hispanic may not be Chicano.
Chicanos are Mexican-Americans, so it's not going to be used as a catch-all label by other Spanish-speaking Americans. You really don't hear "Chicano" much any more, certainly not in the East, though Chicano Studies departments are still around in universities in the Southwest.
"Spanish" may be more of a Puerto Rican thing. I believe it's also used in New Mexico by people whose families have been there since before Mexico was a country.
"Black" was something an earlier generation of African-Americans had to fight for. It's seen as a source of pride and symbol of defiance. "African-American" became popular in the Eighties, because Jesse Jackson and some other activists were tired of hearing about "a Black" or "the Blacks," but it doesn't have the resonance and emotional power of "Black."
BIPOC is a way of saying "minorities" or "non-whites" and not feeling like a racist. The way things are in America now the word has its uses, but there are a lot of things wrong with the way things are in America now.
As a well-meaning person never wishing to cause offense it has long been my practice to apologize immediately for my poor choice of words after calling someone a fucking retard.
Definitely not a panic, more like laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing at those spastic morons who do use such terms.
Thank goodness "Latinx" also looks to be on the way out. What a goofy malapropism invented by people who had no respect for the way Spanish was spoken by those who spoke it!
What fools we were to cede this kind of power to a tiny sliver of our population. Freedom of speech, freedom of association, religion, equal treatment under law, individual responsibility and merit... all gone. In the name of "equity" for minorities we have empowered a sliver of the population that holds the country and its majority population in complete contempt.
Not a panic, much more a source of amusement and solidarity: when you can point and laugh at the humorless enforcers and the endlessly-inventive neologists, you encourage “your sides ” and they may send you money to continue the harassment. Call it cheerleading of a sort.
I think the neologists are pursuing a failed strategy. Maybe the first handful of new words is halfway fresh and interesting, calling our attention to a (small; potentially worthy) issue. But after that? Whether from mental parsimony or irritation, people can’t or won’t keep up. They will resent the language bullies and find ways to sabotage their effort. IMHO. Certainly this is MY attitude.
As for words now considered taboo: “spaz” was never that popular among my crew back in junior high, but “retard” (and “air-head”) got regular usage. Today my go-to descriptor is “moron,” which I suppose is a Class C language felony (3 to 5, hard labor, no visitors).
Most people ignore or ridicule the correct language edicts of the so called linguistic brahmins. The “folk” ignore faux terms and phrases that seem illogical, awkward, silly or stupid. Our language changes slowly, gradually by custom the usage not by
edict. English is messy and full of rich and conflicting dialects. How many have actually used the term Bipoc or Latinx
colloquially? Even the leftist linguist Noam Chomsky agrees with me on this. This is neither France nor Iceland.
Yes, when I laugh at absurdities such as womxn, or chestfeeders, or they/them, it's my panic and not your idiot ideas.
Chicanos? I remember when they were called Beaners.
The possibility that "meaning well" is no longer worth the trouble might cross some minds should this trend not reverse. "Meaning well" will probably disappear altogether about the same time as cash.
I hope that wasn't too offensive.
Of course I’m not _really_ offended. I’m just mocking the posturing “on the [left].” Such phonies.
I'm most upset with the misuse of "migrant" to refer to non-citizens who arrive in a new nation illegally with the intent to stay regardless of the procedures formalized for law-abiding "IMMigrants".
Migrants, among people, are those who like birds, migrate. They come and go.
Aliens are strangers among us.
Immigrants are those who intend to assimilate into the new community and culture they admire.
Scabs come to take the jobs that employers won't pay fair wages for.
Squatters come to live in rooms and houses where they haven't been authorized and invited.
Traffickers illicitly move human beings like livestock to markets across borders and inspection points.
We have good terms and phrases but our media is too cowardly to apply these terms in a consistant and comprehensible way.
"I'm offended by calling it a 'panic.'"
The "right" always panics because "panic" is something that only dumb, bad people do. (The "left" never panics, of course.)
Damn. Spaz is such a great word. Definitely our go-to insult back in 70s high school. Sped was another beauty (derived from the official high school designation for retarded kids, Special Education).
And Retard was a distant generation's replacement for the offensive Imbecile
Chicanos are a VERY specific subset of Hispanics.
