Anachronistic Racist Language in 2021

[Chedney Honks]

Inspired by the similar thread in Oscillations Nick Frost saying 'wazzup my n----z' in Shaun of the Dead made me wince the other day.

I can't accept it in any context now, even listening to rap in my car or doing an impression of Ali G.

To be honest, it's hopefully a sign that its use is diminishing.

I made a longer post but I'm too tired and busy to explore it right now and I can't delete posts.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It's great to have well known personalities like Richard Madeley on the forum

[BlodwynPig]

I knew it was a bad word in the 80s Bosto, glad youve caught up Bosto

[Chedney Honks]

I knew it was offensive and not something that I could say, of course, but I've not heard it in so long outside of music, it was really jarring.

[bgmnts]

I like weird terms like Quadroon which are so anachronistic and racist it barely even works.

[flotemysost]

I like weird terms like Quadroon which are so anachronistic and racist it barely even works.

I have a feeling some of those terms (which of course originated in the slave trade, to categorise people based on their ethnic background) are still in use in the US - "mulatto" is one I've heard in contemporary use. Kurt Cobain #CANCELLED

In one of our initial sex education lessons at school, I remember a teacher pointing me out as an example of a "half-caste" person (not in an unpleasant way at all - just an example, in our incredibly white suburban classroom, of what happens when you have parents of different ethnic backgrounds). This would have been 1998 or 1999, I'm pretty sure they would say "mixed race" now.

[touchingcloth]

I have a feeling some of those terms (which of course originated in the slave trade, to categorise people based on their ethnic background) are still in use in the US - "mulatto" is one I've heard in contemporary use. Kurt Cobain #CANCELLED

I'm not sure whether mulatto is frequently used by younger people in the US. I think there's an episode of Curb where Larry asks if someone (a baby, perhaps) is a mulatto, and it's met with a cocker eyebrow kind of like an older British person talking about "coloured fellas" would be.

Mulatto, quadroon and octaroon are bizarre not just for being categorical, but by attempting to be so mathematically categorical as well. I think certain categorical terms have use in some countries, though   - mestizo/mestiço/mameluco in Latin America seem to be useful in the same way that African American is in countries with colonial pasts.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

i still hear shitey situations referred to as 'being gypped' too often

[bgmnts]

i still hear shitey situations referred to as 'being gypped' too often

Think I read something was a gyp on here a few days ago.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'm not sure whether mulatto is frequently used by younger people in the US. I think there's an episode of Curb where Larry asks if someone (a baby, perhaps) is a mulatto, and it's met with a cocker eyebrow kind of like an older British person talking about "coloured fellas" would be.

Mulatto, quadroon and octaroon are bizarre not just for being categorical, but by attempting to be so mathematically categorical as well. I think certain categorical terms have use in some countries, though   - mestizo/mestiço/mameluco in Latin America seem to be useful in the same way that African American is in countries with colonial pasts.

There's a bit where someone's had a kid and they get a big doll as a gift which was mixed race (possibly due to that being the only stock left, but I can't quite remember) and he cheerfully shouts "It's a mullato!" which I think he thought was good in a progressive way but everyone looks at him like he's a cunt.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Think I read something was a gyp on here a few days ago.

That was me, I thought it meant swindle rather than anything pejorative. I suppose it makes sense now I've thought about it and won't be using it again.

[Zetetic]

It's possibly one of those words where it's not actually cognate with a racist slur (or at least certain sense of it aren't), but clearly has the capacity to cause offence because of the appearance of doing so.

[buttgammon]

Think I read something was a gyp on here a few days ago.

Despite the obviousness, I never thought about where that word came from, much like how 'knacker's yard' took on a new and very dubious meaning after I moved to Ireland.

[bgmnts]

That was me, I thought it meant swindle rather than anything pejorative. I suppose it makes sense now I've thought about it and won't be using it again.

To be fair, I always thought it was 'jip' and people would use it in the context of being in pain, i.e "my leg is giving me jip" so I had no idea of the racial connotations until I learnt it was spelt gyp.

Despite the obviousness, I never thought about where that word came from, much like how 'knacker's yard' took on a new and very dubious meaning after I moved to Ireland.

Yeah agreed, it feels half our vocabulary has some dodgy derivation to be honest.

[Zetetic]

people would use it in the context of being in pain, i.e "my leg is giving me jip"

Possibly both the mass noun and verb usage have been derived differently as well.

[El Unicornio, mang]

At college in the late 90s I had a housemate who had a ghetto blaster that he affectionately referred to as his "wog box", even more unfortunate since one of the other housemates was black. Although I also made the mistake of playing the Stranglers album No More Heroes which features the song "I Feel Like a Wog" as it's opening track, in his presence. He actually really liked the band but had never heard that song and was understandably a bit upset.

[buttgammon]

Possibly both the mass noun and verb usage have been derived differently as well.

For what it's worth, the OED suggests it's probably derived from gypsy in the sense of a con, but doesn't offer the same explanation for use as in 'giving me gip' (the way my family and I use it).

