[Ads-l] Linguistic Etiquette Question

[dave@wilton.net]

I agree with Wilson; these questions are by no means decided, and the terrain is constantly shifting. There is no consensus, and there probably can't be.
 
But on one of these questions, here is a piece by Kwame Anthony Appiah on whether or not to capitalize "Black/black." He comes down in favor of it, but his is by no means the final word, and he thoroughly lays out the counterarguments.
 
[ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/time-to-capitalize-blackand-white/613159/ ]( https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/time-to-capitalize-blackand-white/613159/ )
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Thursday, October 7, 2021 2:24am
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Linguistic Etiquette Question



> Can anyone suggest to me where I might find a good and recent discussion
of the etiquette concerning the use or > non-use of the terms "African
American," "black," "Black," "person of color," etc. ?

Has there been such a discussion? Can there be such a discussion? My
impression is that random people simply pull this shit out of their asses
and "You pays yer money an' ya takes yer cherce."

BTW, you appear to have missed the distinction between the kinder, gentler
"enslavement, enslaved person" vs. the ruder, cruder "slavery, slave."

It appears that, in fact, you _can_ make this shit up.

Why worry about the problem, when it's simpler to let white folk lose sleep
over what to call it? It's almost enough to make me miss the good old days
of Jim Crow, when we colored people had no problem distinguishing "colored
Johnny" from "white Johnny," in conversation and there was no semantic
distinction between NO COLORED and WHITE ONLY.

My personal experience is that "colored" is still the most widely-used term
among random people of whatever race - or should that be, "ethnicity"? -
from coast to coast, including most colored people..

On Wed, Oct 6, 2021 at 5:14 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Even if you find one, I doubt there's anything like a consensus of
> acceptance of it, they way there might be with respect to which fork one
> uses with salad.
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 6, 2021 1:42 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Linguistic Etiquette Question
>
> ----
>
> Can anyone suggest to me where I might find a good and recent discussion
> of the etiquette concerning the use or non-use of the terms "African
> American," "black," "Black," "person of color," etc. ?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - Caution-http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
- Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org