# A word mangeorge
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 1, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339 "2001-03-01T05:06:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/21 "2001-03-01T19:21:37Z")
**Deb** -
I didn’t say it was _never_ used as a rac
:waves hand dismissively:
never mind…
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/22 "2001-03-01T19:32:07Z")
Deb?
May I suggest you do a search on ‘basic reading comprehension skills?’
Also, I wanted to add that I didn’t get the idea MG was ‘parroting the isolationism of the United States prevalent since the early 1900s’-
he seemed to be in favor of letting the wetbacks come over
This country has hardly been isolationist since the early 1900s- in fact, I believe we are so involved with most of the rest of the world that much of it was seriously dismayed at the delay in our last presidential election
have a nice day, sweetie…
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/23 "2001-03-01T19:44:04Z")
Who needs Big Brother? We have the PC police to contend with.
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/24 "2001-03-01T20:08:29Z")
Did I say ‘wetback’?
Lord, I’m sorry.
I meant:
queer-ass faggot, raghead, coon, nigger, prairie nigger, sand nigger, kike, wop frog lesbo dyke bitch cunt mick, spick, frijole-eating greaser limey wog chink jap canuck injun child-molesting wasp christian satan worshipping harley-riding long hair skin head communist socialist {b]ignorant\*\* trailer trash elitist reetard redneck feminist macho pig fat chick wiccan wetback.
Tell the nurse inor said it might be ‘apoplexy’, dear.
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/25 "2001-03-01T20:14:20Z")
Or “white male paranoia syndrome.”
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/26 "2001-03-01T20:27:08Z")
damn.
_knew_ I should have added ‘humorless’
say, mcl, aren’t _you_ white, male?
comes under the mick spick limey harley riding long hair trailer trash redneck elitist macho kike etc headings, neh?
(thoughtI had all the variations of me covered at any rate…)
Please forgive me if I’m the one being humorless here- hard to tell from your post
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### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/27 "2001-03-01T21:15:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LouisB \*
> \*\*Who needs Big Brother? We have the PC police to contend with. \*\*
Why is it that any time someone suggests that the use of an obviously derisive racial epithet is offensive to many people, they’re accused of being knee-jerk PC cops?
I’m half Mexican. I read the thread. Up to the point of **mangeorge** ’s casual insertion of “wetbacks” I had no problem with anything said; the general tone of the thread was perfectly civil. But I have to ask: If he’s so nonchalant about using that word on a message board that consistently attacks racist behaviors and mindsets, amongst people it’s likely he’s never met, and amongst people who are unfamiliar with his posting style (if it was simply a joke), what’s his attitude like in person?
What’s wrong with not wanting to be called a wetback? Does anyone want to be called a racial epithet by a perfect stranger, or think it’s okay? Don’t get started on how black people call each other “nigger”, gay people calling each other “fags”, and the like…I’ve been known to call my family a bunch of spics, or whatever. A friend came up with the perfect offensive racial terms for me and my half-Norwegian, half-Mexican siblings: svics and svetbacks - hilarious! I can do this - as can my friends - because it is understood that it’s not intended to be mean or hurtful, and it is not associating the “target” with the negative stereotypes that bigots who created and use the terms.
Yes, they’re only words. I can ignore them. But I can’t ignore the attitude that’s behind them. I’m so sick of being called a PC cop because I don’t like it when people I don’t know from Adam call me nasty names and assume things about me because of my ethnic background. Fuck that, and fuck anyone who thinks that way.
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### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/28 "2001-03-01T21:19:20Z")
Oh, and by the way, **deb2world** , I think you’re totally in the right on this one.
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/29 "2001-03-01T21:31:16Z")
Biggg difference- If I thought you would be offended by me doing so, I would _never_ call you spic, svic (Love that one, btw) or anything else. (Unless, as I said above, we are in some kind of hostilities- then, as I’m not out to be cautious of your sensibilities, yah, I’d do anything I thought I needed to to injure you- but that’s a different situation)
Now if you tell me I can’t be calling _someone else_ some kind of name, then fuck you and the horse you snuck in on.
You see?
you don’t like me calling you names, I won’t.
You think you got the right or duty to tell me who else I can call what, I spit in your face.
I don’t presume to tell you what you can and cannot say (or think).
I also don’t happen to give a shit what you call me- that stuff doesn’t bother me. In fact, if it’s creative enough, I’m probably gonna like you, usually much to (rhetorical) your chagrin.
So, that’s why the pc shit slinging, at least on my part.
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/30 "2001-03-01T21:35:18Z")
Correction
Yah, it does bother me to be called names- I shoulda said that I wouldn’t dream of trying to censor your doing it though, and I try to give as good as I get, instead of whining about it.
