# "Names you associate with \[edit for racial slur\]" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004 "2003-10-01T22:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/61 "2003-10-02T06:36:57Z")
…But I know some people who are rednecks. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/62 "2003-10-02T06:49:27Z")
Mick is the name of the lead singer of the Rolling Stones. Slope is what’s on the side of a hill. Cracker is something you eat. Spic & Span is a brand of household cleanser. Goodness gracious, if these words are offensive then it’s only a matter of time until the whole fucking dictionary becomes a cesspool of slurs! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/63 "2003-10-02T06:55:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > **Don’t say I’m privileged. I’ve never been given a break I didn’t earn** Yes, you’re privileged. You’ve never been pulled over for Driving While Black. You’ve never been followed in a store because they thought that your skin tone indicates that you’re a shoplifter. You’ve never been assumed to be inferior solely on the color of your skin. Damn right you’re privileged. You claim you’ve never been given a break you didn’t earn? Well, a lot of people out there are systematically denied breaks that they DID earn. I don’t think anyone’s accusing you of the crimes of your ancestors. But I’ll gladly accuse you of being so high on your horse that you can’t see the reality here on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/64 "2003-10-02T06:57:50Z")
Are you calling me a redneck, **aryk29**? Cause I’ll kick your ass if you are! ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/65 "2003-10-02T06:58:45Z")
Oh, and it says something about a thread when it gets 63 replies and 1122 views in one afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/66 "2003-10-02T07:02:06Z")
**Green Bean** : You don’t know me or my life. You make broad pronouncements about things I’ve never had happen to me and things I can’t possibly understand simply because you think you know where on the Pantone chart my skin falls. That’s ignorant and bigoted coming from you, me, or anyone else on the planet. BTW, my ancestors moved here long after slavery was over and never lived in the segregated South. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/67 "2003-10-02T07:03:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*Are you calling me a redneck, **aryk29**? Cause I’ll kick your ass if you are! \*\* No, I’m saying that what kind of world will we be living in if for every word, somebody takes offense to it. ---
**Author:** ![Potter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Potter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Potter)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/68 "2003-10-02T07:20:04Z")
The term ‘white trash’ developed as a distinction from ‘trash’, as the typical colloquial usage of ‘trash’ referred to non-whites. This is why it’s a racist term: not because it might offend Whitey, but that white trash needed its own distinctive term from your normal, average, _coloured_ trash in the first place. Historically, it has been Afro-Americans who have found the term to be overwhelmingly offensive. I find it offensive for the same reasons, not because I give the slightest shit over what my skin colour is nor because I am getting my panties in a knot over some bizarro white pride issue. ---
**Author:** ![Creative\_Munster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Creative\_Munster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creative_Munster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/69 "2003-10-02T07:50:59Z")
Sofa King, you are a redneck. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/70 "2003-10-02T07:53:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Green Bean \* > **Yes, you’re privileged. You’ve never been pulled over for Driving While Black. You’ve never been followed in a store because they thought that your skin tone indicates that you’re a shoplifter. You’ve never been assumed to be inferior solely on the color of your skin. Damn right you’re privileged. You claim you’ve never been given a break you didn’t earn? Well, a lot of people out there are systematically denied breaks that they DID earn.** I know what you are _trying_ to say, or at least I think I do. But the way you phrase it makes it a load of bull. White people (or \ people) aren’t _privileged_ because they _aren’t_ discriminated against (“as much”, actually, because whites DO get discriminated against too). Living without being judged because of the tone of your skin isn’t a privilege - it’s the _norm_ (or at least, it should be). I realise there’s a lot of bigots in the world, from all walks (and colours) of life. But the mere fact that a person never experiences discrimination firsthand doesn’t make them privileged, anymore than not having experienced torture makes them privileged. Discrimination is wrong. No one should suffer at its hands. People who don’t, aren’t privileged: they are the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/71 "2003-10-02T09:17:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. B \* > \*\ ***Daisy Cutter** , I don’t know where you live, but I will be delighted to buy you a plane ticket to my neck o’ the woods. From LAX, I’ll personally drive you to Crenshaw and even supply you a sandwich board for your experiment. \*\* I think what **Daisy Cutter** meant was that on that particular street you would likely here many black people use that word themselves. And she’d be right. IMO, if you are offended when one person uses a word but NOT when someone else uses the same word, then it’s not the _word_ you find offensive. I don’t like the word and I don’t use it. I think it’s ugly and it has a lot of historical baggage. But I would feel a lot better if we ALL agreed that EVERYONE who uses it has committed a social faux paus, not just white folk. And I have never heard of anyone being called a mullet. I have only heard that term used to describe a particularly heinous hairstyle. Is that word used as a slur in other parts? ---
