African American kids at schools being taunted about racial features.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not the PP you're responding to, 22:48, but how does this feel: I am really offended that you just used the world "official" in your post. I am white, and my husband is Jewish, and when people like you use the word "official," it offends us because it reminds him of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. You may not have known that, not having a Jewish grandfather living in Germany in the 1930s -- but now you do. in So please understand our perspective and stop using the word "official" when you speak around us.

- - -

tell me, where is this going to end? and don't say it's stupid -- ending the use of the word "official" is no less stupid than saying "black sheep" is forbidden.

Hear, hear! Well put.

The poster above is kidding , jackass. "hear,hear...." You really are just sad.

Can someone shed some light on what this response even means? Who is kidding? Who is sad and why? Makes no sense...

[Anonymous]

Despite what you seem to believe, the fact that I scored well on my SATs in no reason for me to defer to your obtuseness in matters of grammar, vocabulary, and rhetoric.

"obtuseness". Could you possibly highjack this thread anymore with your laughable sentence structure.
Did you even read OP comments about what was being said to her daughter? The remarks were insensitive and hurtful. Her daughter should not be subjected to them. Hair "that looks like poop"? Are you seriously going to question whether or not these comments are pejorative and repellant? Are so invested in being literally correct that you are willing to allow an atmosphere where this type of hate/negative language can be part of childhood interaction. This type of language could cause life long psychic scarring. Why would you want to promote that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Instead of using these boards to find women, why not sign on to Match or Eharmony instead?

Don't be daft. That wasn't some sort of pick-up line! I'm a happily married (straight) woman myself. I'm merely offering a toast or a salute to someone I perceive to be a kindred spirit. The PP's wit, humor, and sense of the absurd agreed with me. You need to lighten up. (Which is not, in any way, a comment regarding the amount of melanin in your complexion.)

not daft at all as there are plenty of "happily" married straight women ISO other women

That's probably true somewhere, but it makes no sense here. The necessity of having to reveal one's name, number, or email address entirely nullifies the nature of an ANONYMOUS posting. Ergo, LOGIC should be allowed to intervene and inform one's thought processes that it was merely a friendly shout-out.

Do you really see such twisted motives behind everything people do? "Black sheep = racial insensitivity; "niggardly" = racial animus; friendly internet hat-tip = gay agenda." I feel very sorry for you.

This is the down side of DCUM. For every spark of wit and intelligence there's an equal and opposite dirtclod of dimness and pedantry.

"dirtclod, dimness, pedantry". You really are just too clever by half. You should really stop now, you argument is coming from a very negative place. You'll have to work out your frustrations about the outcome of the elections in a more persuasive way. Perhaps burning a cross?

"work out your frustrations about the outcome of the elections in a more persuasive way"? How do you work out frustrations in a persuasive way? Whom are you trying to pursuade... and of what? Doesn't make any sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Did you even read OP comments about what was being said to her daughter? ....Hair "that looks like poop"?

Did YOU read them? Hint: it wasn't hair. I understand you want to be a know-it-all - but that requires at tleast appearing to know it all.

[Anonymous]

To inject a bit of sanity into this discussion , there seem to be two issues. One is the derogatory comments being made to AA children. I think it is probably safe to say that everyone on this board can agree that such comments are hurtful, inappropriate, and have no place anywhere among children or anyone. Where the subject took a turn into disagreement was when a PP started commenting (I'm paraphrasing) that racism is so ingrained in our country, witness such phrases as "black sheep." It was then (correctly) pointed out that that term has nothing to do with skin color, at which point the discussion became more heated on the issue of language and political correctness.

Now some editorial comments (as opposed to factual observations above):

1. I think it does posters a disservice to suggest that because someone has an issue with excessive political correctness, thatshe therefore must see nothing wrong with actual racist comments being made to children. As explained above, issue one is different from issue two.

2. In general, I think excessive grievance-nurturing/umbrage-taking of the sort to complain about legitimate terms like "black sheep," etc. (especially those posters who proudly stated that they do not even care about what the actual real meanings are), harms race relations more than helps.