*MY* subset. Mexican-Americans.
Chicanos is still around. It was a made up word for Mexicans and Mexican Americans. So it's no longer useful because the Mexicans are all assimilating and the new groups are from Guatamala and El Salvador.
The term Negro was popular for blacks as evidenced by the United Negro College fund and the Negro Baseball League. That was the scientific term, like Caucasian. Not sure why a the proper medical/scientific term went out of fashion.
They should have included 'happy holidays' and 'deplorable'.
Remember when Hispanics were called Chicanos?
The term "Chicano" is limited to people of Mexican origin. The Nixon administration wanted to give some of those ethnic preference benefits to Cuban-Americans (who were more likely than Chicanos to vote Republican), so they came up with the umbrella term "Hispanic" (after futzing around with such alternatives as "Spanish-surnamed" (which would exclude such Hispanics as Linda Rondstadt and Vicente Fox) and "Spanish-speaking").
"Latinx" is fun to say, though I suspect it pisses off actual Latinos, Hispanics, and Chicanos.
Do the "elite" know anyone who is part of the actual elite, i.e., sensible people?
"Spaz" was OK in England in 1988. I photographed a Goodwill type store in Brighton called "The Spastic Society".
There have been other language developments. For example, I keep seeing "elite" used as a polite term for "Marxist dipshit."
"Pressure toward inclusion", my ass.
"Chest-feeding" is an attempt to normalize a very, very rare condition.
Otherwise, men can't breastfeed.
Period.
(and not the menstrual kind that men can't do, either.)
I'm heading off to the local nail salon to advise them to change the "Walk-ins Welcome" sign to read, "Walk and Roll-Ins Welcome". Of course, that may be a problem because it may involve the classic Chinese accent of substituting W for R sounds, if it recalled the "Rock and Roll" phrase. "Roll and Walk-in Welcome"! Thats the fix! This is fun. Like kindergarten.
Anthony said...
Several years ago I watched a portion of a sports-talk program where they had a white male prog arguing that we need to get rid of "native american" (nearly every actual Indian I know just wants to be called "an Indian"), and an actual Indian (South Dakota Sioux, IIRC) who (like I believe most are) didn't give a crap about sports mascots. The latter's very first remark was something to the effect of "We don't need another white person telling us what we should think."
******************
If Amerinds were really upset by having sports teams named after them, they would also be on the warpath against Indian words being used to name tens of thousands of place names, states, and geographic features all across the US and Canada.
It's almost always dickless Prog People of Pallor who beat the war drums to change the names.
I know lots of Hispanics in the home building trades who are proud of their dual heritage of Spanish and Amerindian. Some have two last names in the custom of the Spanish. Ever listen to Mexican popular music? The accordion plays a prominent role and the best incorporates elements of the polka beat. These are inherited from the Hapsburg Empire eastern branch in Vienna.
Enigma said...
The right always reacts to the left, as the right is set in its ways and never lead cultural or linguistic changes
****************
Perhaps you should introduce yourself to these articles on the topic:
https://ilsr.org/conservatives-have-kidnapped-our-language/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-variation-and-change/article/abs/diffusion-of-language-change-in-real-time-progressive-and-conservative-individuals-and-the-time-depth-of-change/6C3C10DC4FE16150152AF174F893F87B
Whether I'm a well-meaning person or not I can't say. But I'm not confused. I know which words I intend to use, I know exactly what they mean and I always attempt to use them judiciously. The only question is whether I'm interested in catering to a particular person's unreasonable expectations and feelings. Usually not. I'd rather say nothing at all to such persons.
Most of this verbal "inclusiveness" (e.g. chestfeeding) is simple bullying by white liberals who consider themselves superior and wish to impress this fact on others.
Newspeak is all about control. Currently, the only punishment for failing to use the "correct" language is ridicule and shunning. But soon, if the Karens and Commies have their way, the FBI will be unleashed to prosecute and punish through judicial methods those miscreants who fail to adhere to acceptable speech. Soon after that, people will be punished for simply thinking, not even vocalizing, the wrong words. See Great Britain as an example.
"... "the folk" are — in their folksy hearts — racist, sexist, xenophobic homophobes."