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### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/31 "2001-03-01T21:57:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by inor \*
> \*\*Biggg difference- If I thought you would be offended by me doing so, I would _never_ call you spic, svic (Love that one, btw) or anything else. (Unless, as I said above, we are in some kind of hostilities- then, as I’m not out to be cautious of your sensibilities, yah, I’d do anything I thought I needed to to injure you- but that’s a different situation)
>
> Now if you tell me I can’t be calling _someone else_ some kind of name, then fuck you and the horse you snuck in on.
>
> You see?
>
> you don’t like me calling you names, I won’t.
>
> You think you got the right or duty to tell me who else I can call what, I spit in your face.
>
> I don’t presume to tell you what you can and cannot say (or think).
>
> I also don’t happen to give a shit what you call me- that stuff doesn’t bother me. In fact, if it’s creative enough, I’m probably gonna like you, usually much to (rhetorical) your chagrin.
>
> So, that’s why the pc shit slinging, at least on my part. \*\*
So when do you know it’s safe to call someone a name, **inor**? Do you ask, “Hey, you mind if I call you a polack? I don’t mean anything bad by it, it’s just fun to say.” It’s super duper that you’re not offended by them but to presume that no one else should be either is rather arrogant, if you ask me - in your words, it’s telling people how they should think.
I don’t have the right to tell you what to think, say, how to dress, or the proper way to clean your ears. But don’t get in my face, use terms I find offensive, and then get pissy at me because I get mad. Simply because I don’t resort to calling you names back (you’re a doodyhead! no, you’re a doodyhead!) doesn’t make me whiny; if someone says something that offends me, I call them on it.
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/32 "2001-03-01T22:03:17Z")
**Gundy,** I am a native southerner, Texan anyway, whose forebears came out of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee and there are one hell of a lot of people on this board who make tons and tons of snide remarks about the southern accent, southern food, and our southern way of life. Expressions like “redneck” and “hillbilly” get thrown around a lot, along with a lot of derision concerning the Confederate side of the War of Northern Agression. As a southerner, I am automatically branded as a racist by a lot of people who post here.
Plus, I am an older person and I see a lot of comments concerning “old farts” and our various failings.
These are things that might offend a lot of people and do offend me—but I wouldn’t presume to call anyone on it, unless the comments were directed specifically to me, and probably not even then. It burns my ass to hear people jam into affairs that are none of their damn business and begin to lace into others for saying something that MIGHT be offensive. If I choose to consider such people as representatives of the “thought police” I will damn well so so and I will be as free with my comments as they are with theirs.
So, thank you for your concern and bite me at your earliest convenience.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/33 "2001-03-01T22:23:45Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Why is it that any time someone suggests that the use of an obviously derisive racial epithet is offensive to many people, they’re accused of being knee-jerk PC cops?
Why is it that some people do not understand that not every term they think is an “obviously derisive racial epithet” appears the same to everyone else, or that they have the right or authority to tell others how they should view or use a particular word? I would never call anyone a “wetback,” but neither do I put it in the same category as “nigger,” and I don’t believe anyone else has the right to tell me I must.
> [@](#):
>
> What’s wrong with not wanting to be called a wetback?
Nothing. But there is something entirely wrong about assuming that a person meant to insult you, let alone a whole class of people, and then demanding that person apologize to every person in that group.
> [@](#):
>
> If he’s so nonchalant about using that word on a message board that consistently attacks racist behaviors and mindsets, amongst people it’s likely he’s never met, and amongst people who are unfamiliar with his posting style (if it was simply a joke), what’s his attitude like in person?
Well, if it’s anything like his attitude on the board to people who ARE familiar with his posting style, then it’s probably unfailingly easy-going and, if insulting, almost certainly unintentionally so. Translation: THIS particular poster, unlike most of us, is NICE, so if you think you can paint him as some racist asshole, I’m afraid that dog won’t hunt.
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### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/34 "2001-03-01T22:24:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LouisB \*
> \*\ ***Gundy,** I am a native southerner, Texan anyway, whose forebears came out of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee and there are one hell of a lot of people on this board who make tons and tons of snide remarks about the southern accent, southern food, and our southern way of life. Expressions like “redneck” and “hillbilly” get thrown around a lot, along with a lot of derision concerning the Confederate side of the War of Northern Agression. As a southerner, I am automatically branded as a racist by a lot of people who post here.
>
> Plus, I am an older person and I see a lot of comments concerning “old farts” and our various failings.
