OED & Jigaboo

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Tue, Apr 10, 2007 at 09:30:32AM -0500, Scot LaFaive wrote:
> After hearing about Imus and being curious about "jigaboo," I looked it up
> in the OED: "A Black person, a Negro." This made me think; isn't "Negro" now
> considered somewhat offensive? I've heard that "Black" was once offensive
> while "Negro" wasn't, but is it reversed now? Personally, I find "Black" as
> acceptable and valid as "White," but I would never use "Negro." Though there
> still is the United Negro College Fund....

The OED's recently revised entry for _Negro_ has a long note
about the usage, including mention of the UNCF, and the
comment "...the term _Negro_ (together with related terms such
as _Negress_) has fallen from favour and is now typically
regarded as out of date or even offensive in both British and
American English."

The entry for _jigaboo_ hasn't been touched in some decades;
when it's revised we will of course update the language.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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