Latest on "negro"

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 25, 2014, at 5:40 PM, Baker, John wrote:

> Costello's remark seems a bit bizarre to me.  Bundy is not a racist because he used an old-fashioned (but not inherently invidious) term to refer to people of sub-Saharan African descent.  He is a racist because he thinks they should be picking cotton rather than, as he puts it, on "government subsidy" (although he demands a much larger government subsidy for himself).

And there's the bit on one sound clip where he claims that they had it better under slavery.  Doesn't much matter which n-initial or n-non-initial terms you use when you make such claims.

LH
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 10:05 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Latest on "negro"
>
> Yahoo! News doesn't capitalize the word in its headline:
>
> "Jon Stewart takes a victory lap around Cliven Bundy's 'negro studies'
> debacle<http://hsrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=A2KLtUc5aVpTZEEBWhibvZx4;_ylu=X3oDMTNtM3ZpajVwBGJwb3MDMQRjY29kZQNnYQRjcG9zAzQEY3QDMQRnA2MyZGJmZjc5LWM2YWUtM2FhMy1iOGYwLTJkNjE0N2Q2NGJhYQRpbnRsA3VzBHBrZ3QDMwRwb3MDMQRzZWMDdGQtc3RybQRzbGsDdGl0bGUEdGVzdAMyOTc-/RV=1/RE=1399643706/RH=aHNyZC55YWhvby5jb20-/RO=2/RU=aHR0cDovL3RoZXdlZWsuY29tL2FydGljbGUvaW5kZXgvMjYwNTEzL3NwZWVkcmVhZHMtam9uLXN0ZXdhcnQtdGFrZXMtYS12aWN0b3J5LWxhcC1hcm91bmQtY2xpdmVuLWJ1bmR5cy1uZWdyby1zdHVkaWVzLWRlYmFjbGU-/RS=%5EADAiCWytwLUFCBVirKlAroEtbIGOmg->
> "
>
> On CNN, child-free Carol Costello notes that Bundy's "use of the word
> 'Negro'"  was by itself "mind-blowing" and "reprehensible."
>
> (Bundy said today he thought that people of all colors should be able to
> sit anywhere on the bus they wanted.)
>
> JL
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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