# "Afro-rigging" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162 "2007-09-23T02:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/41 "2007-09-23T18:08:51Z")
I’ve always head jury-rig in Ireland FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![papaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@papaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papaw)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/42 "2007-09-23T18:46:59Z")
I was once awarded a " Nigger-rigging" diploma by a black friend after jerry-rigging something on his motorcycle just in time for him to join in a ride we had planned. ---
**Author:** ![Shryn\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@Shryn\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shryn_King)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/43 "2007-09-23T19:47:43Z")
Unfortunately, I’ve also heard people say that they [Jew rigged](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jew+rig) something. I wonder if Jury rigged was the nice way of saying jew rigged? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/44 "2007-09-23T20:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=papaw] I was once awarded a " Nigger-rigging" diploma by a black friend after jerry-rigging something on his motorcycle just in time for him to join in a ride we had planned. [/QUOTE] Ok, that’s just funny. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/45 "2007-09-23T20:13:38Z")
Growing up, I heard all these terms more than I would have liked. Well, I never heard “afro-rig”, but “afro-engineered” Har-de-fucking-har. But I have since come across a perfectly good substitute, which we use all the time in IT: “kludge”. It works equally well as a verb and a noun, and it fairly slips off the tongue. I kludge things all the time. Say it with me! (It rhymes with glue, by the way) ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/46 "2007-09-23T21:17:18Z")
Everyone I know says “MacGuyvered.” Three cheers for mediocre TV! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/47 "2007-09-23T21:19:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] But I have since come across a perfectly good substitute, which we use all the time in IT: “kludge”. It works equally well as a verb and a noun, and it fairly slips off the tongue. I kludge things all the time. Say it with me! (It rhymes with glue, by the way) [/QUOTE] You pronounce it “clue”? What about all of those other letters? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/48 "2007-09-23T21:49:21Z")
My dad used to say “nigger-rig” but now he says “Afro-engineer”. I love him anyway, but he knows not to say it around me. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/49 "2007-09-23T21:56:33Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] My dad used to say “nigger-rig” but now he says “Afro-engineer”. I love him anyway, but he knows not to say it around me. [/QUOTE] See? “Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch.” It adds up over time. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/50 "2007-09-23T21:56:53Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] You pronounce it “clue”? What about all of those other letters? [/QUOTE] They’re silent, as the word is originally French. OK, so it was a hastily typed post. I meant the “U” is pronounced as in clue rather than as in club. So… “cluedge”, not “cluhdge”. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/51 "2007-09-23T22:08:54Z")
[QUOTE=Zahava424] I guess I’m naive, but when I first saw this thread title, I immediately assumed it was about some sort of scaffolding to put inside your afro to keep it poofy and structurally sound. You know, afro-rigging. Then again, I’ve never heard the more offensive version of the term either. I do think that if a carelessly racist person begins to take notice of certain uncrossable lines, that’s progress, even if it’s not very substantial progress. [/QUOTE] Like you, I thought it was some kind of dress or accessory, like bling or some kind of pimp suit. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/52 "2007-09-23T22:17:05Z")
I heard nigger-rig in Texas for as long as I lived there; I’ve encountered it in other places but not with any significant frequency. I had hoped it had died the death it deserved. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/53 "2007-09-23T22:25:07Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] See? “Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch.” It adds up over time. [/QUOTE] I suppose, but if he eventually says “I improvised a field repair” while thinking “…just like a nigger would do”, have you really accomplished anything? I like my bigots open and honest so I know whose opinion to disregard. I’ve heard “jury-rig” (this is the one I say), “jury rig”, “nigger-rig”, and “afro-engineer”. Never heard “afro-rig”, though. It just doesn’t flow as well as the others, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/54 "2007-09-23T23:41:42Z")
Here’s the deal though, the phrase, while having rather racist roots, DOES describe a concept that may or may not be racially biased. (I visited Texas for a bit, and heard it there). Something poorly and temporarily repaired is rigged. Doesn’t make it right. Doesn’t make it PC. But it doesn’t seem like language cares. I’ve occasionally described ‘over enthusiastic decoration’ on cars as being ‘overly ethnicized’. I don’t much care one way or the other if someone’s done something to a car. In fact, I’m glad they’re expressing themselves automotively. Doesn’t mean I can’t describe it in a way that’s following a stereotype. It’s similar to the furor over racial profiling. It’s not fair, it may not be right, but the demographics must mean something, otherwise, there wouldn’t BE a stereotype. I’d lump it in a similar boat with making Xerox copies and blowing your nose with a Kleenex. And the best solution, I guess, is to not draw attention to the words…don’t use them and they go away. Now, scuze me while I go put on my asbestos underwear as I’m sure mine’s not a popular opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/55 "2007-09-24T00:34:41Z")
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal] I suppose, but if he eventually says “I improvised a field repair” while thinking “…just like a nigger would do”, have you really accomplished anything? [/QUOTE] I came here to post the same thing. Another former Texan. This was still a fairly commonly heard phrase when I left a year ago. One of the things I won’t miss. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/56 "2007-09-24T00:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal] I suppose, but if he eventually says “I improvised a field repair” while thinking “…just like a nigger would do”, have you really accomplished anything? [/QUOTE] “Baby steps.” ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/57 "2007-09-24T00:55:18Z")
wait? The process the phrase refers to is a bad thing? Yeah, I grew up with pretty much all the versions discussed, but damn, it wasn’t a bad thing. Being able to fix something typically without the right tools, the right anything and make it go, is resourceful and clever and damned useful (hence Macgyver actually). Maybe it didn’t refer to the best/optimal way to go about doing something, but it was typically used to described fixing something broken long enough to get it working. Makin’ do with what you got to get what you need. I’m not sure what phrase I use now that I’m enlightened, or since I’ve been so. Then again, I had no idea that the Tar Baby was a racist thing, I just loved the stories. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/58 "2007-09-24T01:14:29Z")
[QUOTE=Auntbeast] wait? The process the phrase refers to is a bad thing? [/QUOTE] The problem comes from the fact that not everyone who improvises a field repair recognizes that it’s a temporary solution. Using nylons to replace a broken timing belt will often work to get one to where the parts are - but trying to run like that for any extended period of time is a recipe for disaster. So there are the people like you and I who believe that jury-rigging something is meant to be a temporary fix, until one can do the proper job, then there are other people who, for a variety of reasons (often simply lack of resources - aka poverty) who treat, or have to treat, their improvisations as a permanent solution. Which is where the negative connotations that we’re both reacting to come from. BTW, for me kludge is a permanent improvisation - jerry-rigging is temporary. So, while the two terms describe similar practices, and methods, their intents are rather different. I tend to use kludge to describe things that have been beaten together out of vastly dissimilar pieces, like legislation, or Microsoft[sup]TM[/sup] Windows. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/59 "2007-09-24T01:23:06Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] I don’t know. For me, it’s as if he thinks there’s a loophole, that he can be as racist as he wants so long as he doesn’t use a few forbidden words. [/QUOTE] It’s not a loophole, it’s called freedom of thought. He actually can be a racist turd if he desires, as long as he doesn’t actually do anything that violates civil rights law. If you disagree that we all have the right to free thought, I would suggest that your views are just as repusive as his, but I’m sure that’s not what you meant. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162/60 "2007-09-24T01:26:46Z")
[QUOTE=Hamadryad] Everyone I know says “MacGuyvered.” Three cheers for mediocre TV! [/QUOTE] That’s how I got my name. I love to rig stuff. I once fixed a car with a hamburger wrapper. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afro-rigging/420162.md?page=4)