Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> (in part) > Yes, people over 58 remember a time when Japanese were referred to as > "Japs." So? Most Southerners over the age of, say, 35, remember a time when > blacks were Niggers, and most Americans over the age of 60 certainly > remember hearing the word Kike used in polite company. And how about Fag? > How about Wop? How about Dago? Oh, and as John McCain would have it, how > about Gooks? And don't forget Slopes and Slants - or Chinks, or > Jiggaboos,oh, or Heymies, Pansies, Poofsters, Darkies, Lesbos... > Ah, the power of language......... African Americans refer to one another as Niggers without any offense intended. Only whites - mostly WASPs (there is an other mild slur) - intended such appellative as derogatory. I must take exception, however, to Polack vs. Pole. A Polish national will refer himself as Polaku (spelling approximate). Why should we think that "Pole" is better than Polack? These slurs are an American phenomenon, and perhaps not always meant to offend. As an Italian I should be honored that my "paesani" have earned no less than two such appellatives. But times have changed, and time flies, that is why I always say: "I wonder where the Dago?" Joseph