[Anonymous]

You know, I hope this conversation goes both ways.

My dd (white) is a minority in her class. She faces the same "taunting" that other minorities face in all-white situations. I see no outrage from the parents of the Hispanic and AA girls. It's an "oh, well, now they know what we went through" kind of thing from a few of the parents. We're great friends with most, but reverse racism exists. Please teach your minority children that majority kids are not to be villified or feared. Nor are their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

1. The original meaning of the N word was nothing of the kind; you are confusing that with the word niggardly, which DOES mean stingy, and which has absolutely nothing to do with the N word, linguistically or historically. So you are quite in error.

2. Yes, as a matter of fact, if I were to use the word niggardly, or the term black sheep, and someone took offense, I would indeed give them a mini-lesson on the true origin/meaning of the word/term. I would obviously never use actual racist terms, but having to avoid perfectly normal words and expressions just because others might just possibly erroneously take offense is, in my mind, political correctness run amok.

Oh good! Me too. So glad not to be alone in this one.

But niggardly is not a normal word, it is an SAT word that is hardly used (maybe because it is not pretty). So I don't get the point.
Do you use the word bitch at corporate meetings?

This isn't the brilliant "Gotcha!" question that you imagine it to be. For one thing, bitch has two related but distinct meanings. One refers to animal husbandry and one is a vulgarity. The second is derived from the first. Such is not the case with the word niggardly which shares no common etymology with the insulting and racially charged "N word." Their homophonic natures are mere coincidence. (And if you happen to think the word homophone is an insult then look it up, because your ignorance is your problem. Not mine.)

So to answer your question, if the aforementioned corporate meeting in question were a gathering of the American Kennel Club, then yes. As a matter of fact, I would use it. And your desire to take umbrage would be your own ignorance on display.

Despite what you seem to believe, the fact that I scored well on my SATs in no reason for me to defer to your obtuseness in matters of grammar, vocabulary, and rhetoric.

PP with the "typing" problems, we all know what niggardly means, but let's look at it a bit differently. You are at a job interview and your boss to be tells you that he just got a new dog, would you ask, "did you get a bitch?". Think not.
Oh, and the miscarriage thing, let's say you or your wife just had one, someone calls to say how sorry they are about your abortion. Would that be OK?
If the niggardly word is so much fun, next time you are at a corporate meeting with black enterprise, just use the word each time you think that it would fit into a sentence,...go on, go for it.

Look, there are words like that in all languages, they just don't work, and have to be shelved. Swastikas were symbols that were in use waaay before that German buffoon thought them to be cute, but guess what, we keep that symbol out of displays for now. Maybe in 1000 years folks will be OK with the pure symbol, but not now, no.

This is inane. Do you even know how to construct a logical argument? Do you even know how to read English?

If the meeting is with a dog breeder, I'll use the word "bitch" - whether or not it is vulgar depends upon the context. If I were discussing a miscarriage with an OB/GYN I might very well use the word "abortion" depending upon the circumstances. Finally, if the most suitable adjective to describe something approximating "miserly" but in fact is more petty and mean (a bit like your inability to grow your vocabulary in the face of all evidence and efforts to educate you) - is "niggardly" - then that is the word I will use, if I so choose. I don't happen to think the word is "so much fun" (your description) I merely happen to think it is correct English. The fact that it is a homophone to the "N-word" is nothing more than mere coincidence. The fact that you have a problem with this is either ignorance or political correctness run amok.

None of this has anything to do with the use of swastikas except to point out that by invoking Godwin's Law (Reductio ad Hiterlum), you automatically lost the argument.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey, pp, Mr or Mrs high SAT scores, are your kids well behaved at school? Are they telling black children that their skin is ugly? Are you just training them for the SATs or rather the SATs and humanity.

Yes, they're well behaved and delightful. They have friends of all races both at school and in our neighborhood. They think brown skin is beautiful. And I'm not training them for the SATs, I'm training them to think critically and independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Instead of using these boards to find women, why not sign on to Match or Eharmony instead?

