[Ads-l] n-word update
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jun 23 18:01:17 UTC 2015
More controversy:
http://news.yahoo.com/n-word-don-lemon-obama-wtf-cnn-135746814.html
And read some of the loony comments (if you can take it).
My favorite for combined ignorance, ingenuousness, and lack of bile:
"That word is in the dictionary. Look the word up people. Color has nothing
to do with it. LOOK UP THE WORD!!! You do not have to be a certain color to
be one."
JL
On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 12:13 PM, David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com>
wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: David Daniel <dad at COARSECOURSES.COM>
> Subject: RES: n-word update
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Yes, he can only say it every other day.
> DAD
>
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: David Barnhart <dbarnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
> Subject: Re: n-word update
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -
> ---
>
> True, President Obama is black. But isn't he also white?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jun 23, 2015, at 10:56 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> wrote=3D
> -----
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: n-word update
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> -----
> >=3D20
> >>> On Jun 23, 2015, at 10:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter =3D3D
> >> <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >> =3D3D20
> >> The talking heads are still discussing it.
> >> =3D3D20
> >> The assertion may be gaining ground that it's OK for Obama to "use"
> =3D3=
> D
> > the
> >> word because he's black, but no white person should ever be =3D3D
> > "permitted" to
> >> utter it - presumably even in reporting on what the President of the
> =3D=
> 3D
> > United
> >> States actually said.
> >> =3D3D20
> >> One white anchor called it "a word most of us haven't used in over a
> >> decade."
> >> =3D3D20
> >> Presumably "use" means "mention" here as well.
> >=3D20
> > I noted that on the first page of today's Times, Obama is said to have
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > "invoked" the word in question. I think Quine would have accepted that
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > as a near-synonym for "mentioned" rather than "used". But I concede the
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > distinction isn't usually made. I'd have expected the talking heads to
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > have enlisted the services of Randall Kennedy, author of the mostly
> =3D3D=
>
> > well-received _Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word_ =3D3D
> > (Pantheon, 2002), hasn't been interviewed--unless he has been.=3D3D20
> >=3D20
> > LH
> >> =3D3D20
> >> Meanwhile, certain members of a rival political party are accusing
> =3D3D=
>
> > Obama of
> >> borderline hypocrisy for "using" the word even as he supposedly =3D3D
> > condemns
> >> racism.
> >> =3D3D20
> >> Another topic of growing controversy is whether the flags of seven
> =3D3D=
>
> > Southern
> >> states should be replaced because of some historical connection or
> =3D3D=
>
> > visual
> >> resemblance to one or another Confederate flag. (The Mississippi flag
> >> actually includes the rebel flag in its canton.)
> >> =3D3D20
> >> JL
> >> =3D3D20
> >>> On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:30 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> -----------------------
> >>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >>> Subject: Re: n-word update
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> =3D3D
> > -----
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> "That old black magic / Has them in its spell," I reckon.
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 5:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter =3D3D
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> >>>> -----------------------
> >>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >>>> Subject: Re: n-word update
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> =3D3D
> > -----
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> NPR found it necessary to "warn" listeners that they would actually
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > hear
> >>>> the word spoken by the President.
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> In an unrelated development, CNN reports that at least three =3D3D
> > prominent
> >>>> newscasters (Megyn Kelly of Fox and Jake Tappert and Anderson Cooper
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > of
> >>>> CNN) have announced their resolve no longer to utter the name (or
> =3D3=
> D
> > even
> >>> the
> >>>> initials) of D----- R---.
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> I seem to recall an interviewee after the Newtown massacre telling a
> >>>> journalist she would not utter the name of killer-suicide Adam Lanza
> >>>> because "It gives him power."
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> JL
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 3:56 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> >>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>>> -----------------------
> >>>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >>>>> Subject: n-word update
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> =3D3D
> > -----
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> Even the BBC World News crawl carried the headline, "Obama Uses
> >>> N-Word."
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> CNN has already devoted many minutes to a discussion of the =3D3D
> > President's
> >>>>> utterance. At one point the question was raised of whether it's
> >>>> appropriate
> >>>>> for white journalists to report it.
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> The journalists' answer was yes, but that doesn't make the question
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > any
> >>>>> less dumb
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> And just now, Professor Cornel West has heatedly declared Mr. Obama
> >>> "the
> >>>>> first niggerized President."
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> A black person is "niggerized," he explained (again heatedly), if
> >>> they're
> >>>>> too afraid to speak the truth about racism.
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> JL
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >>>> truth."
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>> The American Dialect Society - =3D3D
> >
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3D3D3Dhttp-3A__www.americandiale=
> c=3D
> t.=3D3D
> >
>
> org&d=3D3D3DAwIBaQ&c=3D3D3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3D3D3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13=
> gtz0Z=3D
> pW1TsS=3D3D
> >
>
> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3D3D3DW1abXozX0ONeIpXwTsww9ve2OYBA5Z2zZi1kszctSTM&s=3D3D3=
> DBf=3D
> rtL3=3D3D
> > i5tf45f3NFz0HTWM78Gj4OtbJLF2HwiwgeTMM&e=3D3D3D=3D3D20
> >>>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> --
> >>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >>> truth."
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> The American Dialect Society - =3D3D
> >
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3D3D3Dhttp-3A__www.americandiale=
> c=3D
> t.=3D3D
> >
>
> org&d=3D3D3DAwIBaQ&c=3D3D3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3D3D3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13=
> gtz0Z=3D
> pW1TsS=3D3D
> >
>
> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3D3D3DW1abXozX0ONeIpXwTsww9ve2OYBA5Z2zZi1kszctSTM&s=3D3D3=
> DBf=3D
> rtL3=3D3D
> > i5tf45f3NFz0HTWM78Gj4OtbJLF2HwiwgeTMM&e=3D3D3D=3D3D20
> >>>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> --
> >>> -Wilson
> >>> -----
> >>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> =3D3D=3D
>
> > to
> >>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >>> -Mark Twain
> >>> =3D3D20
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - =3D3D
> >
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3D3D3Dhttp-3A__www.americandiale=
> c=3D
> t.=3D3D
> >
>
> org&d=3D3D3DAwIBaQ&c=3D3D3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3D3D3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13=
> gtz0Z=3D
> pW1TsS=3D3D
> >
>
> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3D3D3DW1abXozX0ONeIpXwTsww9ve2OYBA5Z2zZi1kszctSTM&s=3D3D3=
> DBf=3D
> rtL3=3D3D
> > i5tf45f3NFz0HTWM78Gj4OtbJLF2HwiwgeTMM&e=3D3D3D=3D3D20
> >>> =3D3D20
> >> =3D3D20
> >> =3D3D20
> >> =3D3D20
> >> --=3D3D20
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> =3D3=
> D
> > truth."
> >> =3D3D20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - =3D3D
> >
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3D3D3Dhttp-3A__www.americandiale=
> c=3D
> t.=3D3D
> >
>
> org&d=3D3D3DAwIBaQ&c=3D3D3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3D3D3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13=
> gtz0Z=3D
> pW1TsS=3D3D
> >
>
> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3D3D3DW1abXozX0ONeIpXwTsww9ve2OYBA5Z2zZi1kszctSTM&s=3D3D3=
> DBf=3D
> rtL3=3D3D
> > i5tf45f3NFz0HTWM78Gj4OtbJLF2HwiwgeTMM&e=3D3D3D=3D3D20
> >=3D20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ---
> Este email foi escaneado pelo Avast antiv=C3=ADrus.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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."
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list