Re: Bowlderising AR (was Political Correctness was AR v HL)


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Previous # Next ] [ Start New Thread ] [ TarBoard ]

Posted by Adam Quinan on December 28, 2005 at 17:20:15 from 72.136.51.111 user Adam.

In Reply to: Re: Bowlderising AR (was Political Correctness was AR v HL) posted by Peter H on December 28, 2005 at 13:28:49:

While not disputing that the n-word is highly offensive to people of our generation(s) and older, I wonder, as a result of a conversation last night I had with a group of friends (and parents) of several races (but not black I must admit) about the changing usage of certain phrases.

One phrase that seemed innocent to us now has a strong sexual connotation to our children whereas another word that used to indicate "going all the way" is now used for relatively mild activity. From there we got on to other words and how our children perceive our language compared to theirs. One word discussed was the N-word and whether our children see the word in the same light as we did.

They know it is a "bad" word which should not be used, especially in front of adults who react badly to it, but within their own peer group it doesn't have the same resonances, they see black children their own age using it, they hear black musicians using it and it doesn't seem bad to them, they have rarely or never heard the word used in the context that we heard it used.
They even adapt it for their own purposes, there is a new coinage "wigger" for example which means a white person who dresses like and emulates black teenagers, enjoys their music. We may be in danger of imposing our demons on our children unnecessarily.


Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
Eel-Mail:

Existing subject (please edit appropriately) :

or is it time to start a New Thread?

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

post direct to TarBoard test post first

Before posting it is necessary to be a registered user.


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TarBoard ]

Courtesy of Environmental Science, Lancaster

space