There's an old saying. Only used in Austria, if I'm not mistaken.

"Ich bin Neger.", meaning "I am negro". It means to be extremely broke. To tell the truth, I never really reflected on where it came from, but quite recently, I stumbled over it's origins. It came up at the turn to the 20th century. People that were out of work, and there were many of them, used to sit in the streets. So, negro (neger) is used to say, they have ample time on their hands letting the sun shine on them and letting their skin turn brown.

Oh wow, that is racist. There are son many layers of negative implications in that, I'm not sure where to start.

1. There's the classist assumption that the poor are lazy

2. There's the implication that black people are poor and therefore lazy

3. And the colorist thinking of the darker your skin the more lazy you are

4. The problem comparing a sun tan to the natural melanin content of darker skinned people is gross and creepy

In context it probably isn't.  If it's origin has to do with sitting on your ass in the sun till you crisp....it's kind of brutal, but not racist.  Given our history here in the states, and the baggage of the terms, however.....anyone who says it probably has a pointy white hood in their closet.  Is it still used in that way, or has it, like many words...taken on a racist meaning?  

For example....in english, a racoon is an animal........but there's another use for an abbreviated form of that word nowadays............and it being racist pretty much depends on how it's used in the moment regardless of it's origins, even if the words in the sentence are exactly the same.

"Yall wanna go coon huntin?"

Either you have a redneck who likes to shoot tree rats, or again, pointy white hood in closet.  There's alot of overlap between these two types of people, ofc...lol.  Kind of ambiguous, so there are places in the south where you -really- have to roll the dice to figure out which group you've found yourself surrounded by.......it pays to ask for clarification, in my experience.

(March 7, 2016 at 2:30 pm)Rhythm Wrote: In context it probably isn't.

That's how it came to be. Being burned to a crisp on the streets. And that's also why I don't think it to be racist.

There's also another Austrian saying "Jetzt gehst Meier" (now you're Meier). I still don't know where that origins, but it plays to a very popular surname. It means, going down, going to jail or dying. Or buying a ticket for the 49er, meaning to die or threatening someone with killing. the 49er is the streetcar running to the Central Cemetary in Vienna.

Austrians have a way with vivid symbolism in their sayings that means nothing outside the country.

Reminds me of this: http://nypost.com/2013/05/23/fired-teach...ent-negro/

Maybe Meier the 1st was a bad, bad man?

(March 7, 2016 at 2:42 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Maybe Meier the 1st was a bad, bad man?

The name comes from the carolingian court where a Meier was sort of a house administrator. But there never was any shortage of Meiers in Austria as well as Germany. But the saying is only known in Austria.

Yep, context is everything.

The culture counts. Your countries culture maybe not. My countries culture and being an elmer, racist. I'm not sure how it would be taken if said by an african-american.

It's not used in Germany, as far as I know.