I mentioned having a nasty blister and having to wrap it up in a toe-rag t’other day, and my correspondent said that I shouldn’t use that term, as it is racist.
Is it? I always thought “You toe-rag” was nasty without any ethnic content. “You pus-filled dripping sodden bandage full of corruption, thou acatharsy, you mortifying toe-jam blister rag,” rather than “You denizen of the land of XYZ where people wear rags on their feet.”
There is the homophony with Taureg, but isn’t that independent of the use of the insult? Or is it the whole key to the insult, which came about specifically to trash-talk that North African ethnic group?
I’ve heard the Tuareg/toerag theory before, but it sounds deeply suspicious to me. I can’t imagine why a tiny ethnic group from Francophone North Africa would form the basis for a minor insult which seems to have originated in the Ireland/Scotland region of the Anglosphere. It sounds quite unlikely that the originators of “toe-rag” would have even known who the Tuaregs are.
Googling it shows no racist etymology, not even a folk one. Even the dictionaries links it to poor people who wrapped their shoes around their feet for shoes.
Anyway. OP, your first clue that you were talking to an idiot should have been when he called you out for an ethnic slur when you were describing a literal rag wrapped around your toe. Even if toe-rag were a legitimate ethnic slur (it ain’t) there’s nothing wrong with that usage. “Porch monkey” is a legitimate ethnic slur, unless you’re talking about a literal chimpanzee on an actual veranda. Then it’s simply descriptive.
Memo to myself not to make any typos in threads you might read!
No, I think the objection would have been fair if the phrase was a known slur.
For instance, I couldn’t get away with drying my hair and talking about being a “towel-head,” because that’s a known slur against turban wearers.
I’d never heard “porch monkey” before, so if I saw a chimp on a veranda, I might very well have said such a thing…and would have regretted it hugely when informed it was a slur.
(It’s tricky, of course. I know some people who use “Martian” as a slur, because they can use it with some degree of deniability. “I’m moving to Montana, because there aren’t as many Martians there.” But that shouldn’t be generalized so far as to chill discussions of Ray Bradbury’s science-fantasy stories.)
The principle is valid; I just was wondering if the specific instance was. I think it isn’t, but wanted opinions.
Ye gods. How can this question even be asked? If you don’t mean an ethnic or racist insult, then it isn’t racist! If someone *chooses *to be offended where no offense is meant, well, fuck 'em!
Is it possible they confused toe-rag with do-rag (which still wouldn’t be racist, but does have some racial and gangster connotations, as the NFL ban shows)
Yeah, OP, you really should have asked your correspondent in what sense “toe rag” is supposed to be racist.
Also, I always thought “toe rag” referred to a rag that someone with disgusting, smelly feet would keep on hand to wipe the gunk out from between his toes.
Well, there are terms whose racist use is so entrenched that they can’t really be used innocently any more (excepting some specific contexts where they are used internally to the target group).
Am I misremembering or is there a car called Taureg? If so, why the heck would you name an automobile after a people that are so poor they have to wear rags on their feet
Thanks; at least I know my memory isn’t failing me. Still doesn’t 'splain how they arrived at the name though. I see the article claims it is named for the people but there’s no other explanation. Just seems a weird choice.
He is and, at the time, I had no idea about the phrase being used for… anything, really. I kept wracking my brain trying to figure out if it was an anagram or read backward or what. The best I could come up with what the unsatisfying conclusion that it sorta spelled “garrote” backwards.
Of course, there was no “mystery” to it at all. He was just a gross little creature with a gross little name.
You think it a weird choice to name a 4x4 SUV (even an urban Mom’s taxi like this one) after a nomadic desert people who have associations with outdoor living, freedom, caravans and mobility?
