I still do this and don't even think about it. I'm afraid that I will drop the P-word in class one day.

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It's in so many song lyrics and movie lines that it's become part of the vernacular. Who hasn't rapped along to a song at some point?

It's interesting how this word and burrito have become used within communities as terms of endearment. I mostly disagree with the idea of "bad words" but if you are calling someone either to harm them you certainly are an asshole at best.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Quite a few of us over the age of 45.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

It's used in the same exact way and for the same purposes as any racial/ethnic slur. They are all on the same level in a rational world.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It's a pretty powerful word. I mean, yea, it's horrible but that's what makes it so interesting. There is no word in this country that has as much power and it's not even close.

Look at leash. A white dude who uses the word "burrito" freely gets all queer about it when I make a very crude and dry joke about using the word in a horrible way in the privacy of my own home.

If you were to call a black person it to their face they'd be so stunned and hurt that they'd either attack you or tuck tail and leave while pouting.

You can't even say it in normal conversation either. Have to say the "n word" like a toddler.

Powerful word.

yet Redskins is a perfectly fine name for a sports team.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The difference is that some people think its wrong to be racist against balcks so racism against them gets spotlighted, but on the flipside good luck finding anyone who gives a crap about Polish people so who cares if you call them polocks?

Same theory allows me to be openly racist against the disgusting filthy smelly Irish and no one bats an eye. It's consequence free racism and anyone can do it.

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"If you don't agree with me, you're irrational" isn't a real argument. I know this is a sensitive subject for you, so let's just agree to disagree.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

See, HG? You are a deep MF'er. You summed it up very well.

I agree with all you said, and I disagree completely with dolphin.

Anyone is free to take offense to whatever they want, but you are also free to be ridiculed. Saying "the p-word" (lol) isn't the same as saying the "n-word." It's the most powerful word in American English, and it's due in large part to its use and the history of black-white relations in our country. MANY ethnicities have racial stereotypes, but only blacks were brought over as legal slaves, who were considered to be 3/5 of a person, fought for their freedom, and then still didn't have the rights of a white person until very recently (and some would say still don't). That word is a reminder of that awful history and of everything that comes with it. It is used solely to dehumanize and tell someone that they are worth less than you because of the color of their skin. If "the p-word" does similar things to you, then you might have some issues. Europeans had their struggles in America, but it's not even worth mentioning in the same context as blacks and the vitriolic words (still) used to describe them.

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Your top 10 most powerful words in the English language, light em up!

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Also, this deserves an LOL.

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man o man. the thought processes around here....

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

It's ok to be wrong...again. It won't change the opinion we already have of you.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

So if I say that to an African, then the word is ok?

I use a word used to dehumanize you. You use a word used to dehumanize me. Every one of those terms are the same word for all practical purposes. The definition for each is "a derogatory term for X".

The word clearly isn't as universally offensive depending on the speaker and the situation, so the offense really is in the speaker's intent. The intent is the same when speaking any of these words.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Sure, but 'kraut' is simply a week dig at the Übermensch, so it rolls of our collective backs faster than the tanks rolled through Poland.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

#waytoosoon

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I understand what you're saying, and in general, I'd agree, but it's hard to persuasively tell people they don't have the right to be pissed about being called a certain word (or, in a wider context, being treated a certain way). It assumes too much and can be needlessly divisive (especially in a time of economic anxiety). It also sets up this weird hierarchy of suffering that people base their moral judgments on and then use conformity, rather than reasoned argument, to support those judgements. Bunch of mafuckers, them people.

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Ah, the Oppression Olympics.

I'm fine with that, because it's helpful to be able to name the obstacles in your way, but when you forget (in the Nietzschean way) what the base of justice or morality is and assume that it rests on concepts like diversity ("if it's diverse, it's good") or the like, then you set yourself up for miscommunication and splintering and all the other fun stuff.

Diversity is usually cool, of course. So many young people today, though, don't seem to understand why; they just know that certain kinds of diversity is the highest good.

But yeah....the N-word is pretty fucking bad. Polack, less. Dago, totally appropriate. I stand by that.

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They absolutely have the right to be offended by whatever they want, as I mentioned. They just shouldn't be surprised when people roll their eyes. Take dolphin, for example (who I give a lot of shit to but do sincerely like)... From what I know about dolphin, he is a well-to-do downtown lawyer who has a pretty good life that allowed him a lot of opportunity. He is of Polish ancestry, but - as far as I know - he's not off the boat (as my in-laws are), and he was probably viewed as a good little white Catholic boy growing up who had a bright future... and yet he has the gumption to act as though someone calling him "the p-word" resonates the same as when black people are called the "n-word"? My issue isn't as much with people getting offended about "the n-word" as it is people of the white upper crust trying to act as though they can be viewed as a "victim" in any context, including slang used to describe them. I have a better word - "drama queen". (again, that isn't specific to dolphin, but it's laughable that anyone who has had such a lucky life - myself included - would compare their derogatory slang to that of African Americans).

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So then you also think it would be ok to use that word toward a wealthy African American?

The better word would be "incomprehensible", which is how I would describe your rules for determining the hierarchy of offensive words.

The truth is, you know that I am correct but it just doesn't feel like I am.

It's ridiculous to say that if someone intentionally hurts me that I am not hurt because I can retreat into some perceived warm nest and lay my head on a gold bed.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I can't argue with that.

When we slip too far into identity politics that we can't quite remember what got us there--that's what scares me.

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The undeniable fact is that the word only has the power that the recipient(s) give to it. That's it and that's all there is to that ... anything else is window dressing, opportunistic grandstanding, and/or axe-grinding.

That said, the nearly undeniable fact that MANY will reflexively imbue it with that power vis a vis being hurt, offended, or both is pretty easily understood and as such it's probably just better to not use it just to save MANY people the grief of dealing with it or dealing with the blowback for saying it.

The more it falls into disuse, the sooner (I would theorize) that the word would no longer be perceived to carry any power and instead either be ignored or the person quickly ridiculed and then ignored, not unlike the dismissal of 'Madcap' Johnny Tyler.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Even though I wasn't asked, I will say yes, since some aspects of race are independent of class.

Should uppre-middle-class black people receive affirmative action? Heck no.

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Homosexuals successfully took the opposite approach with derogatory terms for them.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Meaning?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Your opinion may be wrong as opposite approaches have proven successful.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Take it easy Billy; I meant 'meaning' as in what success(es) are your referring to?

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

queer or gay

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.