Don't be daft. That wasn't some sort of pick-up line! I'm a happily married (straight) woman myself. I'm merely offering a toast or a salute to someone I perceive to be a kindred spirit. The PP's wit, humor, and sense of the absurd agreed with me. You need to lighten up. (Which is not, in any way, a comment regarding the amount of melanin in your complexion.)

not daft at all as there are plenty of "happily" married straight women ISO other women

That's probably true somewhere, but it makes no sense here. The necessity of having to reveal one's name, number, or email address entirely nullifies the nature of an ANONYMOUS posting. Ergo, LOGIC should be allowed to intervene and inform one's thought processes that it was merely a friendly shout-out.

Do you really see such twisted motives behind everything people do? "Black sheep = racial insensitivity; "niggardly" = racial animus; friendly internet hat-tip = gay agenda." I feel very sorry for you.

This is the down side of DCUM. For every spark of wit and intelligence there's an equal and opposite dirtclod of dimness and pedantry.

"dirtclod, dimness, pedantry". You really are just too clever by half. You should really stop now, you argument is coming from a very negative place. You'll have to work out your frustrations about the outcome of the elections in a more persuasive way. Perhaps burning a cross?

I haven't the vaguest clue what you're rambling about here. The outcome of the election is orthogonal to my point (which a clear mind could see), but I cannot imagine why you would suppose I am frustrated about it.

As for burning a cross, you find that persuasive?! Sad, but it explains a lot about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Despite what you seem to believe, the fact that I scored well on my SATs in no reason for me to defer to your obtuseness in matters of grammar, vocabulary, and rhetoric.

"obtuseness". Could you possibly highjack this thread anymore with your laughable sentence structure.

obtuseness
A noun
1 obtuseness
the quality of lacking a sharp edge or point
Category Tree:
abstraction
?attribute
?property
?spatial property; spatiality
?shape; form; configuration; contour; conformation
?dullness; dulness; bluntness
?obtuseness
2 dullness, dulness, obtuseness
the quality of being slow to understand
Category Tree:
psychological feature
?cognition; knowledge; noesis
?inability
?stupidity
?dullness, dulness, obtuseness
?oscitancy; oscitance

Your inability to follow a conditional phrase doesn't mean it is "laughable sentence structure," it means you don't read English as well as you think you do.

Anonymous wrote:Did you even read OP comments about what was being said to her daughter? The remarks were insensitive and hurtful. Her daughter should not be subjected to them. Hair "that looks like poop"? Are you seriously going to question whether or not these comments are pejorative and repellant? Are so invested in being literally correct that you are willing to allow an atmosphere where this type of hate/negative language can be part of childhood interaction. This type of language could cause life long psychic scarring. Why would you want to promote that?

The remarks to the OP's daughter were grotesque - there isn't any room for argument on that point, and it's not open to debate. This is obvious to all reasonable people.

What's apparently fuzzy and unclear is that grievance-mongering (of later posters, not the OP) is not the answer. Muddying the waters of communication by taking umbrage at perfectly acceptable forms of speech only makes it more difficult for us to talk to each other, not less. Perpetual victimhood - looking for opportunities to be offended (such as crying wolf at the use of "black sheep" or "niggardly") - only decreases the "signal-to-noise" ratio. This makes it harder for everyone to hear about and unite over the real outrages, such as the despicable, filthy insults leveled at the OP's child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Despite what you seem to believe, the fact that I scored well on my SATs in no reason for me to defer to your obtuseness in matters of grammar, vocabulary, and rhetoric.

"obtuseness". Could you possibly highjack this thread anymore with your laughable sentence structure.

obtuseness
A noun
1 obtuseness
the quality of lacking a sharp edge or point
Category Tree:
abstraction
?attribute
?property
?spatial property; spatiality
?shape; form; configuration; contour; conformation
?dullness; dulness; bluntness
?obtuseness
2 dullness, dulness, obtuseness
the quality of being slow to understand
Category Tree:
psychological feature
?cognition; knowledge; noesis
?inability
?stupidity
?dullness, dulness, obtuseness
?oscitancy; oscitance

Your inability to follow a conditional phrase doesn't mean it is "laughable sentence structure," it means you don't read English as well as you think you do.

