[Ads-l] a different take on "chain migration"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Feb 23 15:33:24 UTC 2018


> On Feb 23, 2018, at 10:08 AM, paul johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM> wrote:
> 
> It's not that I want to call anybody anything, I want to know why blacks feel free to call each other nigger as if it's some sort of Macho signifier?
> 
>     I'm 83 years old grew up on 47th street in Chicago which was a sort of mixed neighborhood, (changing from white to black,) by 1963 we were the last white family on the block. My parents called every one including themselves by ethnic slurs Dad was a Lugan of a Hunky , mom was a mick, their friends were dagos, wops, spics, shines,  blockheads,  krauts, niggers, chinks and so on.  I can clearly remember my mother remarking.; I've got all nigger neighbors now and they're a lot nicer than the polacks that used to live around here!'
> 
> With the rise of the Black Panthers I can assure you that you could not say nigger in a black bar if you were white. In fact if memory serves me, for a while nobody used that word unless you wanted to start something.
> 
> By the way, just like Damnyankee was at time one word, I personally never heard honky without the descriptive 'mother f—ker

Or the descriptive “cat”?  Cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly07GWoK9aY


> 
> 
> 
> On 2/23/2018 7:07 AM, Baker, John wrote:
>> I’ve heard the question before, but I don’t understand it. Why would you want to call someone a nigger or a faggot?
>> 
>> 
>> John Baker
>> 
>> 
>> On Feb 22, 2018, at 7:57 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM<mailto:mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> The same applies to the word “faggot”. It’s an in-group/out-group thing combined with reclamation. BB
>> 
>>> On 22 Feb 2018, at 16:38, paul johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM<mailto:paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I'm upset that on television blacks can call themselves or each other 'nigger' but I can't say it unless I'm packing. Curious, can they under that protocol, are they proscribed from calling whites 'honkys'
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 2/22/2018 6:29 PM, W Brewer wrote:
>>>> Wonder who pulled her chain.
>>>> 
>>>> -
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> -- 
> I'm not saying you're stupid, just that you have bad luck when thinking...
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list