**Author:** ![Sezme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Sezme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sezme)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/72 "2003-10-02T10:02:02Z")
If you don’t find the words ‘white trash’ offensive, try saying it to someone’s face, instead of muttering it under your breath or behind their backs. I think you are likely to get your face re-arranged. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Owes\_Bess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c37758/32.png) [@Alan\_Owes\_Bess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Owes_Bess)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/73 "2003-10-02T10:39:53Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by DrDeth_ > “bogtrotter” “Mick” “no Irish need apply”. And again, from the same source: > [@](#): > > After all, I don’t think the “No Irish need apply” oppression went on for CENTURIES. The “No Irish Need Apply” stuff never really happened. It’s an urban myth, probably cooked up by Irish Catholic bigots of the 19th Century to inculcate a strong feeling of ethno-religious identity and solidarity in the minds of their youth. The link is [HERE](http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/no-irish.htm) As the site claims, “It is now easy to search through hundreds of thousands of pages of 19th century magazines and books, using the Making of America online software at Cornell.” In fact one example was found, to quote from the site: > [@](#): > > See the ad in The New York Times of March 25, 1854 shown below–this is the only NINA ad for men anyone has ever found; also see Sept. 21, 1859. The Times of Jan 9, 1854, had an ad for servants from a “Protestant Employment Society.” A houseworker ad on February 10, 1858 specified, “Only Scotch need apply.” For comparison, the search engine turned up 25 instances of the phrase “respectable young girl” in 1861 alone, plus 34 entreaties for a “first rate cook” that year. It turned up a solitary ad that specified “only Americans need apply”—for a governess position in Kentucky. New York So, notwithstanding a quote on that site by a politician who is much admired on SDMB, Senator Ted Kennedy: > [@](#): > > Kennedy said, “I remember ‘Help Wanted’ signs in stores when I was growing up saying 'No Irish Need Apply .”’ Congressional Record Senate Sept 9, 1996 page S10054. He was born to a rich family in 1932, about the same time as the Lindbergh baby, and grew up in very well protected upper class circumstances that seldom brought him to the factory districts. Sorry about the sidetrack, but the durability of the “NINA” myth truly irritates me. On the question of “White Trash” being an insult, it is no better than “Gypsy”. People who use it, even those who try to disguise it by using softer terms involving trailer parks, have a strong need to build themselves up by denigrating some group or other that way. In the final analysis, they must have a group to attack without committing some solecism. There is a fairly common one on SDMB but those who indulge themselves are not aware that something might be amiss. As for the term “Nigger”, no one uses it except in a mocking, self deprecating way, and only those who are part of the “In” group have the right to use it that way. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/74 "2003-10-02T11:28:11Z")
**spooje** , respectfully, that’s not what **Daisy Cutter** meant when he said “I don’t believe Nigger is really offensive anymore” and summarily equated the way _they_ use the word “nigger” to a cornerstone of the Hip Hop industry. When I’ve heard people refer to themselves or others (of the same race) as “nigger,” it’s mighty inconsistent, but I’ve always looked at it as metaphor. I have used the word “honky” to refer to myself in a self-deprecating way. See, I look like a white guy and some people will automatically judge me because of this. By metaphor, I am able to keep this in perspective without letting it drag me down or forcing me to perform “Stuart Smalley” on a regular basis. By asking about “mullet,” I was just wondering if this word might one day supplant “white trash,” or if we can predict howling in the streets about the bigotry implied by a moniker based on a hairstyle. I recall a bit of controversy at the release of _The Legend of Billy Jack,_ where the oppressive, ignorant backwoods white folk are referred to as “cutters.” Just plain silly. BTW, **spooje** , since you live in Long Beach I’m wondering if you’re similarly perceiving what’s happening to the word “Armenian” here in LA. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/75 "2003-10-02T11:41:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. B \* > \*\*BTW, **spooje** , since you live in Long Beach I’m wondering if you’re similarly perceiving what’s happening to the word “Armenian” here in LA. \*\* Actually, no. What’s the story? ---
**Author:** ![Heloise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@Heloise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heloise)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/76 "2003-10-02T11:49:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. B \* > \*\*BTW, **spooje** , since you live in Long Beach I’m wondering if you’re similarly perceiving what’s happening to the word “Armenian” here in LA. \*\* Hmm, I’m curious, too. What’s happening to it? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/77 "2003-10-02T12:27:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*“White trash” is not even close to being as offensive as the “N” word. There’s nothing more laughable than white people whining about anti-white bigotry. \*\* With all due respect, Diogenes, I disagree. While it is certainly true that many white people enjoy certain advantages merely by virtue of being white, that is not always the case. Class bigotry can be just as strongly felt and just as cruelly applied as race bigotry. Poor whites in Appalachia whose children are malnourished and whose lives consist mostly of just waiting to die are as much victims of discrimination and bigotry as their black bretheren in the inner cities. In fact, they have less political clout because there are no leaders who stand up and even pretend to represent them. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/78 "2003-10-02T12:32:44Z")
Jane, Bob, Sue, Daisy, Michael and Betty. ---
**Author:** ![Aries28](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Aries28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aries28)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/79 "2003-10-02T12:37:46Z")
My grandmother, who was a wise old lady, raised 9 kids during her lifetime. They were extremely poor, uneducated, lived in a rented house and she did laundry for people to make extra money. She always said there was a difference between being poor and being trash. I tend to agree. I don’t care if someone is black, white, purple or green live in the projects or live in a mansion, they can live a trashy lifestyle. I would use the phrase, “white trash-mullet wearing-Jerry Springer reject” a million times over before I would ever call someone a nigger. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004/80 "2003-10-02T12:42:35Z")
What say we all agree on “_TRAILER_ trash-mullet wearing-Jerry Springer reject”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/names-you-associate-with-edit-for-racial-slur/205004.md?page=5)