Do You/Would You Find Any of This Offensive

[GiovanniC]

My fiance and I went shopping with our daughter on Saturday afternoon and stopped in a store in the mall. While we were there, our little girl (not yet 2) saw some small baby dolls that she wanted that were, like, a dollar. My fiance told her that if she asked me very nicely, I might buy her one. She picked up two that she wanted and I agreed to get her both.

One of them is a little white girl baby with red hair. The other is a black boy. My fiance, myself, and our daughter are all white, but of course neither of us saw anything wrong with her getting a black baby boy, which we think probably reminds her of one of her friends in day care.

However, we did get a lot of strange stares when she was out and about with this doll (and she seemed to like the black one better than the white one). Some people looked offended by this and I'm not real sure why exactly.

Now, there is something else as well... she called the doll a "chocolate baby". As I mentioned, she has a friend in day care who is black and I've never heard her call him that (maybe she has though). Her mother thought this was ridiculously cute (everything babies say is cute) and she encouraged her and proceeded to refer to the doll as a "chocolate baby".

So here's the question... is any of that offensive? At what point, if any, is the line crossed?

[TreasonousBastard]

1. When I was about 5 years old...

the first black person I had ever seen was working on the house next door and I ran in with the news that a "chocolate man" was outside.

Wow! Did I ever catch some shit...

"Don't EVER insult anyone like that!" And on it went.

Anyway, kids still say the darndest things, but they should be taught that not all of them are very nice.

As to those other people, well, we've got a long way to go.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. It's sad. In a just world, there would be nothing wrong with that.

It would be a physical attribute people notice without any offense. Like, "Hey Mom! A man with the biggest moustache on Earth is outside!"

[GOPisEvil]

2. When I was quite young, I mis-pronounced the Niger River.

I was correctly quickly by my mother who explained that word was inappropriate.

[Padraig18]

3. My little brother once answered the door, and said immediately, ...

"...there's brown lady at the door asking for you, Dary". Everyone (including her) thought it was funny, because he was only 6.

:)