# Have you ever said something bigoted accidentally? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951 "2011-12-31T15:32:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/21 "2012-01-02T19:28:37Z")
As a kid, a friend of mine and I called sleeveless ribbed t-shirts “Dago T’s”. I think I was 20 before I figured out that “Dago” is an offensive term referring to Italian-Americans. So then I just started calling them “wifebeaters” like everyone else. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/22 "2012-01-02T19:34:15Z")
Eeny, meena, mina, mo, Catch a nigger by the toe; If he squeals let him go, Eena, meena, mina, mo. Said countless times before the age of about 7 or 8 I’d say when I moved on to tiger or tigger. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/23 "2012-01-02T23:15:31Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Similar here, using ‘mighty white of you’ instead. It’s on purpose though, as I don’t expect anyone to actually take offense. > > Um…don’t think I’ve ever said that to anyone not white though, lol. When that happens, I’ll let you know the result! Yeah, it’s not too bad, all things considered. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/24 "2012-01-02T23:29:49Z")
I almost posted this on another topic. “I don’t see why people go out of their way to say African-American, white people are white, black people are black, why don’t you just call a spade a spade” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/25 "2012-01-02T23:37:20Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Eeny, meena, mina, mo, > Catch a nigger by the toe; > If he squeals let him go, > Eena, meena, mina, mo. > > Said countless times before the age of about 7 or 8 I’d say when I moved on to tiger or tigger. Never ever heard your version until I was 35 or so, and then only in the context of a discussion of racial issues. “Tiger” was all I ever heard as a kid in the early '60s. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/26 "2012-01-03T01:48:24Z")
I think I may have told this story on here before, but it’s pretty funny, so I’ll tell it again. Back when I was starting college, I used to work at an independent pizza restaurant in Memphis, TN (a city with a LOT of racial tension). There were several branches, and we didn’t have our delivery system synced or anything; you would call in and tell your address, and the person taking your order would check to make sure you’re in the delivery area by looking on this enormous map on the wall. The section we delivered to was left blank, but the surrounding areas were colored in with highlighter; different colors indicated a different branch to call. Well, one night we were pretty busy so one of the delivery drivers answered the phone and started to take an order, something they normally didn’t do. When the customer on the other line told him her address, the driver looked it up on the map and saw that it was in one of the highlighted areas. Since he wasn’t used to explaining this to a customer (and was a kinda thick headed fellow to boot) he says to her, “Oh! I’m sorry, we don’t deliver to the colored areas, you’ll have to call somewhere else.” BLAM! She hangs up the phone. The delivery driver assumes she’s calling another branch; about 30 minutes later he gets called into the managers office for telling customers we don’t deliver to black people. The woman he offended had actually called the owner at home to complain, and a tornado of shit was about to hit the poor driver. Fortunately, he was able to explain himself, and he called up the customer to apologize as well, but we all had a pretty good laugh about it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/27 "2012-01-03T03:17:54Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Never ever heard your version until I was 35 or so, and then only in the context of a discussion of racial issues. “Tiger” was all I ever heard as a kid in the early '60s. For reference this was late '80s/ early '90s Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/28 "2012-01-03T04:05:46Z")
Do slips of the tongue count? I once said “nigger” when I meant to say “trigger,” and once when I meant to say “dicker.” Oh, God… I once was so mad at an extremist feminist that I said “Feminazi,” and I wish very much I hadn’t. Bleah! Taking inspiration from Rush? I’d rather chug-a-lug a gasoline milkshake! And I once said “Jewed” as in, “He got Jewed out of his inheritance.” Bleah again. Damn, damn, damn stupid thing to have said, and, again, I really wish I hadn’t. Y’know the adage, “Measure twice, cut once?” Well, think twice, speak once! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/29 "2012-01-03T04:22:41Z")
Or just teach yourself to say something like “I Christianed him down on the car and got a real good price.” Get a lot of WTF looks from people (from "Is this goy so dumb to not know it is “jew down” or “is he fucking with me” to "my brain hurts.) Conditioning is tough. I’ve got a special needs daughter and still catch myself saying “fucktard.” “Bless (insert name/group here) heart” except the phrase “bless your heart” is not that widespread in the US. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/30 "2012-01-03T04:32:05Z")
