Is the word "nappy" racist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When your woke daughter rebuked you for your racist screen name, did everyone else on the bus applaud?

lolol!!

[Anonymous]

I want to know if I should feel sorry for you dog. He’s innocent in all of this.

And if you are the white owner of a black dog that has poofy poodle hair, or in any way shape or form resembles kinky hair, and that is why you nicknamed him Nappy, then you’re dead wrong, and your daughter is correct.

[Anonymous]

It can be construed as a micro or macro aggression depending on the context. There are a lot of words in the dictionary OP...pick something else.

[Anonymous]

Why would you want a screen name that relates to diapers? Racism aside, diapers are gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a screen name for a forum I frequent. The name includes the word "nappy" (e.g. NappyMD) My DD said that I should change it because the word "nappy" is racist. I used the word because it is a reference to a nickname we had for our dog. DD and I are both white. When I think of the the word nappy, I think of the British name for diapers.

Is the word racist?

Did you grow up in England? I grew up in the Midwest, where almost everybody was white, and even I think nappy is a word for hair texture, not for baby sanitary arrangements.

[Anonymous]

If my mean hair, it's ok to give yourself that name only if you're an AA doctor. If you mean diaper, Why??

[Anonymous]

Nappy is definitely inherently racist in the United States. Remember Don Imus? He was suspended because he referred to the Rutgers’s women’s basketball team as a bunch of “nappy headed hoes”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to know if I should feel sorry for you dog. He’s innocent in all of this.

And if you are the white owner of a black dog that has poofy poodle hair, or in any way shape or form resembles kinky hair, and that is why you nicknamed him Nappy, then you’re dead wrong, and your daughter is correct.

+1

Tell us about your dog, OP.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure the word "nap" was first used as a reference to fabric and textiles. It was then borrowed for AA hair. As a seamstress, I first think of fabric when inhear "nappy" as I typically use the word in that context. I wouldn't use it as a screenname where it could potentially sound racist.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nap_(textile)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nappy is definitely inherently racist in the United States. Remember Don Imus? He was suspended because he referred to the Rutgers’s women’s basketball team as a bunch of “nappy headed hoes”.

No, I'm AA and the word itself is not racist although I wouldn't go around calling people "nappy headed". The Imus incident happened because of the entirety of the statement. Not just the word "nappy".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nappy is definitely inherently racist in the United States. Remember Don Imus? He was suspended because he referred to the Rutgers’s women’s basketball team as a bunch of “nappy headed hoes”.

Nappy is not an inherently racist word. It just refers to the hair texture. Imus would've been suspended if he called them "beautiful, straight haired hoes" or if he called a group of white women "blonde headed hoes". You generally shouldn't call any group of women "hoes"...or comment about the texture of their hair.

[Anonymous]

How about a white woman who calls herself Nappy? Seriously. This is her nickname and how she refers to herself professionally as well. Nuts, I say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
So far has American drifted from British English.
Nappy means diaper.

British and American English started drifting apart hundreds of years ago and have evolved independently of each other since then. The word diaper predates nappy by a long shot. In any case, nappy is much more commonly used as an adjective in reference to hair texture in the US than as a noun, meaning a diaper.

+1

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure the word "nap" was first used as a reference to fabric and textiles. It was then borrowed for AA hair. As a seamstress, I first think of fabric when inhear "nappy" as I typically use the word in that context. I wouldn't use it as a screenname where it could potentially sound racist.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nap_(textile)

[Anonymous]

No one in the world knows about your dog's nickname, so even though that's what you're thinking about, it's not relevant. If it's a cloth-diapering forum, you're fine. But in any other context, I think it makes sense to come up with a name that is less likely to offend.