Calling oneself racial and ethnic insults

[lpetrich]

I don't know where this sort of thread best belongs, but since race and ethnicity often get interwined with politics, I'm starting it here.

Any opinions on calling oneself racial and ethnic insults about oneself

I, personally, don't care if anyone calls me any such insults. I also find it funny to apply them to myself. But I wouldn't apply such insults to other people.

I am a Yank seppo honkie cracker gringo.

 

[Davka]

Lenny Bruce famously tried to defuse the ugliness behind racist/ethnic slurs by using them openly. It didn't work.

I find the use of the word "nigger" by African-American wanna-be gangstas distasteful, counter-productive, and ignorant. I can see how it could be deliberately used to embrace and defuse the word (like the words Yankee and Christian), but that's not what's happening. When Christians decided to embrace that epithet, they pushed it into mainstream usage. Ditto for Yankees in Colonial America. When someone called them Yankee, they'd reply 'damn straight, and proud of it!" or the 18th-century equivalent.

But black youth who call themselves "nigger" don't react that way when some asshole cracker uses the word - they get mad. This means that the word still holds its ability to hurt, degrade, and demean. Unless and until the attitude of "only blacks can call each-other nigger" changes, the word will remain an ugly, poisonous word.

And yes, I deliberately used the word cracker as an insult. But don't call me a cracker, because I'm not. I'm a white boy.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I often refer to myself and others as fellow mongrels.

 

[dystopian]

Lenny Bruce famously tried to defuse the ugliness behind racist/ethnic slurs by using them openly. It didn't work.

I find the use of the word "nigger" by African-American wanna-be gangstas distasteful, counter-productive, and ignorant. I can see how it could be deliberately used to embrace and defuse the word (like the words Yankee and Christian), but that's not what's happening. When Christians decided to embrace that epithet, they pushed it into mainstream usage. Ditto for Yankees in Colonial America. When someone called them Yankee, they'd reply 'damn straight, and proud of it!" or the 18th-century equivalent.

Uhm. Wat. Yankee is just a bastardization of a Dutch name that slowly got applied to all colonists living in that region and which was only used in a derogatory fashion much later by the British. It'd be like arguing that "German" is a slur repurposed by the people of Central Europe because after WW2 some people started referring to them as "fucking Germans."

 

[Bronzeage]

Lenny Bruce famously tried to defuse the ugliness behind racist/ethnic slurs by using them openly. It didn't work.

I find the use of the word "nigger" by African-American wanna-be gangstas distasteful, counter-productive, and ignorant. I can see how it could be deliberately used to embrace and defuse the word (like the words Yankee and Christian), but that's not what's happening. When Christians decided to embrace that epithet, they pushed it into mainstream usage. Ditto for Yankees in Colonial America. When someone called them Yankee, they'd reply 'damn straight, and proud of it!" or the 18th-century equivalent.

Uhm. Wat. Yankee is just a bastardization of a Dutch name that slowly got applied to all colonists living in that region and which was only used in a derogatory fashion much later by the British. It'd be like arguing that "German" is a slur repurposed by the people of Central Europe because after WW2 some people started referring to them as "fucking Germans."

In my neighborhood, "Yankee" and "bastard" are synonyms.

 

[repoman]

Davka,

Even most rednecks would not be insulted to be called rednecks.

I have seen enough cases on liveleak of semiretarded street whites and latinos using the word nigga while in a fight. Strange.

I think it would be funny to have a white guy interrupt a conversation between blacks and say "Sir, that gentleman called you a nigga. You should ask him to apologize."

 

[dystopian]

Uhm. Wat. Yankee is just a bastardization of a Dutch name that slowly got applied to all colonists living in that region and which was only used in a derogatory fashion much later by the British. It'd be like arguing that "German" is a slur repurposed by the people of Central Europe because after WW2 some people started referring to them as "fucking Germans."

In my neighborhood, "Yankee" and "bastard" are synonyms.

That's *today*, though. Back when the term was first thrown about, your neighborhood didn't even exist yet; and if it did it wouldn't have even heard of the term.

 

[Bronzeage]

Davka,

Even most rednecks would not be insulted to be called rednecks.

I have seen enough cases on liveleak of semiretarded street whites and latinos using the word nigga while in a fight. Strange.

I think it would be funny to have a white guy interrupt a conversation between blacks and say "Sir, that gentleman called you a nigga. You should ask him to apologize."

It depends on who is calling me a Redneck. One of the most famous lines in American literature is from Owen Wister's The Virginian. The title character is known only as "the Virginian," tells a man, "Smile when you call me that."

One of the things a person is assigned when they are given a distinct ethnic identity is the sense to know when someone means to be offensive.

 

[Davka]

In my neighborhood, "Yankee" and "bastard" are synonyms.

That's *today*, though. Back when the term was first thrown about, your neighborhood didn't even exist yet; and if it did it wouldn't have even heard of the term.

I was referring to the period surrounding the American Revolution. The Brits began to use the term "Yankee" as a slur, and the colonists/Americans embraced it, most notably by singing the song "Yankee Doodle," which was originally a song the Brits sang mockingly:

Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a pony;
He stuck a feather in his hat,
And called it macaroni.​

It was only much later that the term came to be synonymous with "Northerner." Nowadays it is used by Southerners to mean "Northern fuck," and by the rest of us to mean "New-Englander."

 

[Bronzeage]

In my neighborhood, "Yankee" and "bastard" are synonyms.

That's *today*, though. Back when the term was first thrown about, your neighborhood didn't even exist yet; and if it did it wouldn't have even heard of the term.