>
> These are things that might offend a lot of people and do offend me—but I wouldn’t presume to call anyone on it, unless the comments were directed specifically to me, and probably not even then. It burns my ass to hear people jam into affairs that are none of their damn business and begin to lace into others for saying something that MIGHT be offensive. If I choose to consider such people as representatives of the “thought police” I will damn well so so and I will be as free with my comments as they are with theirs.
>
> So, thank you for your concern and bite me at your earliest convenience. \*\*
Charming. I never told you what to think or say. I wouldn’t dare do so, and expect the same courtesy in return.
You certainly should be free with your comments. But you should also be prepared to be called on it if you use words that you _know_ people find offensive. Fact is, you wouldn’t _need_ to use such a word if you weren’t deliberately trying to piss someone off. This isn’t PC, it’s polite. I wouldn’t swear in front of a priest either; I’m an athiest but I respect that he might find it offensive if I said, “Jesus Fucking Christ!”. And even before I knew anything about you, I’d have refrained from calling you a cousin-fucking shrivel-dicked geezer. 'Cause I’m a nice girl, you know?
I’ve been called on my own ignorant comments (namely, the use of the term “cracker”) before, on this very message board. I’m glad someone said something, because it made me think about my actions and my use of loaded words. I was sorry I said it, and I won’t do it again.
What I’m saying is that calling someone a racially derogatory name (or using such words around people you don’t know share your particular brand of thought) is intentionally inflammatory, and you know what it means when you use them in an inflammatory manner. It’s shorthand for calling a person all of the the negative things associated with that race, plain and simple. I’m not deigning to say you shouldn’t use them, **LouisB** , but if you choose to do so, you have no right to tell someone they shouldn’t get pissed at you for your choice to use them.
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/35 "2001-03-01T22:36:11Z")
that bigots who created and use the terms.
rather arrogant
Simply because I don’t resort to calling you names back
pissy
Those are quotes from your text-
You mention that you call your family names- up above, I mentioned that out of two possible situations where I call names, one of them is exactly the same as what you do, what blacks do when they call each other nigger, what gays do when they call each other fag- it’s a term of endearment, or familiarity- a snub to those who use the term offensively.
So you’re doing the exact same thing I do.
You say you wonder what mangeorge must be like IRL- that’s exactly so- You don’t fucking know! But you’re sure ready to assume the worst, as is evident from your tone.
Another quote from you-‘Fuck that, and fuck anyone who thinks that way.’
this one referring to anyone who makes remarks or has certain thoughts about you based on your ethnic bg, and in general, anyone who thinks of you as a pc cop because you get pissed at their attitude.
Pretty much the same behaviour, for the same reasons, in my book.
Yet another quote G-
'It’s super duper that you’re not offended by them but to presume that no one else should be either is rather arrogant, if you ask me - in your words, it’s telling people how they should think.
In fact, I did say it bothered me. No where do I say that people should not be bothered by being called names, and therefore, (in your words), if you ask me, I’m _not_ telling anyone how to think. I am taking them to task for presuming that they may tell another what to do or think, and by extension, me.
As for you 1st question, don’t be fucking silly- name calling happens over time, as trust and knowledge of each other and affection toward each other grow. Again, you are assuming the worst about someone you don’t know from Adam.
You accuse me of getting pissy because (the rhetorical) you get mad that I’m calling you a name.
Love how I get ‘pissy’, you get ‘mad’- so much more righteous of you. And you’re doing the exact same thing that you are wrongly acuusing me of.
Fuck off, halfbreed
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### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/36 "2001-03-01T22:42:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jodi \*
> \*\*Why is it that some people do not understand that not every term they think is an “obviously derisive racial epithet” appears the same to everyone else, or that they have the right or authority to tell others how they should view or use a particular word? I would never call anyone a “wetback,” but neither do I put it in the same category as “nigger,” and I don’t believe anyone else has the right to tell me I must. \*\*
Maybe YOU don’t think it’s as offensive as “nigger”, but plenty of people do. I can’t think of a single Mexican I know that wouldn’t get peeved if a complete stranger referred to them as “wetback”, individually or collectively. I’m not telling you what to think or say, I’m telling you that if you choose to say it, people might get pissed. Who are you to say that they shouldn’t be pissed?
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*But there is something entirely wrong about assuming that a person meant to insult you, let alone a whole class of people, and then demanding that person apologize to every person in that group.
\*\*
I’m not demanding anything here. Whether they intended to insult me personally or not doesn’t matter. It was not the best choice, in my opinion, to use that word in an uncertain environment. Is there anyone here who didn’t know that it was usually used as a derogatory term?
