# Alright Black folks! You don't have a monopoly on the word "brother" ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 2, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017 "2005-11-02T02:38:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/1 "2005-11-02T02:38:16Z")
Listen, it’s just how I talk. I call everybody brother! (Well, my friends anyway) Most of the time it’s just “bro’” but if I happen to be in a particularly good mood or if I haven’t seen some one in a particularly long time it’s “Hey, what’s up brother!” Except for everytime I say this to a black friend of mine they laugh at me and say “Shakes you know you’re not black, right?” to which I have to explain myself all over again. There. I said it. Now spread the word. (In case it isn’t blatantly obvious, this is ment as a light hearted thread) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/2 "2005-11-02T02:59:42Z")
It’s a long, long road, from which there is no return. But while we’re on the way to there, why not share? : d & r : ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/3 "2005-11-02T03:12:52Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Except for everytime I say this to a black friend of mine they laugh at me and say “Shakes you know you’re not black, right?” to which I have to explain myself all over again. To which you should have responded by looking at your hands (front and back), dropping to your knees, and proclaiming to the skies, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/4 "2005-11-02T03:42:14Z")
I know what you mean, comrade. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/5 "2005-11-02T04:19:50Z")
“Why, Rex! How many times have I told you to wash up after weekly cross-burnings?” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/6 "2005-11-02T04:30:23Z")
And you’re not a hippie either, right? Weird. They say “brother” a lot. Personally, I only do it when I’m quoting _Arrested Development_. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/7 "2005-11-02T07:18:30Z")
I’ve recently heard myself using ‘brother’ over and over recently. Of course, it probably has NOTHING to do with the fact that I’m terrible with names and the term “dude” was wearing thin. ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/8 "2005-11-02T07:48:48Z")
Bikers monks ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/9 "2005-11-02T08:53:09Z")
I just say, “What up NIGGGGA!!!”, in the cool David Cross style of flipping over monks into the meditation pool. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/10 "2005-11-02T09:39:55Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > I know what you mean, comrade. Heh. I’ve got an old mate, a paid-up member of various socialist political parties who addresses everyone, young and old as _comrade_. The under-30’s go 😕 The old ones like me go :rolleyes: He’s just one of those anachronisms that come up from time to time. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/11 "2005-11-02T09:48:27Z")
Just don’t do that fist in the air thing. White people look really dumb doing that. And, under no circumstances, ever, for any reason, should you, or any other White person ever sing “We Shall Overcome” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/12 "2005-11-02T10:00:40Z")
If you hang around Muslims for any length of time, you will hear everybody is “brother” and “sister.” Islamic identity is not tied to race but multiracial. I have a hunch that Muslim use of global “brother” and “sister” may be the origin of how it came to be a Black thing in the '60s when Islam in the African-American community and the Black Power movement took off simultaneously and in tandem. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/13 "2005-11-02T10:19:22Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > And, under no circumstances, ever, for any reason, should you, or any other White person ever sing “We Shall Overcome” Huh? What’s wrong with Joan Baez’s rendition then? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/14 "2005-11-02T11:16:48Z")
She’s Chicana. Sort of. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alright-black-folks-you-dont-have-a-monopoly-on-the-word-brother/329017/15 "2005-11-02T13:42:12Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > If you hang around Muslims for any length of time, you will hear everybody is “brother” and “sister.” Islamic identity is not tied to race but multiracial. I have a hunch that Muslim use of global “brother” and “sister” may be the origin of how it came to be a Black thing in the '60s when Islam in the African-American community and the Black Power movement took off simultaneously and in tandem. Interesting. I live in a Muslim area, and I have picked up “brother” and “bro”. The local young Lebanese guys use it all the time. It’s been reinforced by a significant Maori presence in the area - those guys use it as well. Strangely, the Lebanese have also resurrected the older (in this country, at least) use of “champ”. The guy in my local chicken shop always calls me “champ”. I like it.