Which is to say, the Left Fascists have invented pejorative adjectives to describe white people who intend to pass their homeland on to their children. They hate us, and it's well past time to start hating them.
Its wrong to even mention that little boy who alleged that the king had no clothes. Despite his age, he should have known better than to say such an offensive thing and no doubt he will soon be charged with hate speech.
The discussion of Chicano v Hispanic v Latino reminds me of the following:
Mexican Americans don't like to just get into gang fights
They like flowers and music and white girls named Debbie too
Mexican Americans are named Chata and Chella and Chemma
And have a son-in-law named Jeff
Mexican Americans don't like to get up early in the morning
But they have to so they do it real slow
Mexican Americans love education so they go to night school
And they take Spanish and get a B
how would one describe a 'black' French (or any European) national.
I have heard newscasters use the term "British African Americans".
"Spaz" was OK in England in 1988. I photographed a Goodwill type store in Brighton called "The Spastic Society".
It's an attempt to solve a "problem" in a way that denies human behavior. It's the exact same phenomena we have in the U.S. over the word "retarded". Retarded was adopted to remove the stigma over the words used to describe a certain class of people. Those words were moron and imbecile, both of which were considered proper medical terms at one time. Over time, their association with low IQ people turned them into insults. So they replaced them with retarded. Now retarded is considered an insult and in the education industry at least these people are described as "special needs". Well guess what, the kids are now using "special needs" as an insult. (or special ed) How did the expression "rides the short bus" become an insult? People who ride the short bus to school and handicapped and retarded.
You can change the words all you want, but you can't change human behavior, and whatever new term you choose will eventually become an insult.
the key is to not give a shit if those clowns are offended.
Exactly.
It seems that people like me are supposed to walk in eggshells to avoid offending others, but at the same time, we’re supposed to suck it up when those others willingly offend us. Sorry, but I choose not to play the “heads I win, tails you lise” game.
I used to be a Master Gardener. Plant nerds love to get together and throw down knowledge of Latin botanical terms. I was at a Farmer's Market doing a plant clinic - about a dozen Master Gardeners volunteering that day. I (F) am explaining how to identify a plant with another F my age (late 50's) and one man slightly older. I blank out completely on the word "stamen", crucial to identifying the plant we are talking about, and mutter instead "male plant part male plant part...I am forgetting the term, but you need to look at the male plant part....STAMEN! That's the word - stamen."
I hear a loud 'whoosh' of someone exhaling - it's the woman standing next to me. She looks very aggrieved, as if in pain. She says to me: "That's a much nicer way of saying it" - gives me a dirty look and stomps off. Gives me stink eye the rest of the day. Clearly, she was very offended at the term: male plant part. WTF??? How did she manage to get through plant reproduction classes? Never, ever would I believe that stringing those three words together would cause offense. I am lucky it didn't happen at WORK.
That's the day I realized its best to simply not talk to ANYONE you don't have to. The fucking bar for offense has been lowered so much, it's too much risk. If anyone deserved to be offended, it's the man we were talking to for reacting so fearfully to mere mention of an organ he carries about with him 24/7. Flip the narrative and imply that 'female plant part' is offensive - you know exactly how that would go over.
Some people want to play victim so very badly.
The left is particularly proud of their adoption of the norms from Mr. Orwell's book.
Meade said...
"Of course I’m not _really_ offended. I’m just mocking the posturing “on the [left].” Such phonies."
You are under no obligation at all to play their games.
"Despite the panic on the right"
or
"Despite the insanity on the left?"
Social progressives canceled a trans/homosexual female, another one, in Norway, for saying that trans/neo,quasi,pseudo-females cannot be females and should be excluded from their social games.
Meanwhile, transgenders and the politically congruent are proudly flying the rainbow banner in albinophobic parades, black and brown excluded. Feel the diversity!
Pretty sure McWhorter is riffing on DuBois and the soul of Black folk, and surprised nobody else has noticed.
'Spaz' was common in my boyhood. A friend of mine (with an MS-suffering older sister) was a Special Ed teacher for a while. He said they used acronyms to describe students:
FITH (Fucked In The Head)
FITH/MS (Fucked In The Head/Mean Streak)
Freeman Hunt at 1:33 wins the thread.
