# Derogitory terms that became the actual names for things **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136 "2015-08-28T03:59:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/1 "2015-08-28T03:59:30Z")
1. Big Bang 2. Imaginary numbers 3. Balloon framing What else? ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/2 "2015-08-28T04:04:25Z")
Scotch tape. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/3 "2015-08-28T04:17:42Z")
Quaker ---
**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:** [August 28, 2015, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/4 "2015-08-28T05:15:45Z")
Yankee ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/5 "2015-08-28T05:45:16Z")
Shaker Methodist Obamacare ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/6 "2015-08-28T05:46:59Z")
I don’t think Obamacare would count since the real name for that has always been the Affordable Care Act. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/7 "2015-08-28T05:50:11Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Quaker Quakers I know don’t call themselves that. They just call themselves Friends. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/8 "2015-08-28T06:04:31Z")
Comanche (from the Ute word for “enemy”) (their endonym is Nʉmʉnʉʉ, but only a vanishingly small number of modern Comanche still speak that language) Eskimo probably comes from a Montagnais word meaning “snowshoe-netter”, and is not especially derogatory. It is a massive insult in Canada, however, but not in America, and it is commonly self-applied in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/9 "2015-08-28T06:43:05Z")
Capitalism May be mistaken: Orthodox (Judaism) Reform (Judaism) Religion will have plenty of such terms. Sometimes it seems like religious disagreements can turn acrimonious. I vaguely remember something about a part of evolutionary theory being named after a term used by its opponents to discredit it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/10 "2015-08-28T08:03:10Z")
The name San for Bushmen has become the de facto accepted nomenclature, even though it originated as a pastoralist Khoe-khoen pejorative meaning, essentially, “forager/person without cattle(implied:without worth)” . The ones of my acquaintance prefer Bushman, even though that’s also pejorative, but they’re definitely in the minority. ---
**Author:** ![Didactylos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Didactylos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didactylos)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/11 "2015-08-28T08:04:51Z")
Gothic architecture Krautrock ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/12 "2015-08-28T08:41:18Z")
Anarchists. I think Mensheviks, too, as well as Tatars. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/13 "2015-08-28T09:46:41Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I don’t think Obamacare would count since the real name for that has always been the Affordable Care Act. That’s the name of the act. The set of programs resulting from the act doesn’t have an official name, AFAIK, but supporters including, I think, Obama himself have started calling it Obamacare. When everyone calls something X, that’s the real name for it, even if a more official name also exists (and especially if one doesn’t). > [@MrDibble](#): > > Quakers I know don’t call themselves that. They just call themselves Friends. I grew up Quaker and all the Quakers I knew called themselves that. _Friends_ was used more formally, and some preferred it, but _Quaker_ was very widespread, and I don’t think anyone avoided it completely. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/14 "2015-08-28T09:50:18Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > 1. Big Bang > 2. Imaginary numbers > 3. Balloon framing > > What else? Not exactly a term but I believe the thought experiment with Schrodinger’s cat was originally intended to point out the flaws in quantum theory by showing how it led to an absurdity like a cat being simultaneously dead and alive. But quantum theorists said that result was correct despite its apparent absurdity and they embraced the thought experiment as an illustration of how quantum mechanics worked. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/15 "2015-08-28T09:53:18Z")
Mormons is another term that was originally used by outsiders to denigrate the believers in a religion but which was taken up by the believers themselves. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/16 "2015-08-28T10:16:23Z")
“Ham” for amateur radio operators. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/17 "2015-08-28T12:53:03Z")
[Thagomizer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer) ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/18 "2015-08-28T13:36:52Z")
I never knew the term “squaw” was a derogatory term. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/19 "2015-08-28T13:58:58Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I don’t think Obamacare would count since the real name for that has always been the Affordable Care Act. The thing is, people can scream “OBAMACARE” as much as they want, but I don’t think that Obama has a problem with his name inextricably being linked to something that is actually pretty popular. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136/20 "2015-08-28T14:29:55Z")
spaghetti westerns [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/derogitory-terms-that-became-the-actual-names-for-things/729136.md?page=2)