# Why I am not black this week. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959 "2004-03-18T02:39:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![emacularius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@emacularius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacularius)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/61 "2004-03-19T03:25:24Z")
Noone mentioned my favorite slang word. Badunkadunk (which is for a voluptuous derriere) It makes me smile just saying it. Badunkadunk šŸ™‚ Badunkadunk šŸ™‚ Badunkadunk šŸ™‚ Hee hee heeā€¦ Badunkadunk šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/62 "2004-03-19T03:38:18Z")
I am an ecologist who loves classic rock and canā€™t color coordinate to save her life. So tell me about it. I get it from black and white people. It used to bother me when Iā€™d hear it from whites but now I realize they think theyā€™re giving me a compliment. As in, ā€œYouā€™re one of usā€. I donā€™t like it, but it doesnā€™t offend me. But it does bug me when I hear it from black people. Iā€™ve always considered myself a strong black woman. I donā€™t think being a strong black woman requires knowing the latest slang and knowing how to dance (although I wish I knew how to). ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/63 "2004-03-19T04:43:17Z")
> [@Deadly Nightlight](#): > > I am 23. > > Well I am glad that there are a few people who understand what this is like. My husband read the thread and apologized. He said he had no clue it bothered me that much. > > Pssssst- I have a few Barry Manilow Cdā€™s. Guess I have gone past the point of no return. > > \<----walks off humming Copa Cabana > ( I like the fly girl version **JayJay** , cracked me yup) Slight hijackā€¦ UUURRRKā€¦ Barry MANilow? (not so sure thatā€™s all that white, most of my fellow whities think heā€™s a wee bit bubblegum) šŸ˜ƒ (okay, okay, I have to admit, coca cobana IS a bit catchy if you arenā€™t paying attention). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/64 "2004-03-19T04:43:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > ā€œKids, Iā€™ve been thinking alot about this, and Iā€™ve decided itā€™s time to leave Hawaii, and live somewhere else.ā€ > > ā€œWhere, mom?ā€ > > ā€œWeā€™ll find out when we get there!ā€ That happens. Itā€™s just that Mom was an Anthropologist, yet another reason why I like the guy, and you go where the grants take you. > [@The Devil's Grandmother](#): > > I was kinda surprised that octaroon was defined in [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) as ā€œA person whose ancestry is one-eighth Black.ā€ Yeah, thatā€™s the ā€œtouch of the tar brushā€ you used to hear about. And to expand on what **jayjay** said, up to about twenty years ago Louisiana would classify a person as Black with as little as one-sixteenth Black ā€œblood,ā€ which I guess would make one a semioctaroon. (A hemidemisemiroon?) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/65 "2004-03-19T05:01:46Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > which I guess would make one a semioctaroon. (A hemidemisemiroon?) Nope. A hemidemisemiflavahā€¦ (God, we need Snopesā€™s smack-with-a-trout smileyā€¦) ---
**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:** [March 19, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/66 "2004-03-19T19:43:37Z")
> [@The Devil's Grandmother](#): > > I was kinda surprised that octaroon was defined in [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) as ā€œA person whose ancestry is one-eighth Black.ā€ Many of the race-dividing politicians tried to enforce a ā€œsingle dropā€ definiton. Would that be a nanoroon? ---
**Author:** ![Yamirskoonir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@Yamirskoonir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yamirskoonir)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/67 "2004-03-19T22:10:33Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And to expand on what **jayjay** said, up to about twenty years ago Louisiana would classify a person as Black with as little as one-sixteenth Black ā€œblood,ā€ which I guess would make one a semioctaroon. (A hemidemisemiroon?) Damn. This post brings back memories. I was brought up colorblind, and blissfully enjoyed childhood relationships with people of all races and cultures, many of which continue strongly today. I got my first exposure to prejudice when I was 8 years old, when grandma (who was visiting from up North) was driving us to lunch one day. Thereā€™s a little boy on the corner, holding his bicycle and waiting for the light to change so he can cross the street. Grandma points him out to me, saying: ā€œSee that? Thatā€™s what we call a _half-breed_, when theyā€™re half black and half white.ā€ My jaw drops. The first thing that runs through my head is: how does grandma know what color his parents are? Is she psychic? And then the horror of the words ā€œhalf-breedā€ strike me: the way she says it, the little boy doesnā€™t even sound _human_! And then I realize that this is prejudice: grandma sees a little boy whom she doesnā€™t even know, but because of his lightly brown skin, she makes assumptions about his parentage and more than likely his education and socio-economic status as well. When the full impact of her words finally settled in, I was so upset that I almost stepped out of the moving car. This incident has never left me, and Iā€™m pissed at every single person in my life who has ever felt the need to ā€œpoint outā€ another personā€™s race or culture to me. Since this is the pit: FUCK YOU ALL FOR KILLING MY INNOCENCE!!! That is all. Yamir ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/68 "2004-03-20T13:11:10Z")
**Deadly Nightlight** , stereotyping sucks, no matter what form it comes in. Iā€™m white (and not American), but Iā€™ll see if I can give you a hand with the rap-difficulties. > [@](#): > > Oddly enough, this weeks ā€œYou are so whiteā€, started with some lyrics by a rapper Named Twista. Now normally people make fun of me for calling him Twister instead. Iā€™ve only heard one Twista song, but itā€™s damn good. Incidentally, because of my accent, there is no difference between the way I say ā€œTwistaā€ and the way I say ā€œTwister.