# I've invented a new word. Areaism. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841 "2003-05-22T17:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/61 "2003-05-23T06:12:32Z")
Yes, I admit that I was the person who \*\*ass[/b[umed **monstro** was a moron from up North. That OP implied, rather heavily, that an offensive T-shirt was deliberately distributed at U of L as an intentionally racist gesture because the incident happened in Kentucky. When someone with a location marker in New Jersey makes the utterly moronic **ass** umption that something must be intentional racism just because of where it happened, I have to hope that they’re just working from an utter ignorance of alll things Southern. To actually be from the South and still think that way is beyond ignorance and bigotry, way on into plain fucking stupid. Unfortunately, that sort of idiotic, insulting assumption is all too common among people from the North. I apologize to any Northerners I may have offended with my assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Ray\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ray\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ray_Walker)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/62 "2003-05-23T06:33:55Z")
Provincialism…ya gotta love it! ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/63 "2003-05-23T08:28:27Z")
-Okay, so that next to last sentence, and the stereotypes of Yankees that it includes, was assholish of me. Sadly enough, I _am_ an asshole sometimes. Everyone is at some point or another, and all we can do is recognize it, admit it, and try to not let it happen again. I don’t feel all that well, and I’m cranky anyway. Add in how het up I tend to get over the incredible, breathtaking rudeness I’ve experienced from most of the Northerners I’ve met over the years, and well, you’ve got a mess just waiting to happen. I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/64 "2003-05-23T10:16:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*Don’t worry. It’s still OK to discriminate against wrinkly people. \*\* Hey!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/65 "2003-05-23T10:40:42Z")
**RexDart** : You are a fucking idiot. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/66 "2003-05-23T12:22:55Z")
[quote] That OP implied, rather heavily, that an offensive T-shirt was deliberately distributed at U of L as an intentionally racist gesture because the incident happened in Kentucky[/ ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/67 "2003-05-23T12:46:14Z")
oops! > [@](#): > > Originally posted by CrazyCatLady > > That OP implied, rather heavily, that an offensive T-shirt was deliberately distributed at U of L as an intentionally racist gesture because the incident happened in Kentucky. Um no. The t-shirt would have been racist even if it had been distributed in Newark, NJ. My contention was that considering the history of race in the South, and the fact that there are still factions in the South that are longing for the good ole days (just look at Georgia), one can’t ignore the heightened offensiveness of the t-shirt considering the context surrounding it. I’m still not convinced that this is a faulty argument. You assumed that I was being unfair to the South, and that I was looking at the problem through a liberal Yankee lens. As if a Yankee’s opinion is somehow not relevant when it comes to race. As if–because of my location–I just don’t “get it”. It pissed me off, **CrazyCatLady**. And the attitude–that there’s a “Southern” mindset that other people just don’t “get”–is what bothers me so much about all this South vs. North crap. I harbor no ill feelings towards you, but I just thought it was funny that you would rally against anti-South prejudice when you haven’t been blameless in the other direction. Yes, **fruitbat** , I have “NEWARK,NJ” as my location. But it’s still wrong to label someone as a “Yankee” when it’s not relevant to the discussion at hand. And as for this: > [@](#): > > Second, how terribly brave to let us know that everyone is guilty of prejudice and give an example of another poster. The truth is we are all guilty of varying degrees of prejudice, you and I included. So you’re basically reiterating what I said. Glad you’re paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/68 "2003-05-23T12:55:13Z")
> [@](#): > > When someone with a location marker in New Jersey makes the utterly moronic assumption that something must be intentional racism just because of where it happened, I have to hope that they’re just working from an utter ignorance of alll things Southern. I did not make this assumption. Please revisit the thread if you need a refresher, **CrazyCatLady**. But on the other hand, one must be really ignorant if they think location DOESN’T matter in a case like the t-shirt case. I think a black person’s concept of “all things Southern” differs from a white person’s, quite honestly. See, I’m not sad I don’t get “all things Southern”. I guess that’s where you and I differ, **CrazyCatLady**. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/69 "2003-05-23T13:00:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qazzz \* > \*\*Actually, somebody beat you to “areaism” – unless, that is, you are Matt Silberstein. > > He coined the word, as far as the internet is concerned, back in 1997, in much the same context. Do a Google usenet search. \*\* God damn it. Now I have to post in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=185310) thread. Screw you Matt!!! ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/70 "2003-05-23T13:43:49Z")
