# Why is this racial insult a racial insult and what does it mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560 "2001-04-11T04:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/21 "2001-04-11T15:20:26Z")
One more comment about “negro.” I looked it up in OED just to see if there was any further insight than has already been offered, and there wasn’t. I did notice, however, some of the adjective-combining forms that it presented though: negro-auction, negro-dealer, negro-driver, negro-hunter, negro-whipping, and negro-worship. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/22 "2001-04-11T15:20:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Turbo Dog \* > \*\*Way back when, when Jews first started immigrating to America, and didn’t understand English, as many other people did not, signed their names/made their mark with a circle, where most other people who didn’t understand english or were illiterate, used an X. Circle, in Yiddish, is Keikl. Jews routinely used a circle, so they were Keikl’s… shortened later to Kikes. \*\* IIRC, the book “_The Joys of Yiddish_” states that the reason Jews didn’t use an “X” as their mark was that they felt it was the “sign of the cross”, a Christian mark. The circle was more appropriate for them. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/23 "2001-04-11T15:27:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A3926AFL \* > \*\*Blacks hate the N word, though only when coming from another race, because they call each other it frequently, and it has a whole different meaning then. \*\* Uh…no. A lot, if not most, of us don’t call each other that at all, let alone frequently. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![El\_Marko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@El\_Marko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Marko)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/24 "2001-04-11T15:59:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by A3926AFL \* > \*\*From what I have heard, ‘fritz’ was a word coined/used during one of the world wars just to designate Germans, because ‘Fritz’ was a common name of the time. > > The no longer applicable ‘Tory’ used in early times for Americans or by Americans is a mystery to me. > \*\* Another that came out of WW2 is ‘Kraut’ refering, I imagine to the stereotypical fondness for sourkraut in Germany. As for ‘Tory’, I believe this may have been the name, perhaps abbrieviated, of a political party loyal to the King in the colonies prior to the American revolution. For those who wanted independence from the crown, it was tantamount to calling someone a traitor. Of course, I’m remembering all of this from my high school history, so I could be wrong. Anyone care to back me up? ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/25 "2001-04-11T16:41:03Z")
The word ‘Tory’ is in common use in the UK and refers to a certain political part. It is sometimes used as an attempt to insult them. To call someone a Tory or a rabid right wing Tory, especially if they don’t believe they are, is definately regarded as negative. The word Tory was certainly in use in the 18thC, their political opposition being the Whigs. I’d bet the term is far older than that though. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/26 "2001-04-11T16:41:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > > No, Negro is spanish for black. Negre is french for black, probably the source. \*\* Third time’s the charm: _ **NOIR** _ is the French word for the color black. [/quote] Quite right, I was writing quickly and slipped up a bit there in terms of clarity. > [@](#): > > Whether or not _ **NEGRE** _ was ever a French word describing Africans or people of African descent, I cannot say. Was and is, although the etymology is not given, I believe it itself is derived from the Iberian negro: See online: [http://www.francophonie.hachette-livre.fr/](http://www.francophonie.hachette-livre.fr/) or [http://larousse.compuserve.com/larousse/dico.htm](http://larousse.compuserve.com/larousse/dico.htm) From Hachette nègre, négresse n. et adj. A. n. I. 1. Vieilli (Souvent employé avec une intention péjor. et raciste, sauf par les Noirs eux-mêmes.) Personne de race noire. – (Antilles fr.) Mod. Terme mélioratif utilisé comme adresse à un interlocuteur. Comment vas-tu, nègre(sse)? 2. Esclave noir employé autrefois dans les colonies. La traite des nègres. || Fam. Travailler comme un nègre, beaucoup, durement. II. n. m. Fig. Personne qui prépare ou fait le travail d’un écrivain célèbre, d’une personne connue. B. adj. 1. De race noire; relatif à la race, aux ethnies noires. Coutumes nègres. || Art nègre: art de l’Afrique noire, spécial. tel que l’Occident l’a découvert au début du XXe s. L’art nègre a contribué à la naissance du cubisme. V. encycl. ci-après. 2. adj. inv. Nègre ou, plus cour., tête-de-nègre: marron foncé. || Nègre blanc: équivoque, dont les termes, les conclusions sont contradictoires. Réponse nègre blanc. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/27 "2001-04-11T16:49:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > > No, Negro is spanish for black. Negre is french for black, probably the source. \*\* Third time’s the charm: _ **NOIR** _ is the French word for the color black. [/quote] Quite right, I was writing quickly and slipped up a bit there in terms of clarity. > [@](#): > > Whether or not _ **NEGRE** _ was ever a French word describing Africans or people of African descent, I cannot say. Was and is, although the etymology is not given, I believe it itself is derived from the Iberian negro: See online: [http://www.francophonie.hachette-livre.fr/](http://www.francophonie.hachette-livre.fr/) or [http://larousse.compuserve.com/larousse/dico.htm](http://larousse.compuserve.com/larousse/dico.htm) From Hachette nègre, négresse n. et adj. A. n. I. 1. Vieilli (Souvent employé avec une intention péjor. et raciste, sauf par les Noirs eux-mêmes.) Personne de race noire. – (Antilles fr.) Mod. Terme mélioratif utilisé comme adresse à un interlocuteur. Comment vas-tu, nègre(sse)? 