Latest on "negro"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/27/2014 07:33 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>An older black sportscaster on CNN (sorry I didn't get his name) mentions a
>team owner "who used the word 'colored' to me. To me. So you can imagine
>what he must have said when I wasn't there."

We haven't yet been introduced in this message chain to the owner of
the Los Angeles Clippers and his alleged words.

Joel


>I report, you decide.
>
>JL
>
>
>On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 1:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter
><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Latest on "negro"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Bundy's use of the definite article - as though all "Negroes" are the same
> > - undoubtedly was a factor in revealing him to be, as a Democrat put it
> > this morning, an "uber-racist." (To me that means Himmler level, but let it
> > go.)
> >
> > No one I've heard on TV has had the linguistic discernment to mention
> > Bundy's use of the "'the'-word." They quite clearly feel or believe or
> > "know" that "Negro" itself is "offensive."
> >
> > And don't forget: "persons of color" is respectful, but "colored people" is
> > offensive. "Colored persons" is, I would think, more offensive yet.
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 1:17 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > > Subject:      Re: Latest on "negro"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > On Apr 27, 2014, at 12:26 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > >
> > > > At 4/26/2014 11:54 PM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock wrote:
> > > >> I thought it was just that as we become accustomed to words, they
> > > >> become more objectifying? So, we change the approved terminology
> > > >> from time to time in an effort to keep the meaning clean?
> > > >> --
> > > >> Kate
> > > >
> > > > I wonder if this has been argued, or discussed, by anyone who has
> > > > written on the historical evolution of the terms that were used to
> > > > refer to African-Americans (either by others or by themselves)?
> > >
> > > So this would be an instance of the "euphemism treadmill" (named by
> > > Pinker, but described in much the same terms by Cicero)?
> > >
> > > LH
> > > >
> > > > One author who examines the history is Patrick Rael, in "Black
> > > > Identity & Black Protest in the Antebellum North (Chapel Hill:
> > > > University of North Carolina Press, 2002) and in his Introduction to
> > > > "African-American Activism before the Civil War: The Freedom Struggle
> > > > in the Antebellum North (New York: Routeledge, 2008).
> > > >
> > > > Joel
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >> On Apr 26, 2014, at 8:01 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > >> -----------------------
> > > >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > >> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > >> > Subject:      Re: Latest on "negro"
> > > >> >
> > > >>
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >> >
> > > >> > On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > > >> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> > > >> >
> > > >> >> Nobody explained why "the 'Negro' word" was bad
> > > >> >
> > > >> >
> > > >> > In like manner, nobody has explained why "African-American" is
> > "good"
> > > and
> > > >> > not simply ridiculous.
> > > >> >
> > > >> > I've decided to go with what's on my birth certificate: "colored,"
> > > with
> > > >> > "black" reserved for formal occasions, such as the Census. Like, why
> > > not?
> > > >> > I'm even considering punting BE for n[egro]d[ialect], as accurate a
> > > >> > denomination as any other.
> > > >> >
> > > >> >
> > > >> > --
> > > >> > -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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> > > >>
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> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
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> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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