# Have you ever been a victim of a racial, ethnic or anti=Semitic slur? What were ...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 12, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643 "2002-05-12T16:07:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Space\_Vampire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Space\_Vampire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vampire)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/41 "2002-05-13T22:24:38Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gobear \*  
> \*\*  
> Oddly, not all countries have the -guk attached. Germany, for instance, is called _Dogil_, Japan is called _Ilbon_, and Australia is called _Hoju_. \*\*

The Koreans can call you Hoju!

Sorry.

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**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/42 "2002-05-13T22:44:20Z")

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**Kal** , **stanknow** , do you consider the word _gitano_ an insult? Just asking, want to clear my ignorance. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Barking\_Spider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Barking\_Spider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Spider)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/43 "2002-05-14T00:56:53Z")

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I remember in Jr High art class, there was a Black girl who would look at me and bray like a donkey.But instead of making those “EEeeee-hooor, Eeeeeeh-hooor” noises, she would say Hon-keeeeh, Hon-keeeeeeh!! I actually believe she had the hots for me, because in addition to calling me a honky, she would also rub her body against me every chance she got.

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/44 "2002-05-14T06:59:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gobear \*  
> I;m confused. I thought that “gook” was an all-purpose slur against East Asians, but “Chink” referred only to people of Chinese origin.

I’m of the belief that “chink” is Chinese, and “gook” is Korean. But what do I know, I never got the Guide to Racist Nicknames from the KKK when I was growing up. 😉

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**Author:** ![Sephiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Sephiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sephiroth)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/45 "2002-05-14T07:56:13Z")

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When I was about 9 or 10 my brother and I went to a local nieghborhood baseball field to see how far we could hit the ball. When we got there, a little black girl about my age told us that we had to leave because we’re white and the baseball field was for black people only. It dengenerated into the classic my relative can beat up your relative argument, but thatnkfully it didn’t actually get violent.  
My brother’s also run into the problem that whenever he tells people he’s a college student in South Bend, they immediately assume that he’s a Notre Dame student, and thus snotty, rich, and self-centered. My brother ain’t snotty, he ain’t self-centered, he sure as hell ain’t rich, and he goes to IU South Bend (or IUSB as we know it).  
Also, I’m straight, but the extent to which people say “That’s gay” as a way of describing their distaste for something, particularly among teenagers, really does worry me. Especially since I went to a Catholic High School and a lot of the kids there, despite alledging that they firmly believed in Christ’s teaching to love the sinner, hate the sin, were homophobes like nobody’s business. Of course, they were also the snotty rich kid stereotypes that my brother was often mistaken for. (Please don’t think I’m making a prejudiced generalization there. I spent four years with those flesh incarnations of butt odor. There were quite a few of them who had their heads so far up their asses they could stick out their tongues and taste yesterday’s lunch. Then again, I also met several of my best friends their. Talk about a mixed bag.)

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**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/46 "2002-05-14T08:18:10Z")

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I was insulted by a boy in my primary school classes for my Chinese middle-name. I don’t look at all Asian (except for my tan and lack of body hair), but he took it on himself to send various racial slurs at me. (I think those were the days of “chink”; the term “gook” not making its way to Australia until the mid-90s.)

In response, I did something I would never contemplate now: I waylaid him and gave him a _very_ white-Australian punch to the head. 🙂

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*It just gets old when for the millionth time you have to turn around and say, “No, I’m Australian. You know, the country with the koalas?”

Tsubaki\*\*, haven’t you learned the trick of Australian backpackers? Sew an Aussie flag to your backpack. And wear that Akubra at all times! 😉

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/47 "2002-05-14T08:26:49Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by rjung \*  
> \*\*And for whatever it’s worth, **China Guy,** I’ve banned _gwailo_ from our house. \*\*

That’s a bit racist isn’t it? 😉

Actually, there’s one worse than _gwailo_, that I’ve only heard used once, and that’s _hak gwai_ - ‘black ghost’, used over _hak yan_ - ‘black person’. That’s the Canto equivalent of ‘nigger’, and it really makes my blood boil.

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**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/48 "2002-05-14T10:37:04Z")

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**Tsubaki** I can commiserate with the incident in the museum:

> [@](#):
>
> When I visited the Peace Park in Hiroshima, I got a lot of angry looks from older Japanese. I wanted to yell out “I’m Australian for crying out loud! YOU bombed US!”

