# Words I didn't realize were pejorative until later in life **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604 "2024-07-22T13:00:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/261 "2024-11-03T00:23:22Z")
Yeah, there are ton of varieties of eggplants in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/262 "2024-11-03T14:57:12Z")
> [@EnolaStraight](#): > > And, thus, I personally caught shit. I very strongly suspect that you’re misreading the situation. If you said something to those two women like, “Hey, I’m sorry, I think I said something wrong, but I’m not entirely clear on what it was–can you help me understand?” the chances they’d say, “You implied we’re different” are vanishingly small. In any case, you’re hearing from a lot of women and men that you’re wrong about women considering “different” to be a pejorative. Does that inform your beliefs? ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/263 "2024-11-03T17:12:18Z")
I readily admit I often mis-read other people and most likely drew the wrong conclusion. 😔 ---
**Author:** ![deneen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deneen/32/17713_2.png) [@deneen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deneen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/264 "2024-11-25T22:58:54Z")
totally agree ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/265 "2024-11-27T21:00:33Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Bad, bad, bad Brit. The word “brit” is highly pejorative in Ireland, although I know that outside Ireland it’s used neutrally with no hostile intent. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/266 "2024-11-27T21:35:13Z")
When I was in the Navy, idiots referred to Filipinos as “flips”, and never in a nice way. It led to a lot of hard feelings. And then, in an an early attempt to be PC, we all were told that we could no longer refer to those easels with the large sheets of paper as “flip charts”. This was long before today’s “wokeness”. I had Filipino friends who thought that was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/267 "2024-11-28T03:06:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > This was long before today’s “wokeness” Well, before it was “wokeness” it was “politically correct” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/268 "2024-11-28T12:47:20Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > Well, before it was “wokeness” it was “politically correct” I’m not even sure that was used in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/269 "2024-11-28T17:54:47Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’m not even sure that was used in the 70s. Wikipedia indicates that the term “[political correctness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness)” was used by the “New Left” as far back as the 1970s (often as self-critical satire), and was actually coined in the 1930s, but that it didn’t come into wide usage until the late '80s or very early '90s. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/270 "2024-11-28T18:44:33Z")
A lot of pejorative words originally meant farmer or peasant. Boor, for example. Villain comes from villein (feudal tenant farmer), churl (peasant), and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/271 "2024-11-28T19:03:11Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > She’d been informed by some of the customers (probably in NYCity) that “oriental” is offensive; which nobody in the coop (based upstate) had known. We switched to calling it Asian eggplant. Well that won’t work. We buy Japanese, Chinese and Thai eggplant. All very different. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/272 "2024-11-28T20:44:46Z")
The particular ones I was growing are apparently common in both Japan and China. I don’t know about Thailand. And again I expect more than one type of eggplant is eaten in, probably, all of those places. Certainly in China. Can you describe the three types you’re buying? ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/273 "2024-11-29T21:06:04Z")
Not really a pejorative, but when I was a young child my Dad would swear by saying ‘Jesus’ when he eg hit his thumb with a hammer. Knowing nothing about Christianity, I heard it as ‘cheesus’ and was very confused wondering what was so bad about cheese! I learned what it actually meant when I went to school and we were told stories from the Bible. I can’t think of any words I only found out were insulting later: either I heard them in a context where it was clear they were insults, or (more commonly) I first learned of them by reading books, or online from people talking about them, rather than using them. Either I was sheltered, or it’s a generational difference. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/274 "2024-11-30T01:43:15Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > I can’t think of any words I only found out were insulting later: either “Twat”! In grade school the joke going the rounds was, “ on an airplane when the stewardess asked, would you want TWAcoffee, TWAmilk, or TEAtea?” It was years later that I understood. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/275 "2024-11-30T13:46:06Z")
I once had a gay friend point out to me that using the term “straight” to refer to heterosexuality implies that homosexuality is “crooked” or wrong. I’ve since dropped using that term from my vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/276 "2024-11-30T14:04:55Z")
Weird since the gay people I know (including my brother and his husband) use the word “straight” to refer to heterosexual people and seemingly have no trouble with the word. Nor do their gay friends I have been around. Admittedly anecdotal though. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/277 "2024-11-30T14:20:37Z")
I, also, know lots of gay people who use the word “straight” to describe heterosexuals. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/278 "2024-11-30T15:22:57Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Weird since the gay people I know (including my brother and his husband) use the word “straight” to refer to heterosexual people and seemingly have no trouble with the word. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I, also, know lots of gay people who use the word “straight” to describe heterosexuals. I’m not advocating for it to be eliminated. It was just a personal choice after a friend pointed out the connotation. I have also heard lots of gay people use that word without issue. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/279 "2024-11-30T17:44:10Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > using the term “straight” to refer to heterosexuality implies that homosexuality is “crooked” or wrong. Just like using the term “gay” to describe homosexuals implies that heterosexuality is somber and morose? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604/280 "2024-11-30T20:28:07Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I once had a gay friend point out to me that using the term “straight” to refer to heterosexuality implies that homosexuality is “crooked” or wrong. “Straight” is meant to be the opposite to “queer.” So if anyone self describes themselves the latter, they should be accepting of the former. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-i-didnt-realize-were-pejorative-until-later-in-life/1004604.md?page=15)