# Charlie Daniels and the use of a possibly racist epithet **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861 "2020-06-17T18:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/1 "2020-06-17T18:18:59Z")
Sorry for being so coy with the thread title but I didn’t want to put the actual phrase in there. In the song “Trudy” from the 1974 Charlie Daniels Band album “Fire on the Mountain”, the narrator gets in a fight over a poker game and winds up in jail. At the end of the song he sings: _It took half the cops in Dallas County Just to put one coon-ass boy in jail._ So, I’m curious about the use of the phrase “coon-ass”. On the surface it would seem to be racist. But since he uses it to refer to himself, I assume it means something like redneck or good ol’ boy? Was this a commonly used phrase in the '70s and earlier to refer to someone from the South? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/2 "2020-06-17T18:28:44Z")
According to the Great Oracle, [coonass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass) is a term used by some Cajuns, particularly working-class Cajuns, to refer to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/3 "2020-06-17T18:30:27Z")
A quick google says that coonass is slang for ‘Cajun’, so I think that’s the meaning being used. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/4 "2020-06-22T15:58:06Z")
Yep, Coon-ass was a term that meant some sort of white Cajun/backwoods south Louisianan while I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/5 "2020-06-22T16:01:39Z")
Here in S. Arkansas **coon** ,is a derogatory word for an A.A., but, **coon-ass** Can mean Cajun or any number of hick, redneck backwoods persons. Certainly derogatory, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlax/32/2927_2.png) [@Scarlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlax)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/6 "2020-06-25T20:30:23Z")
Have we completely eliminated the possibility that Charlie Daniels was a furry? ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/7 "2020-06-25T20:39:40Z")
There’s some debate on the word. Some Cajuns think it’s derogatory and want people to stop using it. Others proudly wear the label. All in all, it’s falling out of common usage. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/9 "2020-07-06T20:40:47Z")
I heard today that Charlie Daniels has passed away, so asking him is out of the question. David Allen Coe, however, racist as F@#k. No question. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/10 "2020-07-06T20:51:12Z")
The following Charlie Daniels Band lyrics are more problematic in my opinion: Well gather 'round, gather 'round children Get down, well you can get down children Get loud, well you can get loud and be proud Well you can be proud here Be proud to be a rebel 'cause the South’s gonna do it again Yes it is I used to wonder what it was they hoped the South would do again? Secede? Re-institute slavery? Spread the plague of ultra pre-sweetened tea over the land?\* \*apparently succeeded there. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/11 "2020-07-06T21:31:29Z")
I always thought that “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” was just an excuse to name-check a bunch of southern rock bands… ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/12 "2020-07-06T21:33:25Z")
[How about some Hank Junior](https://youtube.com/watch?v=fDkyL9c0QdY)? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/13 "2020-07-06T21:36:50Z")
Our local creole cafe used to have a coon ass breakfast on the menu ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/14 "2020-07-06T22:43:59Z")
Now I’m really hoping it included the hindquarters of a raccoon. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/15 "2020-07-07T13:08:49Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The following Charlie Daniels Band lyrics are more problematic in my opinion: > > Well gather 'round, gather 'round children > Get down, well you can get down children > Get loud, well you can get loud and be proud > Well you can be proud here > Be proud to be a rebel 'cause the South’s gonna do it again > Yes it is > > I used to wonder what it was they hoped the South would do again? Secede? Re-institute slavery? Spread the plague of ultra pre-sweetened tea over the land?\* > > \*apparently succeeded there. ☹ One of my favorite Onion articles: [“South Postpones Rising Again For Yet Another Year”](https://www.theonion.com/south-postpones-rising-again-for-yet-another-year-1819565548) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/16 "2020-07-07T13:26:28Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I heard today that Charlie Daniels has passed away… Even after beating the devil in that fiddle contest? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/17 "2020-07-09T15:18:45Z")
The devil always wins in the long run. ---
**Author:** ![LorenMaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b782af/32.png) [@LorenMaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorenMaree)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/18 "2026-01-01T01:18:51Z")
Not racist, but depending on usage can be derogatory. “Coonass” is a colloquial, often self-applied, term for Cajuns (Louisiana Acadians), with one popular folk explanation linking it to the French word _connasse_ (meaning “dirty prostitute” or vulgar term for female genitalia), though its origins are debated, with other theories involving raccoons, coonskin caps, or corruption of French/Latin roots. While some Cajuns embrace the term as a badge of identity, especially during Cajun cultural revivals, others find it offensive, and its usage varies by context, social class, and gender. ---
**Author:** ![LorenMaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b782af/32.png) [@LorenMaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorenMaree)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/19 "2026-01-01T01:21:05Z")
The Souths gonna do it again references Southern Rock, nothing racial intended. Daniels addressed this a couple of times in interviews. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2026, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/20 "2026-01-01T01:33:02Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > According to the Great Oracle, [coonass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonass) is a term used by some Cajuns, particularly working-class Cajuns, to refer to themselves. I have heard this in the wild, and it knocked me flat the first time I heard it. From then on, I’ve learned to moderate my immediate reaction to whatever shocking thing I think I just heard. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861/21 "2026-01-01T02:00:11Z")
Makes no sense except in a “the Lost Cause ain’t lost” context. But nice try. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-daniels-and-the-use-of-a-possibly-racist-epithet/855861.md?page=2)