> [@](#): > > If white people insist on painting themselves as victims… I recently had the extreme misfortune to spend a day with a white male that kept insisting that that affirmative action had made it impossible for him to succeed in America. After listening to him snivel and whine for several hours, I asked him a simple question: “If I could wiggle my nose and turn you into a brown or black man with the same educational/job skills, would you want me to?” He shut up. I’m a 48-year-old white woman. Have I encountered prejudice from idiots because I have a vagina? Sure. I still run into men that presume I am incapable of intelligently discussing computer hardware because of my sex. Have my experiences with been anything on the level the prejudices that a black female encounters? Not no but hell no. Black and brown and yellow people still face barriers in this country that I’ve been given a free pass just because I’m white. Does that justify assuming that southerners are dumb asses just because of the way we talk? No. However, to insist that the word redneck has the same pejorative value as nigger is well, just silly. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/71 "2003-05-23T14:15:13Z")
Well, **monstro** , if you can’t see that your automatic conflation of a university in the semi-South with white supremacists implies that you think all Southerners must be racist, well, I guess we’re at an impasse. Most people manage to see the difference between a college fundraiser and the Klan, but to each their own, I suppose. I still don’t buy the argument that it’s somehow worse for perceived racism to happen in the South. For fuck’s sake, there are still groups of men who long to return to the “good old days” when women were barefoot and pregnant. I somehow manage not to hold that against everyone with a penis. When some dipshit calls me a cunt, I somehow manage not to bring up the historical oppression of women, and how the Taliban is still at it. Your mileage may (and apparently often does) vary ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/72 "2003-05-23T14:34:08Z")
**CrazyCatLady** said: > [@](#): > > \ Add in how het up I tend to get over the **incredible, breathtaking rudeness** I’ve experienced from most of the Northerners I’ve met over the years, and well, you’ve got a mess just waiting to happen.\ (bolding mine) This has been my experience as well. I might substitute “many” for “most” but generally speaking, I agree. I should add that my mother used to say that there are “Yankees” and “Damn Yankees.” “Yankees” have manners; “Damn Yankees” do not. This isn’t to say that Southerners are not sometimes rude, but the incidence seems higher among Damn Yankees. I have a very pronounced Texas drawl/twang/whatever and I have been teased, insulted, and denigrated because of it. I long ago learned a response that has served me well. When I encounter this kind of crap, I simply respond by saying: “Fuck you” to whoever is handing out said crap. AND, here in Florida, I come in contact with a lot of retired/transplanted white Northeners/Yankees. By far the majority of them have some extremely hostile things to say about black folk, including one whose snow white son married a black girl. What I resent the most is the bland assumption on the part of these people that I must agree with their racial prejudices simply because I am a white Southerner. Or maybe it is just because I am white and Southern doesn’t enter into it. At any rate, racism isn’t restricted to the South or to Southerners. AND, I have worked on labor crews and in offices with Blacks and Whites and other assorted ethnicities. I have been called, by Blacks, such names as “Tarzan,” “Mister Charlie,” “Chuck,” “Ofay,” “Redneck” and “Cracker.” This has led to some tense moments as I usually responded to those names by calling the offender “Boy.” However, the end result always seemed to be mutual respect, or at least the cessation of name calling, which isn’t restricted to whites. Sorry for venting in a thread which is not mine. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/73 "2003-05-23T15:12:46Z")
> [@](#): > > This isn’t to say that Southerners are not sometimes rude, but the incidence seems higher among Damn Yankees. Maybe it depends which way you’re facing? I have encountered (in the North) the idiotic notion that people who speak with drawls or twangs are stupid and I certainly don’t understand it. (Particularly since Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois each have a sizeable population of people with twangs and no one would call Columbus or Indianapolis Southern). On the other hand, when in the South, I have been treated rudely for speaking with that “foreign” accent. I have friends and relatives who took jobs in the South and returned to the North because they were constantly ostracized or put down as not belonging. There _is_ far less of that today than there was 30 years ago, before so many jobs moved to the South taking Northerners with them, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Read\_Neck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/74 "2003-05-23T15:40:21Z")
"This isn’t to say that Southerners are not sometimes rude, but the incidence seems higher among Damn Yankees. " My hometown had a massive influx of “Yankees” due to an oil boom back in the 80’s. The next year it was crowned the “Homocide Capital of the US” by the FBI crime stats. Now that’s RUDE. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/75 "2003-05-23T16:09:44Z")