2. Esclave noir employé autrefois dans les colonies. La traite des nègres. || Fam. Travailler comme un nègre, beaucoup, durement. II. n. m. Fig. Personne qui prépare ou fait le travail d’un écrivain célèbre, d’une personne connue. B. adj. 1. De race noire; relatif à la race, aux ethnies noires. Coutumes nègres. || Art nègre: art de l’Afrique noire, spécial. tel que l’Occident l’a découvert au début du XXe s. L’art nègre a contribué à la naissance du cubisme. V. encycl. ci-après. 2. adj. inv. Nègre ou, plus cour., tête-de-nègre: marron foncé. || Nègre blanc: équivoque, dont les termes, les conclusions sont contradictoires. Réponse nègre blanc. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/28 "2001-04-11T23:56:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bartman \* > **Of course negro/negra is still used in many parts of the world and, in my experience in Brazil, doen’t have any negative connotations.** Yeah, it’s used in Mexico, too. It means “black” and isn’t any more offensive than the use of the word “black” when referring to a black person here. However, I _have_ cautioned my Spanish-speaking wife not to refer to anyone as “negro” here – I wouldn’t want any black people to misinterpret her as saying “negro” (“neeegro” as we say in the USA) to them. Now she calls black people “oscuritos” as a convenience. Of course, we wouldn’t say that is English; it could be translated roughly as “darkies.” ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/29 "2001-04-12T01:04:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*_Nègre_ means negroe, or black (the latter in the sense of “black person” rather than “black, the colour”). \*\* Yikes! Looks like I pulled a Quale here. :eek: Negro. That’s what I meant. Incidently, the Dutch word for negro is _neger_ (“nay-gger”), and isn’t derogatory per se. It pretty much depends on the context. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/30 "2001-04-12T01:41:05Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33729](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=33729) “That site by Berlitz was interesting, although he blew it on gringo. Gringo is simply a corruption of the Spanish word griego, Greek. Griego has been used in Spanish for “foreigner” (in a manner not too diferent than the English “It’s Greek to me.”) for a long time. About the time that griego was corrupted to gringo, the invaders and meddlers from the U.S. became the most significant obnoxious foreigners to the Mexicans and that word was applied to the Yanks, alone. (The “Green Grows the Grass” story is ancient and widely disseminated–but wrong.)” Erm…no…the gringo word is, as far as I researched, a corruption from the word “green” and the word “go”. The United States soldiers in the Mexican War wore green uniforms, and the local people called them “green, go”(saying to the United States soldiers to leave from Mexico). It corrupted to form gringo, a term now applied to people from the United States (white). I do not know how some word like grieco couldve been corrupted to gringo, also, I have not been taught that the term griego has been used to say foreigners. 1) I have read many books in Spanish and never encountered that meaning. 2) My native language is Spanish, and no, I still have not come across that explanation. ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/31 "2001-04-12T01:44:10Z")
Wop might be derived from guappo (pronounced wôppo), a Neapolitan slang term for “young tough” “ruffian”, derived from the Spanish guapo - “handsome”. “Spic” also originally refered to Italian immigrants, (from an imitation of an accented “no speek english”). It later was ‘transferred’ as a slur to Latin American immigrants. In Britain, Dago is a general term for anyone from or a “Latin” country (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America). ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/32 "2001-04-12T02:45:41Z")
[[Erm…no…the gringo word is, as far as I researched, a corruption from the word “green” and the word “go”. The United States soldiers in the Mexican War wore green uniforms, and the local people called them “green, go”(saying to the United States soldiers to leave from Mexico). It corrupted to form gringo, a term now applied to people from the United States (white). I do not know how some word like grieco couldve been corrupted to gringo, also, I have not been taught that the term griego has been used to say foreigners. 1) I have read many books in Spanish and never encountered that meaning. 2) My native language is Spanish, and no, I still have not come across that explanation.]] I looked into this once and found a number of theories about the origin of the word “Gringo.” I don’t know if there’s an agreed-on etymology. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/33 "2001-04-12T02:51:09Z")
Here’s what the Word Detective has to say about [gringo](http://www.word-detective.com/020798.html#gringo) ---
**Author:** ![Synergist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Synergist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Synergist)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560/34 "2001-04-12T03:46:56Z")
Even without the Word Detective’s assertion that the word gringo was in use as early as 1787, I had problems with the “green, go” etymology. It hardly seems credible absent some mechanism whereby a sufficient number of Mexican locals would have acquired the relatively useless knowledge that the color of the American uniforms was “green” as opposed to “verde”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-racial-insult-a-racial-insult-and-what-does-it-mean/61560.md?page=1)