Negroes

[Supertegwyn]

I was with some people the other day, and they started talking about "Negroes" in a friendly sense. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought the word conveyed a racist viewpoint.

Is this some new fad, or is the word Negro still considered racist?

 

[Rastien]

In my humble opinion it could be considered racist, why use the term Negros at all when speaking about these people? or were their sweeping statements all round. Like all men are bastards and women are bitches.

Maybe its the snooty way to say the anagram "ginger"

Was it a friendly chat on the porch sippin cool lemonade from a pitcher whilst ganderin out across dem cotton fields, why boy howdy they sure is friendly!

Okay ima stop now before sarcasm gets out of hand >_>

Yes i feel it was slightly racist, sorry about the long ass winded sarcastic way of putting it ^^.

 

[Bucht]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

Well, the Dutch word 'neger' does have a bit of derogatory feel sticking to it. While it's not outright as offensive as the english N-word, newspresentors and officials are more keen on using the word 'negeroide' instead.

 

[WolfThomas]

It depends on the country. I'm from Australia and I still hear negro used everynow and then, usually by older people, never in a derogatory way. Because over here we never had civil rights problems around black citizens like in the USA. Though we certainly have had a whole load of issues with our treatment of the indigenous peoples. But to my American friends it seems a racist remark.

Even in say Italian, Nero is black, negro is a slur. But in Spanish Negro just means black.

The whole funny thing is that Negro replaced coloured as a the polite way of identifying those citizens as black was considered racist at the time.

Don't get me started on "African-American".

 

[Batou667]

Is this some new fad, or is the word Negro still considered racist?

Euphemism treadmill, man. [link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Euphemism_treadmill[/link]

"Negro" is certainly an antiquated word but whether it's racist would depend entirely on the context. Similarly there's a bit of discomfort surrounding the word "coloured" to describe black people - it undoubtedly started off as a euphemistic term but nowadays it has rather patronising connotations to it.

My personal advice would just be to call black people black, although somebody, somewhere would undoubtedly find offence in that too.

 

[Rastien]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

Well, the Dutch word 'neger' does have a bit of derogatory feel sticking to it. While it's not outright as offensive as the english N-word, newspresentors and officials are more keen on using the word 'negeroide' instead.

Don't you guys have like a donut type confectionery called "Negga Balls" or is that sweden?

 

[Casual Shinji]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

Well, the Dutch word 'neger' does have a bit of derogatory feel sticking to it. While it's not outright as offensive as the english N-word, newspresentors and officials are more keen on using the word 'negeroide' instead.

Don't you guys have like a donut type confectionery called "Negga Balls" or is that sweden?

If you mean the chocolate creamfilled treats "Negroes Kisses", yes, we had those. But the name was changed to just "Kisses" a few years back.

 

[Rastien]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

Well, the Dutch word 'neger' does have a bit of derogatory feel sticking to it. While it's not outright as offensive as the english N-word, newspresentors and officials are more keen on using the word 'negeroide' instead.

Don't you guys have like a donut type confectionery called "Negga Balls" or is that sweden?

If you mean the chocolate creamfilled treats "Negroes Kisses", yes, we had those. But the name was changed to just "Kisses" a few years back.

Nay, these are different found it now

"Small swedish confectionery (negerboll) made of oat, sugar, cacao, butter and cold coffee. Then rolled in coconut."

 

[DoPo]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

Wait, you didn't know that? I assume you live there, that's why I'm asking. Also, quite a few European countries have no (or at least very little) negative meaning assigned to "Negro" (or however the local variation is spelled) because it simply means "a black person".

 

[Supertegwyn]

It depends on the country. I'm from Australia and I still hear negro used everynow and then, usually by older people, never in a derogatory way. Because over here we never had civil rights problems around black citizens like in the USA. Though we certainly have had a whole load of issues with our treatment of the indigenous peoples. But to my American friends it seems a racist remark.

Even in say Italian, Nero is black, negro is a slur. But in Spanish Negro just means black.

The whole funny thing is that Negro replaced coloured as a the polite way of identifying those citizens as black was considered racist at the time.

Don't get me started on "African-American".

Yeah, I'm Australian and I have heard quite a few people say it.

A few of them are black themselves and they use it in a friendly sense, so maybe they are just re-purposing the word for their own use?

Maybe it's cultural, I dunno.

At this point ackknowledging differences in skin color seems to have become racist, so go on the safe side and assume it is.

