Though frankly, I used to think the whole moral panic around the word was just more of the typical American puritanical bullshit, until I watched Django Unchained - that movie made me realise it’s not just an insult but its use was intimately linked with rampant dehumanising (successful, I should add) and that part is still alive and kicking. In my part of the world the equivalent would be something like calling a holocaust survivor oven fuel. You just… don’t. Don’t say it.
Fuck all forms of censorship otherwise though, definitely.
Speaking of wild etymology, a while ago I learnt that the word “bulldozer” originally meant “a dose of bull-whip”, and guess who was the target of said whipping…
Did you just write r*moved?! With a hard R?!
Though frankly, I used to think the whole moral panic around the word was just more of the typical American puritanical bullshit, until I watched Django Unchained - that movie made me realise it’s not just an insult but its use was intimately linked with rampant dehumanising (successful, I should add) and that part is still alive and kicking. In my part of the world the equivalent would be something like calling a holocaust survivor oven fuel. You just… don’t. Don’t say it.
Fuck all forms of censorship otherwise though, definitely.
It’s definitely a wild etymology ride, and linguistics is one of my favorite subjects as a layman.
Congrats on your evolution!
I have a friend and his friends who call me by the word, in a friendly way. I don’t say it even though I have slave heritage (black grandmother).
And yes fuck censorship.
Speaking of wild etymology, a while ago I learnt that the word “bulldozer” originally meant “a dose of bull-whip”, and guess who was the target of said whipping…
Wow.
This following two are contested. The context is that strong male slaves were often called bucks.
I have tried to stop saying buck-wild and buck-naked.
These terms might be US only but they’ve very common where I live.
Learning is fun! And sometimes makes you lose faith in humanity!
Message recieved loud and clear. 👍