Oh, I remember that thread. But, if I remember correctly, those holding the viewpoint you mention comprised a very small, but highly vocal minority of idiots. [del]I’ll see if I can locate the thread when I get home from work.[/del]
Hmm…I used to hear people use the term “yard apes” when I lived in Indianapolis, and it was clearly meant as an anti-“white trash” insult.
If it was directed at whites then the implied insult was that they were like blacks, same as the phrase “white trash” itself.
These are both new to me. I’d never heard porch monkey until Clerks 2. (I thought it was something Kevin Smith made up.)
I have heard yard apes, but it was always in reference to children. As in, “The kids were making a mess in here, so I sent the little yard apes outside.”
When they’re inside raising hell, they’re house monkeys. When they’re outside raising hell, they’re yard apes.
I guess I lead a sheltered life. If I heard someone called a porch monkey I’d laugh. It’s right up there with “trailer trash,” or “red-neck” that a lot of people actually take pride in, and whether the terms contain any actual hate really depends on the delivery.
I disagree. Criticizing a particular mother who’d rather run for VP than either care for (1) her 4 month old child who has Downs Syndrome or (2) for her other underage, unmarried pregnant child is not sexist. IMHO Palin shows bad judgment by running for VP, and McCain shows bad judgment for selecting her. Such a position isn’t sexist.
I’ve lived in Texas my entire adult life, and I have heard “boy” used against non-blacks, but it is always derogatory. It’s not used for anyone younger than you, it’s used to imply childishness if used against a white and I’ve seen it start fights before.
“Old boy” is a different story. I’ve heard a lot of people, mostly of the older generation, refer to men as “that old boy” with the implication that they are a familiar, generally good person - kinda like “Good old boy” without the negative connotations. Even in that context it can be taken the wrong way among blacks. I remember once when I was talking with an older black guy in my neighborhood I shot the shit with regularly and I referred to another black guy as “old boy” and he immediately cooled and was never friendly towards me again.
“Boy” is a very bad word for southern blacks.
Not too long ago there was a thread about how certain people were now calling blacks “Canadians.” Oh, yeah, you gotta be careful about dem dere Canadians… heh, heh, wink, wink.
Look, at some point we have to stop eliminating English words from our vocabulary because some people use them as euphemisms.
It’s not the word, it’s how you use it.
That cracked me the hell up, too. Strangely enough…now that you indicate n8 is white; it does kinda rub me wrong, just a smidge. Even though I found that funny, and even though the word ‘nigger’ doesn’t really bother me, (I use nigga on a regular basis…), I still think it a bit…tense?..when a white person uses it in my company.
Sorry, Levdrakon. “Canadian” does not have anywhere the same history and baggage associated with it that “uppity” does.
Look at it this way – it just goes to show Obama is elitist! 
Ok this thread is starting to give me a Randal flashback from Clerks 2. 
I live in OH and calling a black man “boy” is definitely racist. When the word uppity is used it’s almost always followed by the N word.
Anyone who tries to say either aren’t racist is kidding themselves.
After slapping a white girl who’d slapped me (in MS), when my two white, male bandmates, who, up to that point had addressed me as 5-4-Fighting (if at all), sidled up to me and said “Boy, we better not see out anywhere after dark,” I just knew right away what mindset they were operating from. Didn’t even need to read a history book.
Nzinga, Seated, I wasn’t offended by what nd_n8 wrote either. Not only was he trying to make a particular point to his neighbor by using the word, it doesn’t seem to do any particular good to dance around (don’t go there!) the word here, either in the sharing of his experience or in the discourse about (the lack of) progress that we’re attempting have.
Oh, that’s a valid point I suppose, but some words & terms were invented specially as slurs, and some words just get used that way, but you can’t remove them from the English language. “Boy” gets used all the time, and the times when it might be inappropriate are vanishingly small, relatively speaking. So can we keep the word, please?
As long as you understand that in certain context it is offensive, like referring to an adult black man as “boy”.
so I guess this post is racist?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10157794&postcount=3
CONTEXT GODDAMNIT! Or do you suggest that poster was knowingly referring to black people.
So what do you call a black person who really is uppity?
Big-headed.