Latest on "negro"

[Laurence Horn]

Love that lexical clone, Jon.  At least one good thing to come out of the Bundy business (besides embarrassment for those who were canonizing him)…

LH

On Apr 26, 2014, at 12:54 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> It's OK for newspeople to use it too - in quotation
>
> Had Bundy used the "'N-word'  N-word," they wouldn't have repeated it.
>
> I did seem to detect some embarrassment (wide eyes, lowered voice, etc.) in
> some of the repetitions, however.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 10:42 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: Latest on "negro"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 4/26/2014 09:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>>> To clarify: Costello and everyone else who commented scored Bundy as a
>>> racist for his idiot musings about slavery. But they also condemned his
>> use
>>> of what one black commentator called "the 'Negro' word."
>>>
>>> Nobody explained why "the 'Negro' word" was bad, however. It just is.
>>> You're just supposed to know. You're not supposed to say it.
>>>
>>> How does the American Negro College Fund stay in business??  They even run
>>> ads on TV!!
>>>
>>> (I think the word is still OK for anthropologists, because they write
>> books
>>> nobody else reads.)
>>
>> I hope it's also still OK for writers about the 18th century, even in
>> paraphasing!  Because if I could only write, I'd try to publish a
>> book, if only anyone might read it.
>>
>> By the way, I know two journals that will not publish the word
>> "Negro" unless it is in a direct quotation -- "Slavery and Abolition"
>> and the "South Carolina Historical Magazine".
>>
>> Joel
>>
>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 1:03 AM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>> -----------------------
>>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> Subject:      Re: Latest on "negro"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> WB:  <<Can we still use the A-A word?   Jist wundrin'.>>
>>>> WG: <<Why does it matter to you? Are some of your best friends
>> n-words? Do
>>>> you otherwise expect to have occasion to speak to black Americans about
>>>> black Americans? If so, then use whatever terms you ordinarily use. If
>> not,
>>>> then use whatever terms you ordinarily use. Who is included in that
>> "we,"
>>>> BTW?>>
>>>> WB: Judge not, lest ye be judged.
>>>>
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>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>>
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>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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