RE: Is slack a private social club and other issues my sorry ass has landed itself in
April 20, 2019 at 2:59 am
(This post was last modified: April 20, 2019 at 3:09 am by pocaracas.)
It is always curious to see how touchy feely Murricans are at a few particular words...
Some time ago, someone said douche and all hell broke loose.
Nigger is another that tends to have a shitstorm on its tail... so much so, that you will even replace it with "the N word", as if that totally changes the meaning of what's being said...
(Can't say Voldemort, but rather he-who-shall-not-be-named!, huh?)
I know the history attached to the word, though I never felt any of it for obvious reasons...the main one being that I'm in Europe. .. Portugal, actually... The language responsible for bringing you the negro word. But, you know?, in Portugal, negro is the politically correct way of referring to those dark African people (and descendents). We also have a history of f racism due to the colonies in Africa (mainly Angola and Mozambique) so we've had our weird stuff too. Here, the offensive word became "preto", for some reason that my knowledge of history is remiss. But it is used to refer to the color black, in paint or on a screen, and there we can use preto or negro interchangeably. So the distinction comes when you apply it to someone... And, even there, given enough familiarity, people are usually ok with it.
I'll go out on a limb and guess that jorm was using it under the silent understanding of familiarity... And seemingly got a kick in the gut because some people can't do nuance.
Some people are just like that: If you do X,Y, or Z, shit happens. Binary thinking, possibly justified due to life's many kicks, possibly a learned behavior from peers, for it seems to be a murrican/bureaucrat way of thinking.
Anyway, those are my 2c. Feel free to rage at the wonderful gift that my language and ancestors have given you.
Portugal boasts having been one of the first countries in the world to abolish slavery... Way back in the 1700s! But slave trading didn't end, as America knows all too well. On behalf of those greedy Portuguese bastards from 200 years ago, I apologize.
Some time ago, someone said douche and all hell broke loose.
Nigger is another that tends to have a shitstorm on its tail... so much so, that you will even replace it with "the N word", as if that totally changes the meaning of what's being said...
(Can't say Voldemort, but rather he-who-shall-not-be-named!, huh?)
I know the history attached to the word, though I never felt any of it for obvious reasons...the main one being that I'm in Europe. .. Portugal, actually... The language responsible for bringing you the negro word. But, you know?, in Portugal, negro is the politically correct way of referring to those dark African people (and descendents). We also have a history of f racism due to the colonies in Africa (mainly Angola and Mozambique) so we've had our weird stuff too. Here, the offensive word became "preto", for some reason that my knowledge of history is remiss. But it is used to refer to the color black, in paint or on a screen, and there we can use preto or negro interchangeably. So the distinction comes when you apply it to someone... And, even there, given enough familiarity, people are usually ok with it.
I'll go out on a limb and guess that jorm was using it under the silent understanding of familiarity... And seemingly got a kick in the gut because some people can't do nuance.
Some people are just like that: If you do X,Y, or Z, shit happens. Binary thinking, possibly justified due to life's many kicks, possibly a learned behavior from peers, for it seems to be a murrican/bureaucrat way of thinking.
Anyway, those are my 2c. Feel free to rage at the wonderful gift that my language and ancestors have given you.
Portugal boasts having been one of the first countries in the world to abolish slavery... Way back in the 1700s! But slave trading didn't end, as America knows all too well. On behalf of those greedy Portuguese bastards from 200 years ago, I apologize.
