# The SDMB needs to have a banned words list

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-needs-to-have-a-banned-words-list/978494>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [January 20, 2023, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-needs-to-have-a-banned-words-list/978494 "2023-01-20T04:55:55Z")\
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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sdmb-needs-to-have-a-banned-words-list/978494/37 "2023-01-20T14:38:12Z")

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> [@Boston University unveiled a new Martin Luther King Jr. statue. Is it just me or does it look like someone performing a sexual act?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-university-unveiled-a-new-martin-luther-king-jr-statue-is-it-just-me-or-does-it-look-like-someone-performing-a-sexual-act/978230/137):
>
> 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:
> 
> > [@Boston University unveiled a new Martin Luther King Jr. statue. Is it just me or does it look like someone performing a sexual act?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boston-university-unveiled-a-new-martin-luther-king-jr-statue-is-it-just-me-or-does-it-look-like-someone-performing-a-sexual-act/978230/137):
> >
> > Holy ####, I can’t even believe you are accusing people who disagree with you of being “uppity” in a thread about a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. Since you seem not to have noticed, I’ll refer you to BigT’s post. Yes, that’s what people trying to keep Black people “in their place” (which is to say, in the underclass) say. That word has so much baggage you could travel for a month with it. I suggest you apologize and quietly back away, now.
> 
> 1. 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.
> 
> 2. 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.
> 
> 3. 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

It had to be quoted.

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