"black guy"... My kids are convinced this is racist.
A simple reference to a visible attribute a la tall/short, skinny/fat, male/masculine/him, female/feminine/her, etc.
Musk is African-American, a Person of Color, a peach American.
So, what is racism? Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment) denies individual dignity, individual conscience, intrinsic value, and normalizes color blocs (e.g. "people of color"), color quotas (e.g. "Jew privilege"), and affirmative discrimination (e.g. "deplorables"). They use to abort, cannibalize, sequester select diversity blocs, case-in-point: albinophobia. #HateLovesAbortion
From the Song of Songs (Scriptures): "I am black, but I am beautiful." Of course that should be changed now to "I am Black, but I am beautiful" now...
From the Song of Songs (Scriptures): "I am black, but I am beautiful." Of course that should be changed now to "I am Black, but I am beautiful" now...
The heckler's veto wasn't legitimate decades ago, and isn't legitimate now.
"And Retard was a distant generation's replacement for the offensive Imbecile"
"Biden" is the replacement for today's offensive "moron".
So not many people are falling in line with the woke bullshit and it's a giant nothing Burger and it's got all you traitorous Trump cucks in a Twitter thinking the sky is falling.
Typical
There have been other language developments. For example, I keep seeing "elite" used as a polite term for "Marxist dipshit."
Hahaha...that's funny!
- Krumhorn
With the abortion of "our Posterity" as a party to The Constitution, denial of human evolution, and denial of women and men's dignity and agency, the arbitrary exclusion of parties from marriage is a bigot's religion enacted as law by a politically congruent ("=") Democrat congress and president. Civil unions for all consenting adults: couples, couplets, etc. Oh, and lower the banners, divest from the rhetoric, that proudly parades albinophobia -- black and brown excludes -- under DiversityIE doctrine.
On a related note, given where Russia is getting its new "recruits" from, is our American antipathy to the Russian Army a version of "Asian Hate"?
I'm surprised all the preferred words are in English, the oppressors language.
Why don't they just move to Esperanto?
Rachel Levine is wrong about the science of trans/neogenderism. He should stop performing therapeutic experiments on boys and girls, and seek personal affirmation somewhere else.
Back in the day (Chicago 1960's) Mexican-Americans were often called Chicanos and Puerto Rican-Americans called themselves "Latino".
My friends of Mexican heritage often differentiated among themselves by the extent to which their blood line went back to Spain. The term I sorta recall is "Castellano".
Not panicked. Pissed.
I just want to say to you, Althouse, that your dedication to clear, concise, and logical writing is ever appreciated! It is uncommon.
So the people most likely to use the term "black" to refer to black people are a) black people and b) Trump voters.
But of course the Trump voters are deplorable racists.
(I did not get to the part of the article which addresses the other word that black people--at least the black people involved in the rap music field--use to refer to their fellow black people. Wouldn't be prudent).
effinayright--Do you think that Morris guy has ever considered that the reason that his favorite words for lefty fools like hmself have become criticisms is not because of conservative demonization, but because of the words and actions of the lefty fools?
BIPOC means Black or Indigenous Person (people) of color. It’s a way to exclude White-adjacent Asians from the list of downtrodden minorities.
White adjacent means a nonwhite person who cannot be a victim of racism.
People of Color is the woke way to describe what used to be known as “colored people,” which is now a racist term.
In case you are wondering, I lost a job in 2015 after falling afoul of this nonsense. It didn’t radicalize me exactly but it did persuade me that I needed to learn more about the enemy so I can avoid unknowingly giving offense. Now I know exactly how and when to give offense.
Like Rh said. Taking offense is inauthentic.
The elite are surrounded by normal people but they do not acknowledge them I remember a long ago conversation where a man asked me how people could live in NY on less than $50,000 a year. I suggested he ask his secretary, his door man, his next cabbie and the guy who sold him coffee.
The proper response to all this bullshit is to say what you want, and if the other party is offended, add, "I don't give a flying fuck if you are offended. You will not control my language."
Sane people will give NO QUARTER to these officious morons.
