Don't get why "PG County" is considered disparaging

[Anonymous]

My husband grew up in PG County and he and all his childhood friends have always called it PG county. Not that it matters, but he's white - though his black friends call it PG also. He and I were just talking about this issue and were similarly stumped.

[Anonymous]

I'm from this area and grew up going to the outdoor shopping center that was P.G. Plaza; Bob's Big Boy on Sundays... I digress.

When I said "PG Plaza" in a conversation, some snooty DC transplants told me "we expect that from people like you who don't know the difference between PG and Prince Georges!" LOLOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New Jersey isn't going to change it's name because people refer to things as being "SO JERSEY", so PG shouldn't care either.

Jersey shore. Some names just stick. Deal with it.

They aren't saying it's offensive. They are saying it happens, then they provided an example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time resident of PG County, my experience is that it is based on colloquial usage from years ago. Many years ago (like 20-30 years ago), people used to use PG derogatively. It wasn't uncommon for people to say "That's so PG" when they meant "That's so ghetto", "That's so trashy" or even worse, "That's so black". This was back in the 70's and 80's. In the 90's and early 2000's there was a concerted effort to refer to the County as Prince George's County to try and get away from the PG/trashy references. It's less of any issue now and I don't hear those types of comments anymore, but there was a reason for it.

Thank you for this clarification! I saw this in the news the other day and was baffled.

PG County was the sticks in the 70s - a place for white blue collar workers and "rednecks."

How old are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a long-time resident of PG County, my experience is that it is based on colloquial usage from years ago. Many years ago (like 20-30 years ago), people used to use PG derogatively. It wasn't uncommon for people to say "That's so PG" when they meant "That's so ghetto", "That's so trashy" or even worse, "That's so black". This was back in the 70's and 80's. In the 90's and early 2000's there was a concerted effort to refer to the County as Prince George's County to try and get away from the PG/trashy references. It's less of any issue now and I don't hear those types of comments anymore, but there was a reason for it.

Thank you for this clarification! I saw this in the news the other day and was baffled.

PG County was the sticks in the 70s - a place for white blue collar workers and "rednecks."

How old are you?

The population of Prince George's County in 1970 and 1980 were 660,567 and 665,071, respectively. (More people than in Montgomery County in 1970 and 1980.) In 1980, the population of Prince George's County was 42% non-white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Jersey isn't going to change it's name because people refer to things as being "SO JERSEY", so PG shouldn't care either.

And then there are Jersey Boys. But whatever you do, don't say "PG boys." OMG.