Hey, Southerners, y’all get the last laugh: if you grow up in the South you stand a chance of getting elected President 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/76 "2003-05-23T16:37:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\*OK, white people who think “redneck” is a slur as vile as “nigger” > \*\* Of course redneck isn’t a slur as vile as nigger. Nigger is about as vile as a slur can get. Can you admit that redneck is a slur? Slurs are wrong no matter who they are directed against. Just because nigger is “more wrong” it doesn’t make redneck right. Killing someone is more vile then punching them in the face. Decent people don’t do either. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/77 "2003-05-23T16:48:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by CrazyCatLady_ > > Well, monstro, if you can’t see that your automatic conflation of a university in the semi-South with white supremacists implies that you think all Southerners must be racist, well, I guess we’re at an impasse. I’m sorry for hijacking this thread, but I wish you would STOP mischaracterizing me and my opinions. That just isn’t cool. I’ve never once bashed Southerners in real life or on this board. So please save your scolding for someone who does. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/78 "2003-05-23T17:30:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kal \* > \*\ ***RexDart** : You are a fucking idiot. \*\* Well, back at ya then, **Kal**. After all, there’s as much evidence that you’re a fucking idiot in your post as there is that I am. Which is to say, zero. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/79 "2003-05-23T18:10:01Z")
**RexDart** : The evidence that you are a fucking idiot is in your previous posts to this thread. Now, read slowly and you may be able to understand any big words. You said: > [@](#): > > What the hell makes “gyp” an offensive term? What, are there a bunch of gypsies worried that the word will somehow tarnish their reputation? Yes. About 1 million of them in North America alone. Most of them are nice, law-abiding citizens. > [@](#): > > And gypsies aren’t really an ethicity either. > > \ > > If gypsies aren’t an ethnicity, then it can’t be an ethnic slur. You are right, of course, ‘gypsies’ aren’t an ethnicity. However, ‘Gypsies’ are. Here’s a dictionary entry for you: > [@](#): > > Main Entry: Gyp·sy > Pronunciation: 'jip-sE > Function: noun > Inflected Form(s): plural Gypsies > Etymology: by shortening & alteration from Egyptian > Date: 1537 > **1 : a member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India and now live chiefly in south and southwest Asia, Europe, and No. America** > 2 : ROMANY 2 > **3 not capitalized : one that resembles a Gypsy; especially : WANDERER** > [@](#): > > And if we’re going to play gobear’s little “who’s more persecuted” contest and rank words according to which groups they offend and why, “gyp” has got to be among the least offensive slurs, if it is one. I know people who say “I got jewed” when they get ripped off, now that is an ethnic slur. May be inoffensive to you, but to the 1 million Romani-Americans and Romani-Canadians it is a bit of a bother. > [@](#): > > Wait, are you saying that even the word “gypsy” itself is insulting? Good lord. Yep. Shocking, innit? It has lots of negative connotations, y’see. > [@](#): > > It looks to me that the people in that link disliked gypsies because they live in nomadic settlements, are lazy, are “smelly”, they inbreed, and have “never done a day’s work.” That’s negative stereotypes for sure, but I’m not convinced it’s really ethnic. You hear alot of people here in America make similiar generalizations about the homeless, and the homeless share no single race or ethnicity. You really are a stupid fucker. Totally, brain fucking dead, stupid. > [@](#): > > People are described as gypsies who are clearly not Romany, do not speak Romany, and have not preserved the Romany culture. Maybe you guys ought to start calling folks by their proper names, huh? > [@](#): > > Hitler thinking of gypsies as an ethnicity does not make it so, his entire worldview was based on pigeonholing people into ethnic groups. Likewise a drooling moron posting on a message board and saying that the Roma and Sinti Hitler killed do not belong to an ethnic group does not make it so. It does make you the lucky winner of a polite request to smack yourself in the testicles with a sledgehammer. > [@](#): > > If it’s not an ethnicity, than gypsy and it’s derivitives cannot be ethnic slurs. “gypped” might well imply that all gypsies are thieves and swindlers, and that’a a negative sterotype, but it’s not an ethnic slur. But it is an ethnicity. It boils down to this, you shitheaded moron: You claimed that my people have no ethnicity. You said that just because Hitler said we do, doesn’t make it so. You said that racist fucking shit aimed at the Roma who live in Slovakia isn’t racist. You are wrong and you are are a fucking idiot. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841/80 "2003-05-23T18:38:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > \*\* And gypsies aren’t really an ethicity either. That woman who got caught on video beating her child was described as a gypsie, and she didn’t look eastern european or mediterranean. \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > \*\* People are described as gypsies who are clearly not Romany, do not speak Romany, and have not preserved the Romany culture. \*\* **Rexdart** , did you do a little googling between these two posts? Anyway, what does it matter what people are “described” as? A reporter’s mistake erases a thousand years of history? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > \*\* I know people who say “I got jewed” when they get ripped off, now _that_ is an ethnic slur. \*\* “I got jewed.” “I got gypped.” What’s the difference? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-invented-a-new-word-areaism/176841.md?page=5)