Anonymous wrote:Did you even read OP comments about what was being said to her daughter? The remarks were insensitive and hurtful. Her daughter should not be subjected to them. Hair "that looks like poop"? Are you seriously going to question whether or not these comments are pejorative and repellant? Are so invested in being literally correct that you are willing to allow an atmosphere where this type of hate/negative language can be part of childhood interaction. This type of language could cause life long psychic scarring. Why would you want to promote that?

The remarks to the OP's daughter were grotesque - there isn't any room for argument on that point, and it's not open to debate. This is obvious to all reasonable people.

What's apparently fuzzy and unclear is that grievance-mongering (of later posters, not the OP) is not the answer. Muddying the waters of communication by taking umbrage at perfectly acceptable forms of speech only makes it more difficult for us to talk to each other, not less. Perpetual victimhood - looking for opportunities to be offended (such as crying wolf at the use of "black sheep" or "niggardly") - only decreases the "signal-to-noise" ratio. This makes it harder for everyone to hear about and unite over the real outrages, such as the despicable, filthy insults leveled at the OP's child.

The posts on this thread remind me of Phillip Roth's "The Human Stain," a novel that involves political correctness gone awry (a college professor resigns for referring to two students who have never attended his class as "spooks" (i.e. ghosts); the students happen to be black).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the phrase "black sheep" comes from the Middle Ages, in England. It has to do with agriculture, namely sheep, and the rarity and market value of having a dark-wooled sheep in the flock.

Race, or skin tone if you will, has absolutely nothing to do with the history or evolution of the phrase.

I thought this was just an expression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:not the PP you're responding to, 22:48, but how does this feel: I am really offended that you just used the world "official" in your post. I am white, and my husband is Jewish, and when people like you use the word "official," it offends us because it reminds him of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. You may not have known that, not having a Jewish grandfather living in Germany in the 1930s -- but now you do. in So please understand our perspective and stop using the word "official" when you speak around us.

I don't get this post. Since when is "Official" an offensive word? I hear "official" whenever its relating to government matters, security matters, and mundane everyday things. This is too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not the PP you're responding to, 22:48, but how does this feel: I am really offended that you just used the world "official" in your post. I am white, and my husband is Jewish, and when people like you use the word "official," it offends us because it reminds him of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. You may not have known that, not having a Jewish grandfather living in Germany in the 1930s -- but now you do. in So please understand our perspective and stop using the word "official" when you speak around us.

I don't get this post. Since when is "Official" an offensive word? I hear "official" whenever its relating to government matters, security matters, and mundane everyday things. This is too much.

"Official" is now offensive? Add that to the new school list of offensive which includes dissapproves of teenagers calling "partners" boyfriends and guess what? Many AA guys use the word "wifey" for monogamous relationship girlfriends. That's also a big school no no. I think it's silly that girls aren't supposed to say boyfriend or refer to themselves as wifey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not the PP you're responding to, 22:48, but how does this feel: I am really offended that you just used the world "official" in your post. I am white, and my husband is Jewish, and when people like you use the word "official," it offends us because it reminds him of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. You may not have known that, not having a Jewish grandfather living in Germany in the 1930s -- but now you do. in So please understand our perspective and stop using the word "official" when you speak around us.

I don't get this post. Since when is "Official" an offensive word? I hear "official" whenever its relating to government matters, security matters, and mundane everyday things. This is too much.

(sigh.) It's not. (Offensive.) The PP has a sense of humor, she was exaggerating for effect. Hyperbole, metaphorically.

She was taking the example to the extreme in order to make a point. That point is that just because someone jumps out and shouts "I'm offended! You can't use that word!" doesn't mean it makes sense or that we should listen. Grievance-mongering is ridiculous and sad. It inhibits communication and does more harm and than good.