Etymology is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

 

[Kharakov]

It depends on who is calling me a Redneck. One of the most famous lines in American literature is from Owen Wister's The Virginian. The title character is known only as "the Virginian," tells a man, "Smile when you call me that."

Back in da 'burgh, we'd call dem nerds who din get laid Virginyins.

- - - Updated - - -

That's *today*, though. Back when the term was first thrown about, your neighborhood didn't even exist yet; and if it did it wouldn't have even heard of the term.

Etymology is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

And the first of the wit. Scoundrel.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Words only have the power that we decide to give them. If you react to an ethnic slur with outrage then you have created that power. If you react with either pride or indifference then you have denied that power.

 

[Jarhyn]

Words only have the power that we decide to give them. If you react to an ethnic slur with outrage then you have created that power. If you react with either pride or indifference then you have denied that power.

But they still encode a shared understanding of an idea, and because we have emotions that tell us when people are being awful, emotions that most people can't just shut off, when someone applies such an idea to you 'you are an (awful, ignorant black person)' that can really hurt. You can ACT indifferent, but it doesn't change the intent of the dickbag that spewed it at you. Then again if they didn't intend to harm you with it, or if it is a accurate accusation that you are behaving like a terrible stereotype, then you should swallow that hurt, and either politely tell them that it hurts, or take it to heart that you should stop being an awful stereotype.

 

[Tigers!]

That's *today*, though. Back when the term was first thrown about, your neighborhood didn't even exist yet; and if it did it wouldn't have even heard of the term.

I was referring to the period surrounding the American Revolution. The Brits began to use the term "Yankee" as a slur, and the colonists/Americans embraced it, most notably by singing the song "Yankee Doodle," which was originally a song the Brits sang mockingly:

Yankee Doodle went to town
Riding on a pony;
He stuck a feather in his hat,
And called it macaroni.​

It was only much later that the term came to be synonymous with "Northerner." Nowadays it is used by Southerners to mean "Northern fuck," and by the rest of us to mean "New-Englander."

To the rest of the world Yank (or septic) is someone hailing from the United States.

 

[bleubird]

Redneck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenanter
Some think the Scots that came to America and settled in the mountains(hillbilly) keep the old tradition of wearing a red scarf.A badge that was visible from a far.Kin.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Words only have the power that we decide to give them. If you react to an ethnic slur with outrage then you have created that power. If you react with either pride or indifference then you have denied that power.

I agree that you can neutralize the affect words have in time through indifference but consider the power some words have initially. It could take awhile for some words to be neutralized. Perhaps some are so powerful, they never will be neutralized.

I often heard 'dumb Polack' comments and jokes as a kid but they did not carry much weight in society as a whole. Being half Polish, I did not much care for them but I could easily ignore them.

I think the Jewish holocaust will never loose it's power. Derogatory comments and jokes that reference such (however slight) should be avoided now and forever.

Can Denzel Washington say "my nigger" and get away with it? Sure. But Ethan Hawk can't. While the word can be used in vastly different context, perhaps even different definitions of the word, Ethan Hawk cannot use it in the same context as Denzel Washington simply because of the color of his skin, no matter how hard he tries, he just can't make it work. The word is infinitely more powerful than he. It is white guy Kyrptonite.

 

[Davka]

Redneck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenanter
Some think the Scots that came to America and settled in the mountains(hillbilly) keep the old tradition of wearing a red scarf.A badge that was visible from a far.Kin.

Interesting.

In the late 60s/early 70s, it came to mean someone with short hair, unhip, square, hayseed. Short hair means if you work outdoors the back of your neck tends to sunburn. It took on the connotation of being an asshole who would gang up with other rednecks to beat up hippies and queers, along with anyone else who looked different.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Davka,

Even most rednecks would not be insulted to be called rednecks.

I have seen enough cases on liveleak of semiretarded street whites and latinos using the word nigga while in a fight. Strange.

I think it would be funny to have a white guy interrupt a conversation between blacks and say "Sir, that gentleman called you a nigga. You should ask him to apologize."

I have to admit, that would be entertaining to watch.

 

[Bronzeage]

Redneck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenanter
Some think the Scots that came to America and settled in the mountains(hillbilly) keep the old tradition of wearing a red scarf.A badge that was visible from a far.Kin.

The term "redneck" originates with the naturally pale descendants of Scots, Irish, and British people who came to America, who worked in the fields. They never tanned well and had a perpetual sunburned neck. It was a derogatory term applied to poor agricultural workers, by their better off town dwelling fellow citizens. The red scarf story is an attempt to remove the stigma. Nice try.

One thing which distinguishes other terms which began as slurs to differentiate racial, ethnic, and social classes, from the proper society of acceptable people, is "redneck" can be used on TFT, and not be reported.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Redneck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenanter
Some think the Scots that came to America and settled in the mountains(hillbilly) keep the old tradition of wearing a red scarf.A badge that was visible from a far.Kin.

The term "redneck" originates with the naturally pale descendants of Scots, Irish, and British people who came to America, who worked in the fields. They never tanned well and had a perpetual sunburned neck. It was a derogatory term applied to poor agricultural workers, by their better off town dwelling fellow citizens. The red scarf story is an attempt to remove the stigma. Nice try.

One thing which distinguishes other terms which began as slurs to differentiate racial, ethnic, and social classes, from the proper society of acceptable people, is "redneck" can be used on TFT, and not be reported.

Also, while it could apply anywhere, it generally applies to people from the South, and anti-Southern bigotry is accepted at TFT without anyone suspecting you of any mal-intent.