I was born in 1961 and I’ve heard black, AA, and most recently person of color. I would not surprise me at all to hear that someone Lohans age, in her isolated world had heard person of color but hadn’t heard colored person and didn’t know it was important to get the word order right.
I’d also like to point out that for those of us posting from the wonder bread seats it’s not just blacks. Asians, hispanics, women, native americans, pacific islanders, little people, inuit, GLBT, and carnival workers have all had a go at the PC game, and all of them have a Jackson/Sharpton/Wright subset that expect us to prove we’re not bigots, it might not be as easy to keep up with moving goalposts as you think
If your point is NOT that the terms shift, what exactly IS your point? You said it has “changed so many times…” Changed so many times that… what? If it’s not that it has changed so much it’s hard to keep track, then what have the many, varied changes wrought?
And they’ve changed so many times since when? We’re not talking monthly or yearly changes, here.
First of all, the name of the President is an objective fact, easily looked up. The same cannot be said about preferred terminology. Just ask the Trekkers and the Trekkies.
Second, this isn’t merely a question about which term is “preferred.” Even if a term is not “preferred,” that doesn’t automatically make it offensive, outdated, or otherwise inappropriate.
And third, this very thread demonstrates that there is disagreement about the degree of propriety in using the term “colored.” Heck, as I’ve pointed out, the majority of the respondents in this thread apparently disagree with you. What does that say about the ease of following whichever terms are preferred?
Again, I’ve known people to take offense at the term black, preferring the term “African American.” I’ve known people who expressed the opposite preference instead. Which one of these groups is more worthy of your criticism?
I think the main reason it gets associated with racism is simply because a lot of us are only familiar with it through books/movies/documentaries about the segregated South. So even though it isn’t a slur, it gets linked in peoples minds with a segregated society.
“There have been two terms taught to me in my lifetime as polite, both of which are still extant and both of which I use: Black and African-American. Two terms.”
The clear implication being that the word “colored” is considered impolite. The majority of posters here disagree with you, as does the NAACP spokeperson that Simplicio cited. They agree that it’s outdated, but not rude.
Now what were you saying about the intellectual competence of people who don’t get these things right?
I already told you, and you know it. I said that has changed often enough that I can’t find it in myself to express any outrage over this incident. Obviously, that’ is NOT the same as saying, “Oh, it’s so difficult to keep track of these terms! My tiny little brain can’t handle it! It’s a wonder that I can function at all in society!”
I didn’t say any term was offensive. You said the “correct” term has changed a lot. I’m saying it’s an absolutely ludicrous argument to say the “correct” term has changed a lot, since the “correct” term, or terms, haven’t changed in a long time. I suspect the “correct” terms haven’t changed within your memory, though I could be wrong in my guess as to your age.
In other words, I’m not arguing what the terms are or aren’t; I’m saying your statement was ridiculous. The terms are not ever shifting and have been, on the contrary, really stable for my lifetime and, guessing again, yours.
This pops up quite a bit, where someone will say, “Those X people. They can’t even decide Y! They don’t have any right complaining since they make it so difficult!” It gets used against women and people of various minority groups and various religions and is generally an excuse for the speaker not to make any sort of effort and to blame “the PC police” or something similar. When the example is so obviously silly, as in claiming that terms that haven’t changed much in decades are like the ever-shifting sands of the Sahara, it makes it pretty clear the speaker isn’t talking about reality at all, but about some personally held idea that can’t quite hold up to scrutiny.
My 96-year old grandfather throws out the term ‘darkies’ once in a while. He also voted for Obama.
As for “colored,” I think it may have just been a slip of the tongue in Lohan’s case. You know, your brain means to spit out “person of color” but since we’re used to leading with adjectives, “colored” flies out. Otherwise, it’s pretty anachronistic. Maybe her dad uses it?
So, the only two options are polite and impolite? How about neutral, outdated, or archaic? How about unusual, surprising, or odd? How about iffy, generally okay but not preferred, generally not okay but not offensive, borderline, or just plain baffling?
jsgoddess, you say that you were born in 1971. I’m older than you, and I certainly heard the term “colored” used well into the seventies. Other people here have made the same observation. I’ve also told you (more than once, in fact) that I’ve heard people disagree over whether one should refer to these fine people as “blacks” or “African American.”
Then there’s the more recent term, “people of color,” which others in this thread have also mentioned.