When I was in Japan several years ago (abandoned by a mate and left to fend for myself) I visited the Tokyo-Edo Museum and accidentally stumbled into the WWII section - which is quite amazing BTW… A) large American woman, B) very little Japanese… BUT I did well. Having a knack for language I had picked up quite a bit over the week I had been there so just managed to eke out an apology for my ancestors’ and my own clumsiness for having stumbled upon this section. Hurriedly trying to find my way out, a middle aged couple approached me and in halting English said that if I was interested in seeing that area of the museum, they would be happy to show me around. I was completely dumbfounded! I agreed and we chatted as we both explored the museum. It was wonderful.

In Mexico I got a lot of ‘gringa’ with several not so kind adjectives attached. Once, after a most interesting conversation about me, I turned to the 3 guys chatting next to me and responded in fluent Spanish that if they had such a problem with me they could suck my left tit and go to Hell! OOOH the look of surpise on their faces was a definite Kodak moment. 😃

In Southern Oregon (where I grew up) this happened a lot as well due to the extremely high Mexican population, but being fluent in Spanish it was great blowing their minds with a reply from left field. It not only earned me respect and recognition in the Mexican community (all Gringos aren’t bad), but allowed me the opportunity to help them out with the education they needed (ESL) and teach conversational Spanish in elementary schools to encourage ethnic awareness.

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**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/49 "2002-05-14T11:26:59Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> How did they know you were Jewish? It’s not something you can tell by looking.

Maybe he was streaking 😉

As far as the Gypsy question, I tend to use “Pavee”, as that is what the Travelling community in Ireland have deemed to call themselves.

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/50 "2002-05-14T12:25:08Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jjimm \*  
> \*\*and a girl once said “what the fuck do you know, you’re not even from this fucking country.” (I responded by calling her a “racist whore” - and got kicked out of the pub for calling her a “whore”, which I guess I deserved. Shoulda called her a “racist twatwhistle”). \*\*

A bit of a nitpick, but I don’t think you should have called her a racist at all. Assuming both the Irish girl and yourself are white, she was being xenophobic or nationalist, but not racist.

As fot he OP: I, being a white Dutch boy, have never been the victim of an ethnic/racist slur in my life.

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**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/51 "2002-05-14T14:14:10Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gobear \*  
> \*\*  
> How did they know you were Jewish? It’s not something you can tell by looking. \*\*

You can tell fairly easily. I wear a yarmulke. ;j

Zev Steinhardt

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**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/52 "2002-05-14T14:37:43Z")

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Two times in my life:

When I was in grade 4 (or somewhere around there) I went to an after-school program with a firend of mine (who happened to be black). The after school program she attended was also made up mostly of black kids. Some girl insulted me for being white - I don’t remember exactly what she said. I wasn’t sure how to react. I think I laughed or something. Then I told one of the teachers and she got in trouble.

The second time was more recent. I was riding on the bus with a few of my friends, and we were sitting next to this creepy, dirty guy. My friend commented that the kids on he other side of the bus who were writing graffiti were raising bus prices for all of us. The guy next to us buts into the conversation, saying:

“Nah, it’s cause the Jews own the buses.”

Both my friends know I’m Jewish. He obviously didn’t. I was pretty embarassed, and I’m not really good with confrontational situations. One of my friends, however, said:

“Oh really? You know, she’s Jewish.” I was furious with him then, but he said he did it to embarass the guy, which it did do. He tried to cover his ass for a bit. Then, as the bus has almost reached it’s destination, he says to me:

“Don’t you find my Jewish jokes funny?”

“No,” I replied truthfully.

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**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/53 "2002-05-14T14:39:29Z")

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Back in the 80’s, I was on a date with a black guy I worked with… we were going to see Simple Minds (wow that brings back memories)… anyways. At one point, he took my hand, to me that was just normal, I like him he likes me and he’s showing me. At that point, I am very happy, high, excited, thinking ok this is good. Then I hear a bunch a guys behind making comments such as « she’s not ugly what the fuck is she doing with a nigger » « maybe she likes big cocks, I should show her mine » and it went from this to worse. I was so angry, I turned red and started shaking, I lost it.:mad:

I turned around, started walking back towards them and my date was freaking out telling me he was alone and that there were 5 of them, don’t do this jools, but nothing could stop me. I had never heard such disgusting comments in my life and I could not accept it. I slap one of them really hard and asked if anybody else had something to say. I was extremely lucky, there was a crowd forming and the guys knew that they couldn’t touch me in front of a crowd (thank god for small favors). So they clamed up, of course being still extremely pissed off I kept going at them giving them shit but never lowering myself to their level.

After I calmed down, I asked him why he didn’t say anything and he actually told me he hadn’t really heard them, actually not that he hadn’t heard them but he was used to it and didn’t want to fight. I was appalled that someone would have to live hearing those kind of comments regularly (I still can’t get over it today, reading this thread).