I was recently wondering why we differentiate among whites by their early 20th century nation of origin, even if say, the emigrated before the German state was formed. Yet among blacks in America, there is no differentiation even for those who are recent immigrants from either an African nation or the Caribbean nation. Which is weird since the African continent is larger than the US, China, Europe, etc. combined and has a variety of people from different tribal origins even after the Bantu migration. But to a Democrat, skin color is everything.
Panic on the right?
It’s the left screaming for their way, not the right.
I’ll say it how I say it: no mor/no less.
My friends of Mexican heritage often differentiated among themselves by the extent to which their blood line went back to Spain. The term I sorta recall is "Castellano".
It was part of the Spanish culture. It was all about blood and birth. For instance, let's say a Spanish nobleman moves to the new world with his wife and young son, Jose. Soon after they get to Mexico, another son, Pedro is born. Now, both Jose and Pedro are noble. But Jose has a higher social status than Pedro, because he was born in Spain. The wife dies and the father marries a full-blooded Spanish woman who was born in Mexico. The children would still be noble (in Mexico fully, in Spain with reservations) but would be much farther down the social scale than their older brothers, and frankly unpresentable in the better salons of Spain. Any children the father had with Indian or mixed blood women would not be noble, and not sociably acceptable even within Mexico.
boatbuilder said...
effinayright--Do you think that Morris guy has ever considered that the reason that his favorite words for lefty fools like hmself have become criticisms is not because of conservative demonization, but because of the words and actions of the lefty fools?
*************
I doubt he's given it a nanosecond of thought. To do so would require reflection and self-analysis, both in very short supply among such folk.
Those who insist on the term Hispanic means the Portuguese and Brazilians are being ignored.
As for Latinx: that not only does violence to the culture and language of places who have an Iberian heritage, but it is unclear if it includes those who speak an indigenous language not related to Latin (including Guarani, the official language of Paraguay)?
And does this classification include immigrants and their children? Are Alberto Fujimora or Bernardo O'Higgens considered Hispanic?
And what about we Filipinos? How about those from Mozambique, Angola, and Goa who who use Portuguese? What about non Iberian countries with a Latin culture, such as Romanians or Italians?
I keep wondering if Rachel Levine has given up standing at a urinal to take a piss. Hard to do in a dress, I suppose.
Or is he so FUBAR that he sits on the throne in a stall, and uses toilet paper when he finishes?
(I regret forcing such images on all of you)
"black guy"... My kids are convinced this is racist.
My niece calls my parents racist (and she genuinely loves them) for exactly the same reason. Apparently it is automatically racist for White people to notice the race of a person of color for any reason. It is perfectly fine for non-White people to disrespect White people for any reason.
It's what the schools have taught them. Ask anyone under the age of 25 to describe historical slavery. For them, slavery was created by White people so they could steal Black people from Africa and bring them to the United States. When I try to teach them that the first foreign wear the United States was involved in was a direct result of Africans enslaving White men they simply refuse to believe me.
They don't give a shit about the Uighurs.
Castillian is the language not the ethnicity
Pink foot, haole, devil, honky, guero, cracker, whitey.
I'm none of those. I'm a beaner-yid raised Catholic. Fubar.
Whether "the right" actually got scared or just disgusted
I find it amusingly stupid.
"Latinx" is fun to say, though I suspect it pisses off actual Latinos, Hispanics, and Chicanos.
MutantX... Yeah, probably, implies that males are excluded, and females are a mutation.
There's an awful lot of thoughtcrime represented in the results of that survey. Make no mistake, the pushers of this linguistic nonsense do know what they are doing, and the results of the survey lets them know how far they still have to go.
It is the same strange game, the only way to win is not to play. Stop being a "well-meaning" person since your desire is being used to make you a prisoner of others. Yes, some do the type of work where the opinion of others matters more than actual ability to do something useful. They must worry about the hue and cry of the mob. But whenever possible, do not go out of your way to provoke, but also take no actions to comply except as it pleases you personally. And remember all those who seek to censor you. Time may come when a small effort on your part can bring them great comeuppance. And if not, well, at least you've avoided such horrible people.
“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”― Lao Tzu
Without "spaz," how is a grandparent to explain Joe Cocker?
Which is weird since the African continent is larger than the US, China, Europe, etc. combined and has a variety of people from different tribal origins even after the Bantu migration. But to a Democrat, skin color is everything.