ā€ > [@](#): > > I was curious to what some of the chorus meant. So I asked my ā€œApparently Blacker than meā€ Husband. He listens to rap alot more than I do, So I figured he would be an ideal place to start. I was informed that I was not listening to a chorus, but a ā€œhookā€. What the difference is, I couldnā€™t tell you. So he asked me which lyrics specifically I didnā€™t understand. In the middle of reciting the lyrics, I noticed that my Husband was comepletely cracked up. Because I recite lyrics ā€œso whiteā€. Hip hop tends to have choruses rather than hooks. I think this is because in rock/pop, the song is seen to culminate in the chorus, but in hip hop, the rapping is the focus of the song, and the hook is the icing on the cake. I.e., when you listen to Copa Cobana, the whole song is building up to when he sings that Copa Cobana bit, but, in yr average hip hop song, the hook attracts you to it, but the real business of the song is the rapping in the verses. Of course, in spite of this, youā€™ll find that the hook makes or breaks much modern pop-rap, and the rap is so dismal that it isnā€™t worth mentioning. Still, the tradition persists. And Ice is diamonds. Because they look like it, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/69 "2004-03-20T14:13:31Z")
> [@auntie em](#): > > We need a theme song for this bus. Iā€™m thinking something by Barry Manilow. šŸ˜‰ How about ā€œBlandyā€? ---
**Author:** ![celestina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@celestina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/celestina)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/70 "2004-03-21T21:04:09Z")
**Nightlight & Co** , as a fellow sista what folks continually mistake for being white when I talk on the phoneā€“sometimes to my complete surprise they donā€™t think Iā€™m Southern neitherā€“and as someone whose black friends just put up with my occasional misunderstandings of slangā€“I had to get someone to explain ā€œbling-blingā€ to me tooā€“I feel your pain. I donā€™t believe anyoneā€™s ever called me a brainiac to my face, and usually my friends just shake their heads and laugh with me over my otherworldliness. However, you just got to stop worrying about all this nonsense. You are what you decide to be. Iā€™ve personally decided to be a sista from anotha planet, and Iā€™m perfectly happy with it. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/71 "2004-03-22T06:51:04Z")
> [@emacularius](#): > > Noone mentioned my favorite slang word. > > Badunkadunk (which is for a voluptuous derriere) It makes me smile just saying it. > > Badunkadunk šŸ™‚ > Badunkadunk šŸ™‚ > Badunkadunk šŸ™‚ > Hee hee heeā€¦ > > Badunkadunk šŸ˜ƒ Rhymes with ā€œJunk in the trunkā€. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/72 "2004-03-22T09:19:57Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > I mean, listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn! He canā€™t be white ā€¦ can he? šŸ†’ Even better, listen to Joe Cocker. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/73 "2004-03-22T23:23:48Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Many of the race-dividing politicians tried to enforce a ā€œsingle dropā€ definiton. Would that be a nanoroon? I remember the one-drop rule, because it was mentioned in a long-ago history class and later, was a pivotal point in a (really dumb) 1930ā€™s mystery novel. I still find it a bizarre concept. I mean, I _look_ perfectly white, but by that standard Iā€™m either Latino or Navajo, and Iā€™m pretty sure neither group really wants me. Thanks for the Badunkadunk, **emacularius**. I havenā€™t had so much fun with a word since ass-gasket. ā€œhemidemisemiroonā€ Which Terry Pratchett Discworld novel was it that one of the girls at Susanā€™s school was claiming to be a hemi-demi-something goddess? The more vocabulary I get, the funnier those books become. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/74 "2004-03-22T23:32:35Z")
> [@The Devil's Grandmother](#): > > ā€œhemidemisemiroonā€ Which Terry Pratchett Discworld novel was it that one of the girls at Susanā€™s school was claiming to be a hemi-demi-something goddess? The more vocabulary I get, the funnier those books become. Probably ā€œSoul Musicā€ if it was when she was _in_ school, ā€œHogfatherā€ or ā€œThief of Timeā€ if she was teaching. Itā€™s been a long time since I read any of those three, so I donā€™t remember the particular scene. And hemidemisemi-whatever is actually taken from a musical term, _hemidemisemiquaver_, which is a 64th note (a quaver is an eighth note, a semiquaver is a 16th note, a demisemiquaver is a 32nd note, and thus a hemidemisemiquaver is a 64th note). Needless to say, itā€™s rarely used except in the more obnoxious pieces that are designed to allow the soloist to show off. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/75 "2004-03-24T08:36:14Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > It seems that shooting yourself in the foot is not the best way to get ahead in societyā€¦and I may be white but Iā€™m disabled and I know discrimination first-hand. It sucks. But itā€™s not going to go away if I sit around whining about it, either. Iā€™m going back to school, and Iā€™ll show those bastards. > > I am utterly mystified by the ā€œsell-outā€ attitude. Chris Rock [paraphrased from memory]: ā€œBrother goes to jail, comes back to his old neighborhood, heā€™s a hero, man! You go to _college_, theyā€™re all, ā€˜Sellout! Get away from me with that reading shit!ā€™ā€ ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959/76 "2004-03-24T17:52:17Z")
Oh, please. I havenā€™t been black for about twenty-five years now. Iā€™ve given up on trying to placate people who buy into stereotypes. Fuck 'em. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-am-not-black-this-week/234959.md?page=3)