Now we can’t even use the suffix -tard? _Lame_. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/31 "2012-01-03T05:37:59Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Now we can’t even use the suffix -tard? _Lame_. This. “Retarded” is an actual medical term meaning held-back or slow. Example, the opposite of “Premature ejaculation” is “Retarded ejaculation”. It can obviously be used in a pejoritive fashion, but it is a THING and has a legit place. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/32 "2012-01-03T05:54:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > At one point in my Naval career, I somehow got into the bad habit of calling everyone by the nickname “Buckwheat”; not as a racial epithet but rather along the lines of calling someone a hayseed or a bumpkin as a joke. The inevitable happened, of course, and I used the word with a young black man who was new to the command. He had said something to me and I replied in an offhand manner, "you better believe it, buckwheat’. He stopped dead and stared at me in disbelief, then said “what did you call me, Chief?” I actually had to think for a moment to recall what I had said, and the sudden realization hit me that I had been using an offensive term for some six months. Apologies and explanations ensued, and I thanked him for calling it to my attention. You could’ve nailed him on calling you “Chief.” My friend, who was in the habit of calling EVERYone “Chief,” said to a bartender, “I’ll have a beer, Chief.” Of course, the bartender was a Native American, and didn’t appreciate being addressed thusly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/33 "2012-01-03T15:59:07Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > You could’ve nailed him on calling you “Chief.” My friend, who was in the habit of calling EVERYone “Chief,” said to a bartender, “I’ll have a beer, Chief.” Of course, the bartender was a Native American, and didn’t appreciate being addressed thusly. 🙂 Yeah, except I was a Chief Petty Officer, so that would have made me look…you know…stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/34 "2012-01-03T16:45:47Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > You repeat what you hear in your home. “Nigger toes” was what my father called them, so that’s what I called them until I was old enough to know better. A Southern friend of mine has a story about her friend eating nuts and getting an allergic reaction. At the hospital, they were asked what sort of nuts he was eating and they realized to some horror that no one knew a name for them besides “Nigger toes”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/35 "2012-01-03T17:34:09Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > A Southern friend of mine has a story about her friend eating nuts and getting an allergic reaction. At the hospital, they were asked what sort of nuts he was eating and they realized to some horror that no one knew a name for them besides “Nigger toes”. I also grew up thinking that bog hummocks were called “niggerheads”. My brother still calls them that, and becomes fairly aggressive when corrected. Of course he also voted for Goldwater, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/36 "2012-01-03T19:51:24Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > This. “Retarded” is an actual medical term meaning held-back or slow. Example, the opposite of “Premature ejaculation” is “Retarded ejaculation”. It can obviously be used in a pejoritive fashion, but it is a THING and has a legit place. I saw one of the most idiotic examples of PC-ness run amok regarding that term this past weekend. FX was showing “Tropic Thunder” on TV, so of course it was edited for language. However every time the characters said the word “retarded” it was dubbed to “special.” What makes that so incredibly stupid is that the actor was _playing a mentally retarded character_! The term was not used in a derogatory way! He \*was \*retarded! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/37 "2012-01-03T19:52:21Z")
In school, the teacher was discussing people’s attitudes during slavery. She referenced a newsletter where didn’t want to free the slaves, because they would overrun our cities and make them dangerous. This was in the late 80s when Washington DC was an absolute no-go area a few blocks from the monuments. So I blurted out “Isn’t that what happened?” I probably would’ve gotten expelled if I said that today. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/38 "2012-01-03T22:08:50Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I saw one of the most idiotic examples of PC-ness run amok regarding that term this past weekend. FX was showing “Tropic Thunder” on TV, so of course it was edited for language. However every time the characters said the word “retarded” it was dubbed to “special.” What makes that so incredibly stupid is that the actor was _playing a mentally retarded character_! The term was not used in a derogatory way! He \*was \*retarded! :rolleyes: “You never go full _special_”? Yippee ki-yay, melon farmer! ETA: at least tell me that Downey, Jr. wasn’t colorized back to whiteface… ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/39 "2012-01-03T22:34:49Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > “You never go full _special_”? > > Yippee ki-yay, melon farmer! > > ETA: at least tell me that Downey, Jr. wasn’t colorized back to whiteface… Not until after the DVD commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951/40 "2012-01-03T22:40:18Z")
Couple of them for me, but one I have an excuse for (I was very young and didn’t know any better). The one where I was older, I don’t even remember the specifics anymore but I was in a work-related class and the subject of cars came up. I made some offhand comment about driving “those cheap Korean cars” (implying that they were crap). I’m not sure anybody took offense (and in my defense, I think Korean cars _were_ pretty crappy in those days–this would have been the late 80s/early 90s), but I certainly didn’t mean to offend any Koreans who might have been in the class. I’m still kind of embarrassed about it even after all these years. The one when I was very young wasn’t my fault. My mom was kind of a bigot and tried to pass it off as “everybody talked like that when I was growing up.” But all the pets I had when I was a kid were black cats. I loved them all, but they had names like “Spade,” “Spook,” and “Stokeley.” I had no idea these were offensive terms for black people. I’m sure some people looked at me pretty strangely when I talked about my cats. Years later I realized what those names meant and was mortified about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-said-something-bigoted-accidentally/607951.md?page=3)