Have you ever used a racial epithet?

[cally]

This question comes from Matthews assertion that for Allen's age that most whites used racial epithet. Well, I'm not much younger than Allen and I don't believe him. So??

[joemurphy]

1. I think you mean "epithet" and not "epitaph" n/t

I always try to speak well of the dead.

[cally]

3. Ooops. I kept looking at it and tried to figure out my mistake.

I'm off to edit.

[npincus]

2. I think you mean

"epithet".

:)

[cally]

5. Thanks

I knew it was wrong but I couldn't figure it out.

[npincus]

7. but an ironic choice

for a candidate who's looking pretty dead in the water!

[asthmaticeog]

4. I plan to.

I intend for my grave marker to read "Here Lies a Big Ol' Hebe."

[Mojambo]

6. Not as an adult.

I'm told when I was very, very young (like 3 or 4 years old) and on vacation with my parents, I pointed to a baby stroller with an african-american baby in it and said "Mommy! Mommy! Look at the baby monkey!"

But it was the first black person I had ever seen and I didn't know any better. My parents said they were utterly terrified because the baby's parents were standing right there. But they said they were very understanding and even chuckled it off.

[htuttle]

8. I'm 43, caucasian, and have never used racial epithets

I was just brought up not to use them. I can barely say them out loud, even when I'm alone -- it just seems wrong (and stupid) to me.

Otherwise, I tend curse up a fucking storm, though... :shrug:



on edit:

epitaphs vs epithets -- whoops...

[cally]

10. Same with me

It was just not something that was acceptable among my peers or family. I've never used them, ever. I call people idiots when I'm angry or morans when I'm furious but that's as far as I go.

[htuttle]

13. Well, I've called people far worse than that...

"Illiterate offspring of a whore and a trained pony" springs to mind, but it had nothing to do with their race (and they were white, anyway...).

[donco6]

22. Me, too. And I never heard my parents use them either. n/t

[eridani]

27. Nope--

--at least not since I got my mouth washed out with soap at the age of 5. I assume you mean since adulthood?

[azureblue]

9. well, I'm white

and a musician, and have called myself "Spook" more than once when I can't find the groove of the tune..... As in, damn, he sure is playing white tonight, meaning stiff and without feel.

[Blackthorn]

11. I'm 24, white male, and I call white people 'crackers'

[comradebillyboy]

15. I am a 58 yr old white man and

my father was from georgia. From listening to him I thought everybody from Georgia was a cracker until I got into my teens. I also wear an Atlanta Crackers tee shirt and a friends father played for the Crackers back in the 50s.

[Blackthorn]

26. It's the funniest racial slur I've heard yet. Wear it proudly. n/t

[leftofthedial]

12. Ironically, I just watched "Lenny" last night

Are there any niggers here tonight? Could you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off this spot. Now what did he say? "Are there any niggers here tonight?" I know there's one nigger, because I see him back there working. Let's see, there's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kike. And there's another kike— that's two kikes and three niggers. And there's a spic. Right? Hmm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop; there's a polack; and, oh, a couple of greaseballs. And there's three lace-curtain Irish micks. And there's one, hip, thick, hunky, funky, boogie. Boogie boogie. Mm-hmm. I got three kikes here, do I hear five kikes? I got five kikes, do I hear six spics, I got six spics, do I hear seven niggers? I got seven niggers. Sold American. I pass with seven niggers, six spics, five micks, four kikes, three guineas, and one wop. Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig: if President Kennedy would just go on television, and say, "I would like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet," and if he'd just say "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" to every nigger he saw, "boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie," "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" 'til nigger didn't mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school.


Context is everything. I mean no offense. I just mean to point out that over 40 years later, we haven't gotten past the hateful power of some words.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

14. Had to say 'Other'

EVER is such a difficult timeframe, having been born and lived in Alabama the first 39 years of my life, I'm sure I used the word not really understanding the racial context. I remember at age 9, making a concious decision NOT to use the N* word and that's one resolution I've kept.

