# Riffraff - Racial Slur?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 10, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488 "2003-11-10T22:01:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Herge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488/21 "2003-11-12T18:08:54Z")

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Check my post again, you’ll see I said “According to a documentary on the history of English I saw on the BBC…”. So, the definition wasn’t conjured up in my imagination. Whether the BBC documentry was correct or not, is another matter - I don’t know. I was posting what I believed to be the correct definition, based what I had seen.

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**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488/22 "2003-11-12T19:44:40Z")

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JESUS IN HEAVEN! RIFFRAFF IS A SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS SLUR!!! Nothing to do with these pitiful shells of flesh.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488/23 "2003-11-12T21:48:03Z")

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Is it possible to interpret a statement that in context may be seen as implicating racist ideas while using words that are not intrinsically racial slurs?

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488/24 "2003-11-12T22:16:11Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by hyjyljyj \*  
> **It could be argued that the NAACP is itself racist.**

Thankfully, as we are in GQ, that argument will not happen here.

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**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/riffraff-racial-slur/212488/25 "2003-11-13T02:12:48Z")

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I always thought the definition of riffraff was “people who don’t show up at establishments with a cover charge.”

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