Vocaboly.com

[Peter]

Hi,

I have just had a discussion with my wife today about the term "negro".

I am a native English speaker, originally from New Zealand, but have lived
in Denmark for the last 10 years. While I was speaking English today my
Danish wife admonished me for using the word "negro" - saying that it was an
offensive term.

I vehemently disagreed, feeling safe in my superiority in English... but it
turns out she may be right. When did this happen? I am sure that 10 years
ago when I left NZ negro was a perfectly acceptable, non-offensive,
description of a "black person" (probably more correctly of a racial group
of people, I guess), but not any more. What does one say then?

Incidently, the word cropped up when we were discussing the Danish word
"mulat", which according to my Danish-English dictionary translates to
"mulatto". Apparently, however, "mulat" is not offensive in Danish, whereas
I have always understood "mulatto" to be so - isn't it? Is my dictionary
wrong on this count? (Or am I wrong, again?)

Thanks,
Peter

[Tony Cooper]

There's really no way to identify an offensive term since different
people take offense at different things. However, I wouldn't consider
"negro" to be offensive. Out-dated, perhaps, but not offensive.

However, I'm white. Something that I don't consider to be offensive
might be offensive to someone in the group being referred to. Use of
"negro" may or may not offend, but it does conjure up images of
baseball games when male spectators wore fedoras and ties and other
images of times-gone-by.

We - in the US - use "African American" in most cases. That's used
even if the person hasn't had roots in Africa since the Year Dot.
Obviously, that's not going to work in Denmark or New Zealand. To
find out what is currently polite and acceptable, you're going to have
to find a black person and ask them. Of course, if you ask a black
person what he prefers to be called, you have to expect them to say
"Joe" or whatever his name is.

[joetaxpayer@nospam.com]

I've been pondering this as well (I live just outside of Boston, MA). In
the late 70's a Baptist minister moved to my street and his daughter
asked me if any ni**ers lived in the area. So here is a word that so
taboo to me, I'd not even post it in a forum anonamously. I set her
straight that the word was unacceptable, and she said that where she was
from, it was not perjorative, but a common word.

In that same timeframe, my parents said 'Negro' although 'Black' was
what we (the teenagers) used as the respectful word to offer no offense.
My dying grandmother had a nurse comming to visit weekly and called her
'the colored girl'. I suppose to a 90 year old, a 40 year old,
registered nurse, doctor, etc. is still a girl, but I thought the
expression lacked respect.

Since that time, AfroAmerican, African American, Black, and People of
Color have all been used. I've thought the African thing was a
mis-nomer, as there are dark skinned people who don't trace there
lineage to the African immigration the early white Americans forced on
Africans. I think if anything, Negro has become passe, but not
offensive. I'd like to hear what others think of this, I suspect a large
regional bias toward a given word and little if any, concensus within
the US, let alone the world.

I do view it as positive that people are at least looking for the right
words, that's the first step, isn't it?

JOE

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 24 Sep 2004, Peter wrote

[Gary Eickmeier]

joetaxpayer@nospam.com wrote:
I think if anything, Negro has become passe, but not

[Harvey Van Sickle]

On 24 Sep 2004, Gary Eickmeier wrote

[don groves]

In article <41547232$1@news.wineasy.se>, peter@ciber wrote...

[Bill McCray]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 19:58:47 GMT, "joetaxpayer@nospam.com"
<joetaxpayer@nospam.com> wrote:

[Don Phillipson]

[don groves]

In article <Ur35d.1061$Cb5.6717@newscontent-01.sprint.ca>,
d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com wrote...

[Christopher Green]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 23:14:57 -0700, "H. E. Taylor"
<het@despam.autobahn.mb.ca> wrote:

[Raymond S. Wise]

don groves wrote:

[Zephir Woodwood]

In Australia our Indigenous people often refer to themselves as
"blackfellas" and everyone else as "whitefellas".
It seems to be acceptable if you're Indigenous or if you are someone
Indigneous people have imputed some respect.

[H. E. Taylor]

In article <Ur35d.1061$Cb5.6717@newscontent-01.sprint.ca>,
<d.phillipson@ttrryytteell.com> Don Phillipson wrote:

[Michael DeBusk]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 20:29:54 GMT, Gary Eickmeier
<geickmei@tampabay.rr.com> wrote: