another "Negro" in quotes

[Jonathan Lighter]

My recollection of NYC papers of the '50s and early '60s is similar. White
suspects were not identified racially.  Asian suspects, I believe, were
identified by original nationality if immigrants; their names were often
enough to identify them as "Oriental."

Which is another word that today is widely regarded as a slur. The only
explanation I've ever heard is not that it is "intrinsically demeaning"
(like "Negro," supposedly) but that it implies a Eurocentric view of the
world, East Asia being no more "oriental" or "occidental" than any other
place on the globe, there being no naturally occurring dividing line between
east and west.

However, "Eastern" and "Western" are 100% OK.

JL

On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 4:35 AM, Margaret Lee <mlee303 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: another "Negro" in quotes
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Also, back in the day (before the '60's), the newspaper in my hometown of
> L=
> ynchburg, VA identified as "Negro" any black person who had been arrested
> o=
> r had committed a crime,=C2=A0This was probably the same for most
> newspaper=
> s at the time, especially in the South.=20
> =C2=A0
> --Margaret Lee
>
> ________________________________________
> --- On Sun, 10/24/10, Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>
> From: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: another "Negro" in quotes
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Sunday, October 24, 2010, 8:13 PM
>
>
> OMG.
>
> m a m, who grew up in NYC, has always lived in the North, and is ignorant
> o=
> f
> much of the unwritten (and the written) history of this country
>
> On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 3:06 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > Little-known fact: back in the day, Southern - well, farther behind
> > the Cotton Curtain than Saint Louis, IAC - telephone books placed a
> > "c" after the names of people who had telephones and were also
> > colored. That always struck me as overkill, somehow.
> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > =E2=80=93=E2=80=93=E2=80=93
> >
>
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