I hate people who say that, I really do. Pointing out that somebody is White is not a racist remark, so bugger off if you think it is (not directed at anyone in particular, just happened to me in the past)

 

[Vegosiux]

I was with some people the other day, and they started talking about "Negroes" in a friendly sense. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought the word conveyed a racist viewpoint.

Is this some new fad, or is the word Negro still considered racist?

Well, sometimes they have to be Negroes, so that they come after Mexicans.

That's a punchline from a very politically incorrect joke, mind.

Of course any word that describes a racial difference is technically "racist", but it doesn't have to be bigoted, depending on the context. It is possible to discriminate (which in its basic form means "tell the difference") without being bigoted.

 

[Playful Pony]

Black. Brown. White. Yellow. I don't mean to sound rude, seriously! That's skin colors, and it's a critical part of describing someone. I could describe a man down to his top hat, monocle and twirly moustache, and you'd still let him walk right past you if I said nothing about skin color and he turned out to be black and not white as one would correctly assume from the highly stereotypical outfit I gave him.

I don't see the problem in just using the skin color to describe someone. There is an exception for me though, and that's yellow. Not because I consider saying that wrong really... It just doesn't flow very well, it gets stuck in my mouth and feels clumsy. So I'd rather say asian, indian, middle-eastern, black, white, spanish... Well I don't know... I seem to take a slightly more direct route in describing someone.

Oh, and he drinks tea. Lots of tea. His name is Lord Sippencup. And he IS black.

 

[DugMachine]

No the word itself is not racist but who really sits around talking about black people and calling them negroes? Seems like such an outdated to word.

 

[cobra_ky]

Depends where you live, I guess.
A few months ago I found out that according to the Dutch dictionary the N-word isn't even offensive here.

After some quick Google'ing I found out about the "United Negro College Fund", I guess that answers the question.

If the answer is "it was an acceptable term in 1944" then yeah i guess it does. But language and society have changed quite a bit since then.

 

[Gamer_152]

I don't think it's racist, but it seems like a weirdly dated term to use.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Wow. There's been a lot of threads about racism in the last week(3 or 4 by my count).

In the USA, negro is an old timey word used by blacks because "******" was still considered offensive. Now that word is only used by old southerns and people started using "african American" as the new PC term and...HTJNHKOESWIOWMWVBI!

Just use black okay! It's an logical description that everyone can remember.

 

[Rastien]

Black. Brown. White. Yellow. I don't mean to sound rude, seriously! That's skin colors, and it's a critical part of describing someone. I could describe a man down to his top hat, monocle and twirly moustache, and you'd still let him walk right past you if I said nothing about skin color and he turned out to be black and not white as one would correctly assume from the highly stereotypical outfit I gave him.

I don't see the problem in just using the skin color to describe someone. There is an exception for me though, and that's yellow. Not because I consider saying that wrong really... It just doesn't flow very well, it gets stuck in my mouth and feels clumsy. So I'd rather say asian, indian, middle-eastern, black, white, spanish... Well I don't know... I seem to take a slightly more direct route in describing someone.

Oh, and he drinks tea. Lots of tea. His name is Lord Sippencup. And he IS black.

Sounds a bit like Dudley from super street fighter 4.

A classic english gent who always keeps it classy and states so whilst fighting.

Spoiler

"A highly skilled boxer, and a true gentlemen, Dudley is the son of a wealthy British noble. His father was a former athlete turned successful businessman. Eventually, his father lost his business and the family fortune. The losses prompt Dudley to start boxing in an effort to become wealthy enough to buy everything back. He is successful and brings wealth back to his family on boxing alone. During the timeline of SF3: New Generation, Dudley sets out to find the man who purchased his father's old Jaguar (Gill). He joins the third World Warrior tournament to meet Gill and buy the car back. Although Dudley doesn't win the tournament, Gill is impressed enough with Dudley's skill to give the car back."

 

[krazykidd]

Depends. Negro means black i think . It's a gray area in my opinion . I personally wouldn't let a black person call me negro let alone nigga . That being said , i think i maybr be overly sensitive because i hate it when people talk about me as the black guy when refering to me . As id my skin color defines me . But then again i live in QUEBEC , the most racist province in CANADA . And they are the worst kind of racist , the hypocritical kind . Hell people from quebec hate english people , and anyone that doesn't speak french . So not only do they discriminate based on skin color ( and pretend not to ) they also discriminste against language . Sometimes i wonder what the hell i'm still doing living here .