\*\*
> [@](#):
>
> Well, if it’s anything like his attitude on the board to people who ARE familiar with his posting style, then it’s probably unfailingly easy-going and, if insulting, almost certainly unintentionally so. Translation: THIS particular poster, unlike most of us, is NICE, so if you think you can paint him as some racist asshole, I’m afraid that dog won’t hunt. \*\*
I’m not trying to paint him as a racist anything. I can’t say that I’m all that familiar with his posting style, so I don’t feel qualified to pass that judgment. But I do think that his choice to use that particular word was a poor one.
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/37 "2001-03-01T22:46:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Charming. I never told you what to think or say. I wouldn’t dare do so, and expect the same courtesy in return.
Please extend me the same courtesy. And, by the way, I didn’t say a thing about you telling me what to think or say.
And I will offer you this deal: Show me where I have ever posted a racially offensive term and I will apologize to you personally and all mankind as well. Plus, I will do your house chores for a month, but you have to move to Seminole, Florida first.
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### Author:  [@inor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inor)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/38 "2001-03-01T22:52:45Z")
You are absolutely right- he shouldn’t have used that term in an environment where he didn’t know all the possible variables.
And you’re absolutely right, it _is_ mostly used as an epithet.
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### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/39 "2001-03-01T22:55:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by inor \*
> \*\*that bigots who created and use the terms.
>
> rather arrogant
> Simply because I don’t resort to calling you names back
>
> pissy
>
> Those are quotes from your text-
Yep. So? The “you” was not you personally - maybe I should have said “one”. Everything else, I’m just calling them as I see them.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> You mention that you call your family names- up above, I mentioned that out of two possible situations where I call names, one of them is exactly the same as what you do, what blacks do when they call each other nigger, what gays do when they call each other fag- it’s a term of endearment, or familiarity- a snub to those who use the term offensively.
> So you’re doing the exact same thing I do.
\*\*
Yeah, and I never said that I thought that was wrong to do.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> You say you wonder what mangeorge must be like IRL- that’s exactly so- You don’t fucking know! But you’re sure ready to assume the worst, as is evident from your tone.
\*\*
Not at all, I don’t assume anything about him. I do wonder what he is like because of that, because he’s GOT to know that it is potentially offensive to call Mexicans wetbacks, and I admit to being unfamiliar with his posting style, so I have no way of telling if he’s a bigot or not outside of that post. But using that term without any consideration of how people would take it is not the best policy, in my opinion.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*Another quote from you-‘Fuck that, and fuck anyone who thinks that way.’
> this one referring to anyone who makes remarks or has certain thoughts about you based on your ethnic bg, and in general, anyone who thinks of you as a pc cop because you get pissed at their attitude.
> Pretty much the same behaviour, for the same reasons, in my book.
\*\*
Yeah, if someone thinks it’s okay to use racially loaded words all the time because they say so, then I think they’re a jerk. Don’t tell me what to think, either. I have as much right to say what I think as you or anyone else does.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> In fact, I did say it bothered me. No where do I say that people should not be bothered by being called names, and therefore, (in your words), if you ask me, I’m _not_ telling anyone how to think. I am taking them to task for presuming that they may tell another what to do or think, and by extension, me.
\*\*
This is something you corrected in a subsequent post, which I did not see until after I posted. I happen to agree with you here, it appears.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*As for you 1st question, don’t be fucking silly- name calling happens over time, as trust and knowledge of each other and affection toward each other grow. Again, you are assuming the worst about someone you don’t know from Adam.
> You accuse me of getting pissy because (the rhetorical) you get mad that I’m calling you a name.
\*\*
What I’m saying is that I have every right to respond in a PISSY manner to someone calling me or my race a name that they know is derisive.
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> Love how I get ‘pissy’, you get ‘mad’- so much more righteous of you. And you’re doing the exact same thing that you are wrongly acuusing me of.\*\*
Semantics, inor. You get MAD, then, and I get INDIGNANT. Is that better?
Fuck off, halfbreed
\*\*
[/QUOTE]
Come on, now, is that the best you can do? It’s no “svic”.
---
### Author:  [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2001, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-mangeorge/56339/40 "2001-03-01T23:00:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LouisB \*
> [BAnd I will offer you this deal: Show me where I have ever posted a racially offensive term and I will apologize to you personally and all mankind as well. Plus, I will do your house chores for a month, but you have to move to Seminole, Florida first. \*\*
Sure, as soon as you show me where I accused you of using a racially offensive term. I didn’t. I just think it’s wrong to brand people like me PC cops because I think it’s wrong to call people nasty racial names.
As far as the house chores go, it might be worth moving, though.
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