However, I must confess, Redneck, White Trash, and Stupid White Men all too often escape.

[cally]

21. I think I learned from my now 78 year old Mom

who was a playground aid. She told me the old Nursery rhymes and her horror when she realized what she was saying. I learned to be careful with what I said.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

24. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe

... amazingly racist. The simple things that parents passed on to their kids.

[cally]

25. Um, yep. She talks about reciting the rhyme and then

realizing what it meant in Oakland. She got it real quick and passed it on to me.

[AnnieBW]

16. Very Rarely

Mostly, I call poor whites "trailer trash", and I'm white, too. I've also been known to call Eminem an "uh-oh Oreo". For me, it's more of an attitude than a color thing. I'm more apt to think less of my own race than of hardworking blacks or Hispanics. Like my comment about seeing white people in the stands at the New Orleans game. I was used to the dynamics of my home cities - DC and Baltmore, where we have a lot of Blacks who have Redskins/Ravens season tickets - and not NOLA.

Does that mean that I avoid teenaged black or Hispanic boys that are dressed like gangstas? Yes. For me, if you're dressed like a gangsta and looking for trouble, I'm avoiding you, no matter what your color is. Does that mean that I'm afraid, and going to move from my wonderfully multi-ethnic suburb to avoid those gangstas? No. I live next door to people from Ghana, I have a mixed-race couple across the street, and an older black family on the other side. I my neighborhood, we have Vietnamese, Hispanic, black, and white living pretty much together, and I'm friendly with all of them. But, as much as I try to avoid it, I am guilty of being a little bit racist.

That being said, the last time that I used the n-word was in quoting a line from "Blazing Saddles", and I'd never even DREAM of harrassing someone based on their ethnicity.

[Mz Pip]

17. Never used them

and contrary to what Matthews said, I never heard them being used commonly. I lived in Chicago in the 60s and this was during the height of racial strife.

Allen is an ass. He's a wannabe good old boy jerk. Hopefully, the people of Virginia will vote him out of office and not have to be embarrassed by him anymore.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[cally]

23. Yep, he is an ass

How are you doing? I'm trying to connect with the original protestors like you. Send me some contact info if you want to get together. Anyone else reading this, send me contact info.

[TahitiNut]

18. I'm 'Caucasian' and 63 and have never, to my recollection,

... used a racial or ethnic slur. It's NOT that I was brought up that way, since my father (in particular) was a racist. He was one of those guys who was always nice to "them" (face-to-face) but trash-talked "them" with his fellow knuckle-draggers. My mother, even to this day, thinks in terms of "them" and speaks very condescendingly ... but is quick to claim she means no harm.

It just never set well with me, from as long as I can remember. My maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants and I recall hearing, when I was very young, how my grandfather was treated like a "filthy Scandahoovian." My grandparents were dear to me. Very. They never spoke bigotry, even though their five US-born children (including my mother) were probably eager to be "just like the other kids."

So, maybe it was the influence of my grandparents ... but it is something I've never found 'attractive' or 'intelligent' or 'acceptable.' I've always felt there was something very mean-spirited and hateful in such language. (But I've known and used the "fuck" since I can remember. So, I'm no Lysol-mouth.)

[Bucky]

20. ' But I've known and used the "fuck" '

Nice word choice there. I enjoy using the fuck myself, altho it's been a while.

[RB TexLa]

19. I call my wife "whitebread" and "F'ing Proddy" n/t

[recoveringrepublican]

28. once, when I was 6...was the only time I remember my dad spanking me

I don't even know why I said it or what I was talking about. I am daddy's girl...I've done a lot of shit that should have had ended with his head exploding, but that is the only time I remember him being pissed off or truly disappointed in me or hitting me. I said the N word. I don't remember why he said I shouldn't say it. Between the spanking and the look on his face I knew it was shameful. I don't recall ever saying anything toward any race since.

I'm 27 now and understand how hurt he must have been. I have two young children and that is probably the one of the few things that would make me really sad and disappointed if they did.