In a thread in IMHO about the new Martin Luther King statue in Boston I used the word “uppity.” @puzzlegal put in a mod note saying:
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I had NO idea that this word had racist baggage associated with it. NONE AT ALL. If you want to say I am stupid…fine. I really did not know. I use the word so rarely I cannot remember ever using it before.
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Context. Context, context, context. There is no reading of what I wrote that is racist. Instead, the mod saw “a word that is naughty” and pounced with no regard for its use. The word was meant to mean “snobbish” which is its primary definition in the dictionary and how it was used. Context matters I think.
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My posting history should count for something. 20+ years of posting. I have made many mistakes. I am willing to bet the mods have a file of my transgressions. But whatever they are, racism is not one. Being accused of it is offensive to me.
What worries me is a seeming “bad word list” that will get people in trouble. My use of “uppity” was clearly not racist but people saw the word and that was the end of it. They did not read it as snobbish as was clear in context…they saw a “bad word” and pounced.
Certainly some words are too fraught to be used (like the “n-word”) but “uppity” is a bridge too far?
If I (and everyone) are to be held accountable for “bad words” then the SDMB should post a list of words that cannot be used. I literally had no idea I was using a “bad word” but, here I am.
~George Carlin