Nigerians are very proud of their origin, especially if they are Igbos. I was interviewing a Nigerian engineer who was joining the Army reserves. He has a BS in EE and an MS in Industrial Engineering. I asked him if he was an Ibo and he was pleased that I recognized the tribe. They were the losers in the Biafran Civil War but are among the most intelligent Africans. Many are "quants" in Wall Street.
In this instance, “panic” is subbing for “pouncing”.
You know, like when Democrats do something incredibly stupid or criminal, and the headline describes the Republicans pouncing.
Here, the left has come up with some truly idiotic new words that virtually no one wants to include in their vocabulary, so the story is that conservatives are oh-so-dumb to panic over these words because no one uses them.
Just yesterday, my wife, a dedicated Democrat voter, referred to Blacks in France as French African Americans. I objected and she changed it to Franco-Africans. But her brain has assigned the term 'African American' to all Blacks, probably even the ones who live in Africa. She is well assimilated into her college educated, Democrat voting, reference group.
The AAPI acronym surely has to be the most cringeworthy and offensive. Neither the As, nor the PIs, want anything to do with each other. It makes no sense, especially somewhere like New Zealand, where Chinese form the largest immigrant minority group, and yet are supposedly, in the eyes of woke white America, one of a kind with the native Maori people there.
Howard. Pick on some Pedos. Just once. Prove it tough guy.
A lie is the worst thing in the world. Art is the ability to tell the truth.
--Richard Pryor
My US High School English teacher told us repeatedly that it was the "educated cultivated" people who determined what was acceptable with respect to vocabulary and grammar. Today it may be those with the highest cable ratings or most likes.
Remember: Yesterday’s required euphemism is tomorrow’s unforgivable slur.
"chestfeeding"--trans XY people get breast implants. They don't get "chest" implants but they can't breastfeed (and can't have a baby). XX persons able to breastfeed must necessarily still have breasts. The fact that they are uncomfortable with that fact is not our problem.
The more common term in any case is "nursing".
Some of these demands go off the deep end. It is claimed that "in the black" for making a profit is racist, even though it indicates a good thing and arises from accounting with pen and paper where red ink means a loss. "black of night" racist even though it is literally correct. "brown bag" even though literally correct and with no racial overtones. And of course things like the indian woman on butter (a compliment) or indian team names (also a compliment) are now forbidden.
Me and my Asian Homies still refer to ourselves as Oriental. I didn't see that listed.
Remember: Yesterday’s required euphemism is tomorrow’s unforgivable slur.
African-American, fetal-baby (i.e. 1-2)
People of Color (i.e. color bloc)
Jew privilege (i.e. Nazi-era rationalization)
toxic femininity (e.g. wicked solution)... never
Rainbow (i.e. albinophobia)
Pride (i.e. family of lions)
Pride parade (i.e. procession of lions)
transgender conversion therapy (i.e. surgical, medical, and/or psychiatric corruption)... and personal affirmation
pedophilia... rape but not rape-rape... casting couch... friends with "benefits" social progress
Redistributive change is slavery but with em-pathetic appeal
planned parenthood, planned parent/hood, planned populationhood is a progressive path and grade (i.e. slippery slope)
#DiversityInequityExclusion (DIE)
Prissy? There is nothing prissy about the destruction of Western Civilization.
When I have a cab driver from Africa, I try to guess where they are from based on their accent. They are pleased and impressed that I know or even try.
The ban on referring to race has consequences. There are localities where they put out a police notice for a suspect and do not mention race. Of course they will mention white if he is, so if no mention then you know not-white (but could be arab or mex or...). But it could be a rapist or murderer and not knowing more can get people killed. In extreme cases they won't even mention the sex of the suspect. I saw a satire of this where the "notice" was just the outline of a person, so no info given.
"special needs" does not provide much info. Are they normal but in a wheelchair? Or IQ of 60? Those two cases are NOT the same. So we are forbidden to know things we need to know. At my grocery, the baggers are mostly retarded. One has, I think, Williams syndrome (very friendly and talkative but low IQ) but one worries me, seems off more than just dumb.
We've been dealing with this moving target since we were dirty, filthy hippies.
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