after a day of boating the other day, my buddy, his parents, his cousin, and my other friend and his mom all docked up to a bar/restaurant we’ll call Bernie’s.
we walk in, get a table, and a drunk at the bar proceeds to tell a story about how that morning he looked outside, saw a squigger and shot it. my friends and I looked at each other, and the guy to whom the (obviously)drunk guy was talking said what we were thinking “What the Hell is a squigger?” the drunk guy said “A squigger? A Black Squirrel!”
now, I mean I shoot squirrels that are trespassing on my property all the time, and I’ve bagged a black squirrel along with red and gray, but I’ve never thought to call a black squirrel a Squigger. This kind of made me nervous that people are so racist in their hearts, that they even have slangs for different colored animals–
so I guess my debate would be if this would be considered racist or not.
if needed, Moderators, do your dutie and move this thread to the appropriate forum, I have no clue where to post this.
I think for it to be truly classified as racist, black squirrels would have to take offense at the term. Same with the Squinjun and the Squelder that you shot. Using the term in mixed color company however, might not be good form. Someone could shoot you for being a Squacist Squonky or a Squigoted Squacker.
I guess it wouldn’t offend any people who are not black, but if some drunk guy started talking about shoot squiggers and laughing about it, I’d be dealthy afraid.
I try real hard not to take offense where none was intended, but “shooting squiggers” is offensive to me.
Duh, of course it’s racist. “Squigger”–IMO–is a combination of “squirrel” and “nigger”. Black squirrel–nigger squirrel–squigger.
I would have called him on it right then and there. Tell him that you don’t appreciate that sort of humor. I’m all for the First Amendment, and I recognise that it protects racist jokes as well as anti-racist action, but that doesn’t mean that I have to hear it. You can go ahead and tell all the nigger/kike/spic/whatever jokes you want. Just don’t get angry when I use my First Amendment rights to tell you to go get f*cked.
With not much humor presented so far against anything besides squirrels in general, with exception to myself, I will go out on a limb and assume that this is directed at least in part towards me. Do I find shooting squiggers to be funny? No, I don’t. I do however find being dealthy afraid of something, rather than deathly afraid of something, rather amusing.
No Turbo Dog, it was not aimed directly at you, it was aimed at everyone who giggled and said “shooting squiggers, har har! No, not niggers, but squiggers --get it? It’s a joke!”
I don’t even notice when people correct my spelling, if I did I’d spend most of my time here at the SDMB apologizing for not spellchecking. I need a sig like spooje
[hijack]
TurboDawg-- I laughed so funny at this line “Someone could shoot you for being a Squacist Squonky or a Squigoted Squacker.” that I was hoping I could use it in my Sigline?!
Yup. Not only is the term “squigger” as defined by the yahoo who used it a very thinly veiled racist insult, it seems likely that said yahoo told the story just so he could get to snigger about the word “squigger”. (Um, “snigger” does not sound very good in this context, but I mean just exactly what it says, with no squiggerish innuendo.)
Biggirl, I hope you aren’t upset with my mixing truth with a grain of humor. I have rhino skin so sometimes I don’t feel the same way as other people will with certain words. If I were at a bar and a black man was telling me about shooting squonkies, I wouldn’t feel offended. In fact, I would be amused but would however, have concerns for my health and well being in the immediate future. I once found it funny when I was the only one on a parking lot shuttle bus in LAX, at midnight, in pouring rain, heading to the farthest lot, with a black man driving (who made Lennox Lewis look like a 4 year old kid) who was shaking his head ever 2 minutes while loudly muttering to himself “gawdamn, I hate white people”. I found humor in it, and even started laughing, which made him start talking even louder and nastier, even though I was wondering if I should get my gun out of my baggage.
To me though, there is a fine line between a racist comment and an offensive one. Is that term offensive? To some people it sure is, and for good reason. Racist? I maintain that it is racist as far as black squirrels are concerned.
I try to be tolerant too, TD, but I can’t agree with you on this one. The word “nigger” is an extremely offensive racist epithet (with some exceptions made for “in-group” use among black people), and no polite person of a different race uses it, ever. Incorporating a racist epithet into a word for an animal is not just racist with respect to the animal (unless you’re using it where only the black squirrels can hear you, that is); it’s still racist with respect to people as well. (And by the way, it’s a lot easier for white people in this society to have “rhino skin” about racist epithets; it’s not necessarily anything to be proud of.)
I may be getting off subject here, but it’s not offensive if you don’t treat it as offensive. That’s why I like the fact that black kids have taken to calling each other “nigger”. To me, it’s like, “you want to insult me by making a derogatory name for me? Fine, i’ll use it as a synonym for “friend”.”
Nothing’s offensive if you’re not offended by it
