"fellow" = "A black man"

Charles C Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Thu Apr 7 12:28:52 UTC 2011


Should it be mentioned (though the point is probably obvious) that the case with "boy" is different?  Even though white men might refer to each other as "boys," the term can have more specific, derrogatory applications as applied to an African American man.

A (white) friend of mine told of sitting next to a fellow parent, an African American man, at a high school football game, who took offense at the amicably-intended query, "Which one is your boy?"

--Charlie

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