[bakabaka]

We've come a long way in terms of awareness of racist/sexist/unacceptable language in the last 50 years. I mentioned this in a post in the Movies subforum a few days ago in relation to Blazing Saddles.
The n-word is said so frequently that it becomes rather numbing by the end (in a baseball bat to the head kind of way). It was being used to reinforce the anti-racist message of the film, but so heavy-handedly that it pulls you out of the film every time and gives the film an oddly historic feeling, as if it comes from the 19th century. At the start I was being non-critical because of the intention, but by the end I just wanted it to stop. Not the reaction I was hoping for when watching one of my favourite comedies for the first time in 30 years.

[Zetetic]

For what it's worth, the OED suggests it's probably derived from gypsy in the sense of a con, but doesn't offer the same explanation for use as in 'giving me gip' (the way my family and I use it).

And even if the immediate derivation of "to gyp" wasn't from a racist slur, its subsequent use might have been reinforced by the relationship to one. (Not that the causal route really matters to its ability to upset people today.)

I still sometimes wonder about the relationship between terms like "monged" and "munged", and the way that "monged [out]" remained in mainstream usage for far longer than "mong" did (not least in Morris's work and on this site as a consequence - until Gervais forced a reflection of sorts).

[non capisco]

Inspired by the similar thread in Oscillations Nick Frost saying 'wazzup my n----z' in Shaun of the Dead made me wince the other day.

Same, I rewatched that for some comfort viewing the other week and let out a shocked little 'Oh, dear!' like a maiden aunt at a parish council meeting at that bit. Similarly, Pulp Fiction holds up right until old Justin Quarantino himself appears towards the end with his hard r "dead n***er storage" antics and the remainder of the film floats by with an unfortunate fug over it.

[Hello! Replies Hidden]

Nick Frost saying 'wazzup my n----z'

[Prison Biscuits]

I wonder if Ben Folds still does his cover of Bitches Ain't Shit in his set. Yikes.

[Buelligan]

To be fair, I always thought it was 'jip' and people would use it in the context of being in pain, i.e "my leg is giving me jip" so I had no idea of the racial connotations until I learnt it was spelt gyp.

I think, don't know of course, in that context its use probably comes from gippy tummy.  I'd guess, a wartime thing about getting an diarrhoea whilst serving in Egypt and other hot countries that has become a way of generally describing discomfort or pain.  So still a bit racist but more in the Montezuma's revenge moiety.

[canadagoose]

I'm trying to think of the last time I heard something really blatantly racist in public. It's mostly dog whistles these days (but then again, I'm gothic in pallor so I tend not to be the target of it).

In terms of words that look bad, there's the NE Scots classic "gype", which is completely unrelated to Gypsy Travellers (it's pronounced with a hard "g" like "guy") but I'm nervous about using it in writing in case people think I'm being a bigot. Should maybe be spelled "guipe".

[Sebastian Cobb]

Gype's a great word. Mink too.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I'm trying to think of the last time I heard something really blatantly racist in public.

Last time I saw it was at a pub called (appropriately) The Punch & Judy in London in about 2010. This awful gammon bloke was at the bar with his Legend Gary mates and called a Chinese girl next to him a "chinky slag". She told her, to be fair, equally Legend Gary mates what he had said and he bellowed at the top of his cockney voice "THAT'S COS YOU FACKIN' ARE A CHINKY SLAAAG" at which point a massive brawl broke out. That was my female American friend's introduction to British pubs.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I'm trying to think of the last time I heard something really blatantly racist in public.

About two years ago, a former coworker suggested that all Travellers be put in camps. He wasn't joking. I asked him sarcastically for his opinion on Muslims, because after "Build concentration camps for Travellers" and "Women lie about rape" I couldn't wait to hear what he'd say next. He muttered "we'll send all the Travellers to live at your house then Poirot".

[Sebastian Cobb]

Traveller's are by definition already in camps, I don't think he's thought this through.

Some weird Rangers supporter in the Toby Jug (had a train to catch but was early so was killing time with a £1 Tuborg) decided to tell me he wanted to send Sturgeon down south to be amongst 'all the other n****rs'. Which I found as confusing as it was offensive. Thankfully I left and caught my train.

[buttgammon]

I think, don't know of course, in that context its use probably comes from gippy tummy.  I'd guess, a wartime thing about getting an diarrhoea whilst serving in Egypt and other hot countries that has become a way of generally describing discomfort or pain.  So still a bit racist but more in the Montezuma's revenge moiety.

Yes, that makes sense, and must explain why the OED are more reticent to link that word to racist origins.

I'm trying to think of the last time I heard something really blatantly racist in public. It's mostly dog whistles these days (but then again, I'm gothic in pallor so I tend not to be the target of it).

On public transport, some teenage lads were boasting about how they had had a fight with some black lads, in which they kept using the n word. This was about two weeks ago.

There's also stuff about Travellers that borders on eugenics that I hear regularly, but frankly, that's virtually a reflex for a lot of people here.

[Butchers Blind]

I used therm 'japs eye' on here the other day. I apologise.