I won’t claim that there are any fiery debates over this issue; however, I don’t think the matter is as clearly resolved as you claim it is.
But for the sake of argument, let’s grant your claim. It’s still foolish to say that a lack of outrage over this issue is logically equivalent to lacking the mental acuity needed to function in society. In other words, even if matters were as neatly resolved as you claim they are, your derision was still WAY over the top.
I didn’t say lack of outrage did anything of the sort. I said that people who truly couldn’t handle such changes would be incapable of functioning. I don’t believe anyone on this board really can’t follow these particular linguistic changes.
You mentioned “colored” being used in the 70s. A whole shitload of things in your vocabulary have changed since then. Words come in and go out of people’s vocabularies all the time, become popular then fall out of favor.
Given the larger context of her words (that she’s “exited” about Obama’s presidency), I can’t imagine anything other than, at worst, poor choice of words. Antiquated, not offensive, is the answer to the question. Given her white trash* background, I’d say it’s nothing more than an opportunity to educate.
And yet as I’ve repeatedly told you, I expressed a lack of outrage, not an inability to handle these changes. I’ve pointed this out repeatedly, but obviously in vain.
Focus, please. You specifically said, “I would be surprised if it was still considered the polite term in many places after, what, 1970?” Other posters and I are pointing out that it was still in use well after that date, and that it was never really considered an inappropriate term.
You keep missing the point. We agree that terms fall into and out of fashion. The point is that this issue is not as “settled” as you claim it to be. You say that the “proper” term is something that people should know even more readily than they know the current President of the USA, but that’s obviously a false analogy – again, as evidenced by the variety of opinions and experiences expressed within this thread.
If you still want to use the President analogy though, more power to you.
OK. I had to read this thread twice just to make sure I was reading what I was reading. It’s OK now to call Americans “colored”? Do you know what that means to people who grew up seeing signs that said “coloreds-only”? I’ve been around a long time and, to me, this is unacceptable.
Does anyone here understand what it meant when our parents said “colored” around the kids because they didn’t want to say N—s? We fought for too long and too hard for this kind of language to be excused. I know Lohan is an idiot, but I don’t forgive her abuse.
Mrs. Dallas: That’s the most adorable little colored girl playing outside.
Steve: “Colored”? You’re saying “colored people” in 1988? You know better, Ma.
Mrs. Dallas: Then why the “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People”? I don’t think Negroes mind at all.
Steve: Don’t say “Negroes,” Ma! You can’t say “Negroes”!
Mrs. Dallas: Can I say “United Negro College Fund”?
Steve: You are baiting me, Ma!
Mr. Dallas: That’s it. We’re leaving.
Mrs. Dallas: Stay put, Reginald. “Mister Socially Sensitive” isn’t finished shaming his parents into enlightenment.
Steve: Everybody just calm down. Let’s agree to use the the New Age term “people of color.”
Mrs. Dallas: People of color.
Steve (pleased): People of color.
Mrs. Dallas: Colored people.
Steve: NO!!
Mr. Dallas: We’re leaving.
Lindsay Lohan is just a ditz. A shallow, dumb, air-head who’s value in life is 110% determined by her looks. Like all young, hot, pretty girls she can say anything because no guy is going to risk not being able to hang out with her by criticizing anything she says no matter how mind-bogglingly stupid!
I think its hilarious when one of these brainless bimbos unknowingly just gushes out their stupidity for all the world to laugh at!
Hey Paris, what do you think of the mortgage crisis? Maybe if Wal-Mart sold more walls?!?
I’m not black, coloured, Native American, African American, or even North American, and I didn’t immediately see what was wrong with what she had said until I read down a few posts. I still don’t get it. Black people aren’t actually black, younger ‘black’ generations are a few generations removed from Africa to refer correctly to them as African Americans…
I can see why ‘coloured’ might be one step beyond the N word, and so we might need to gain some more distance from the N word by further distancing ourselves from the less-harmful word next chosen (but used by people who still said the N word under their breath). Still, I’m struggling to find much wrong with what she said.
I mean, Jophiel mentioned s/he doesn’t see any reason to “string her up” which has connotations of it’s own, but that was bypassed by everyone here and I’m sure s/he didn’t think anything about what s/he wrote. Which s/he shouldn’t!!
It’s language, it changes with the wind. Take the word ‘gay’… no, please, take it.