After that night, I made a point of being aware of what I said when it came to other race, religions and sexual orientation, could it hurt? was it derogatory?

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**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/54 "2002-05-14T14:39:56Z")

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Back in the 80’s, I was on a date with a black guy I worked with… we were going to see Simple Minds (wow that brings back memories)… anyways. At one point, he took my hand, to me that was just normal, I like him he likes me and he’s showing me. At that point, I am very happy, high, excited, thinking ok this is good. Then I hear a bunch a guys behind making comments such as « she’s not ugly what the fuck is she doing with a nigger » « maybe she likes big cocks, I should show her mine » and it went from this to worse. I was so angry, I turned red and started shaking, I lost it.:mad:

I turned around, started walking back towards them and my date was freaking out telling me he was alone and that there were 5 of them, don’t do this jools, but nothing could stop me. I had never heard such disgusting comments in my life and I could not accept it. I slap one of them really hard and asked if anybody else had something to say. I was extremely lucky, there was a crowd forming and the guys knew that they couldn’t touch me in front of a crowd (thank god for small favors). So they clamed up, of course being still extremely pissed off I kept going at them giving them shit but never lowering myself to their level.

After I calmed down, I asked him why he didn’t say anything and he actually told me he hadn’t really heard them, actually not that he hadn’t heard them but he was used to it and didn’t want to fight. I was appalled that someone would have to live hearing those kind of comments regularly (I still can’t get over it today, reading this thread).

After that night, I made a point of being aware of what I said when it came to other race, religions and sexual orientation, could it hurt? was it derogatory?

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**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/55 "2002-05-14T14:43:58Z")

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I’m so sorry I have no idea how i did that :o

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**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/56 "2002-05-14T14:53:13Z")

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This isn’t really a slur, but it was weird:  
When my grandfather died, I told my boss that it had happened and that I would take time off in a few months, when they were planning on holding the memorial service.

He asked, “Oh, is that a Jewish thing?”  
I replied, “No, Jews have to be buried very soon after their deaths. I think it’s three days, but I’m not sure. This is just so his older friends and relatives can make travel plans.”

It took me two days to realize that he thought I was Jewish.

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**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/57 "2002-05-14T15:08:14Z")

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Okay, I said I’d move on but what the hell.

**KarlGrenze** , sorry but I can’t answer that - you’ll have to ask someone from Spain.

**TwistofFate** , good on you for using the right name. But it should be remembered that the Pavee are indigenous to Ireland, although the lifestyle is similar they are not related to the Roma.

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**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/58 "2002-05-14T15:34:32Z")

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I’ve had a lot of anti-Jewish slurs said against me over the years. When I, rarely, get a tan, because of my partial Sephardic (Mediterranean Jewish) roots, I look like I could be an Arab and I occasionally get ‘towel head’ and ‘sand nigger’ slurs too.

I also got the ‘faggot’ thing in high school a lot (I’m heterosexual). Probably didn’t help that I had several openly-gay friends. Then again, once I was walking down the hall with a female friend and one of the morons yelled, “Hey! Lookit the faggot with his lesbian girlfriend!” I almost didn’t make it to class because I was laughing so hard at that one.

One thing that I _really_ hate is when someone who doesn’t know me says, “are you Jewish?” when I say yes, they respond, “I thought so” in a way that indicates they did from my looks (sometimes they come out and say it). Now I suppose I look somewhat stereotypically Jewish. I have a big nose which is slightly hooked. I certainly don’t look Hassidic. Anyway, even if I DIDN’T it bugs me. I have both Jews and non-Jews do it and I think it’s bigoted to assume something like that. Would you say to a black person, “Are you black? Hmm. Thought so.”

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/59 "2002-05-14T17:05:36Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Coldfire \*  
> **A bit of a nitpick, but I don’t think you should have called her a racist at all. Assuming both the Irish girl and yourself are white, she was being xenophobic or nationalist, but not racist.**

Well, many people of Celtic extraction consider themselves to be racially different to those of Anglo-Saxon stock. Irish people in London now have “ethnic minority” status, too. Having said that, I wasn’t thinking rationally at the time - she’d been pissing me off for a while, and that was the final straw.

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**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-a-victim-of-a-racial-ethnic-or-anti-semitic-slur-what-were/108643/60 "2002-05-14T18:29:35Z")

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In addition to being called a “faggot” all through high-school (I’m actually bisexual), I am currently being called “white trash” in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=114937). My reaction to both indicate that I am much weaker than others in this thread, I just have a hard time letting it go.

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