Negroes

[JimB]

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?

"Negro" is a word that would have gotten your ass kicked in the eighties in America. Nowadays, I have no idea if anyone has said it often or recently enough for there to be a public consensus on what it connotes. Personally, I'm suspicious of its usage because it goes out of its way to make sure everyone knows we're talking about black people, and I sincerely doubt people use, say, "Caucasian" with equal frequency. It's hard for me to imagine a situation in which the word isn't used to remind the listeners that white people are the default and what's being discussed is people who differ from the default; who Aren't Like Us.

Then again, you have a culture different from my own, so maybe you can pull it off.

 

[L0dest0ne]

We as a collective race have gotten much better about blatant racism. Using "Negro" seems like a step back in that direction, however, if you just want so say random racist shit, that's what 4chan is for.

 

[Sean951]

If you have to ask, it's probably racist.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I'd say it's racist. That word has a lot of negative connotations.

 

[Arfonious]

It's better than using the word "******" i guess

Here in Sweden however using the word "negro" (neger in Swedish) you would be called racist

 

[Shoggoth2588]

My Dad and Uncle use the word...but they're a pair of racist ass-handles (though they hate each other...go figure). Otherwise I'm unaware of any fad in which that word has come back into popular use. Sounds racist to me but I'm a white guy; I get white guilt watching the freaking Boondocks.

 

[Snowblindblitz]

I've never heard the term negro used in real life. I had some black foster kids at one point, and they used the phrase nigga a lot. They laughed while they said it though.

Also, ever notice how black guys from England are English, but from America they are African Americans?

Pretty sure that's racist.

 

[Woodsey]

I don't think it's really racist, but it is exceptionally antiquated and from that time period.

 

[Sean951]

I've never heard the term negro used in real life. I had some black foster kids at one point, and they used the phrase nigga a lot. They laughed while they said it though.

Also, ever notice how black guys from England are English, but from America they are African Americans?

Pretty sure that's racist.

It's more a matter of self-identification than anything else. Same as people identify as Irish American or German American.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I've never heard the term negro used in real life. I had some black foster kids at one point, and they used the phrase nigga a lot. They laughed while they said it though.

Also, ever notice how black guys from England are English, but from America they are African Americans?

Pretty sure that's racist.

Yeah in Britain people are British unless they specify otherwise, we don't say things like 'Indian-British'. which seems cringe inducingly racist to me.

 

[Zeren]

Last time I heard that word, my 85 year old grandmother said it.

 

[Akytalusia]

just call people by their name, unless you don't know it, then it's acceptable to use descriptive words. if you're referring to a person by their skin color when you know their name, then it's discrimination. it's only racist if used in this fashion with derogatory intent.

 

[chadachada123]

I've never heard the term negro used in real life. I had some black foster kids at one point, and they used the phrase nigga a lot. They laughed while they said it though.

Also, ever notice how black guys from England are English, but from America they are African Americans?

Pretty sure that's racist.

It's more a matter of self-identification than anything else. Same as people identify as Irish American or German American.

The problem comes when people assume that a person with dark skin in the US must not only be American, but must also identify as African-American.

My school supervisor was from Europe but was black, so she is in no way African-American, yet many uneducated kids defaulted to calling her that instead of just "black" (which she much preferred, since it at least was correct).

It lead to a funny situation when a kid said "black lady" in class, another kid tried to correct him, and then the corrector got corrected by the teacher and called him disrespectful.

.

OT: Since biological race doesn't even exist, we should only use the most basic of descriptors and little more (black, white, Asian, etc). For colloquial language it gets more complex, but in general we as humanity SHOULD move away from using race, since it only exists in our minds and not in reality.

Edit: Oh, regarding negro, it's an ancient word as far as American-English goes, so while it may not be racist in use, it may get some odd looks by people making assumptions about you, and is not nearly as normal of a word as "black."

 

[Dinosaur_Face]

Nay, these are different found it now

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

They are now often called "Chokladbollar" instead due to some people thinking that it was racist (which is kinda true depending how you think about it)

 

[Rastien]

Nay, these are different found it now

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

They are now often called "Chokladbollar" instead due to some people thinking that it was racist (which is kinda true depending how you think about it)

It's just one of those things from old culture when i was a kid i used to get told "go wash your face you dirty little arab" it was said by play group staff as well. But my god i had no idea how racist this was till i was older.

Oddly enough there are alot of racist terms that are long forgotten i went to see a local stand-up who was using the word "Tinker" when retorting to heckles which sounds harmless! actually it' a racist term used for Irish Traveler. I asked the comedian after the show at the bar if he knew this, he had no idea and apologized, i said i didn't care in the slightest but some people could take offense ^^.

 

[WoW Killer]

Also, ever notice how black guys from England are English, but from America they are African Americans?

Different demographics. There's a clear distinction between Black/Caribbean and Black/African in most official statistics, and it's not uncommon to hear terms like that. You'll sometimes even hear African-American used in the UK, though it's obviously a much smaller minority group.

 

[Evil Smurf]

Depends on the context, actually.

I think it was best said by Samuel L Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction "Damn Negro, that's a good coffee."