# Sorry, my fellow negroes. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065 "2011-09-21T14:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065/21 "2011-09-22T01:26:32Z")
Around here black (the colour itself, rather than a largely misrepresented skin tone) is about as positive and patriotic as you can get… black being NZ’s sporting colour and most Kiwis being sports mad. 🙂 National sports teams names tend towards using some combination of: Black, Silver, Fern, and/or White… Our national sports teams include the All Blacks (rugby), Black Caps (cricket), the Tall Blacks (basketball), Black Ferns (women’s rugby), Black Sox (softball), and the Black Sticks (field hockey)… The badminton team were temporarily called the Black Cocks… but they seem to have dropped that name. 😃 I know I’ve recounted on the Dope before about the time a colleague of mine was approached and critized in a Portland, OR gym for her “racist hat” (an All Blacks cap)… and knowing the firey temper of the lady involved… ouch. 🙂 But just in case All Blacks is insufficient to cause heart palpatations in Americans…we also have our national soccer team… the All Whites. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065/22 "2011-09-22T02:10:53Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Now we see the violet inherent in the mucous! Sir, I salute you. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065/23 "2011-09-22T02:21:26Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > It looks like all the Romance languages have a white night/ insomnia connection. And when my husband tells me long stories about work that involve a dozen acronyms, regulatory agencies and Robert’s Rules of Order, I’ll smile politely and say “purple” in Russian. He’ll never know! “фиолетово” is supposed to mean “I don’t care”? Must be new. Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065/24 "2011-09-22T02:51:31Z")
“fellow negroes” I can’t help it–that sounds funny. Actually, “negro” sounds funny. It so…_retro_. “Negro” 🙂 Sorry if I’m offending anyone. I don’t intend to. Would it be offensive if a white person that you were pretty good friends with said, “Morning, negro” to you at work? [sub]I could try it and see, but, even though she might be little, my friend can hit HARD.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065/25 "2011-09-22T03:34:42Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > And before you all nitpick the crap out of me, I do know that black people aren’t actually the color black and white people are not the color white. In most cases. I’m burning with beige rage. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065/26 "2011-09-22T03:50:22Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > The “black man = devil” thing isn’t just Irish—it’s all over Europe, and it’s pretty old. Certainly before the discovery of the Americas. I’ve often thought that the choice of “black” for people of sub-Saharan Africa / African descent was partly to demonize them (literally) with existing concepts rather than a ham-handed attempt to say “brown.” As the OP’s link shows the Irish for a black man is “fear gorm”, which directly translates as blue man. 🙂 This thread reminds me of Jim Jones’ white nights. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-my-fellow-negroes/597065.md?page=1)