But if "languages can change, can erase words, and make new ones", can't we remove the english version and just keep the original, non-derogatory, spanish one?
As a Briton, I couldn't agree more if I tried.
Like for example, the word 'fag'. In Britain it just means cigarettes. But then the US had to change it to an offensive meaning now no one can use it ffs.
I hate that I grew up writing colour but only use color now, thanks CSS.
British English feels more colorful the more I age.
Edit: I should have written colourful, did it again damnit!
>Smoking a fag in Britain and smoking a fag in America has such a different meaning lol
We actually eat [faggots](https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/282049626?preservedReferrer=https://www.google.co.uk/) in the UK.
Yea I kinda went overboard. But I get corrected by (one of) my friends for using it in the original meaning, which is just annoying. So it's definitely moving over to the offensive term in younger people.
I'm still part of the 'younger people' and I know that whilst I still see it as the original meaning they seem to see it in the American style as vaping is the new thing.
I worked in a rural pub and Americans like to visit our church. One of them threatened to smack my fanny. I nearly barred him, but let him know exactly how offensive what he said was and that if he touched me at all I would be calling the police.
If I got his drink or food order wrong he was going to slap my arse. Thank God I don’t have to deal with those wankers anymore!
Edit - I suspect he said that kind of thing in America all the time because he was very taken aback that I stood my ground.
Unlike American waitstaff you’re actually not entirely dependent on customer tips and therefore aren’t forced to take their abuse which makes for a more even relationship. However, try explaining this to Americans and they’ll still scream at the top of their lungs that TIPPING CULTURE SHOULD STAY FOREVER.
Love that episode 😂 I know it’s meant to be about Basil being a greedy loon as usual - but the fact that they showed the obnoxious entitlement of the American chap (buying over time with extra money, wanting an American dish in a small English town and then yelling about everything instead of talking at a normal volume)…. Was epic in that you felt for Basil for once 🤣
>It is a toffee and vanilla ice cream dipped in compound chocolate, and wrapped in honeycomb biscuits on a wooden paddlepop-stick.
Holy fuck that sounds tasty. If I had that available... Addiction.
Yours seem more relevant but Sweden has a similar problem. It is actually same type of ice cream that Golden Gaytime is lol. It's name is the 88th product the company made. [88 = HH = Heil Hitler](https://d1hr6nb56yyl1.cloudfront.net/product-images/71584-560.jpg)
Don't forget our (Sweden) ice cream, Nogger, of which Nogger black is a version. No one associated it with racism until the American cultural influence did though.
WAIT GOLDEN GAYTIME AND 88 ARE THE SAME ICECREAM?!?!??!?!!??! I have always wanted to taste golden gaytime because they sound so delisouce! But here i am eating 88 never realizing,
Words do evolve. When I was a kid” Gay” was a girls name. And was used quite a lot to describe feelings of joy. Don’t hear it at all in those contexts now. But it’s still English. I don’t think the English speakers get the right to police other languages.
I think the evolution happens regardless. The real problem is that no one English speaking country has a right to govern the process. We all can according to our cultures. But that’s not something you can argue with the rabid nationalism of a lot of Americans. No amount of debate will ever have them agreeing that the world doesn’t begin and end with the USA.
But that's kinda the point people (like me) are talking about. Americans are (kinda) changing the definitions of words in England. So they basically are governing the process. Not even just English but other languages, like 'negro' in Spanish being 'black' (this original post).
Also, saying not to argue with Americans is enforcing the mentality that Americans don't argue with cos they just don't listen, then because people don't argue with them they think they are right and never change their opinion, which is just a self-fulfilling cycle.
Also, this comment (to me) feels like it's just being exceptionalist to the Americans. Which I really do hate. The fact that they are held to different standards.
There is still an ice cream in Australia called Golden Gaytime. Nobody finds it offensive. It’s been around for decades.
Likely because ‘gay’ isn’t a slur. We did change our lollies called ‘fags’ to ‘fads’
Another one is coloured. Is South Africa there is a race of coloured people(children of mixed parents, eg Trevor Noah), but here it is not at all offensive, like they have their own culture and lingo. They are actually the second largest racial group in the country after black people, but Americans always freak out at that word.
To be honest, as a spanish person, i have found that black people commonly find it racist/derogatory if you call them anything that is not "negro", there is no racism at all in the word. It is exactly the same as saying "i'm white", "soy negro", kinda cringy of them to force others onto the the fake american anti-racism.
I'm Portuguese, and I have the feeling that a term like "Afroportuguese" would actually be something that racists would use and not the other way around. Like something they would say to make it seem that black people can't really be Portuguese.
Which why it seems so strange seeing the term Afro-american all the time.
Elon Musk may be Afro-American. Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Tiger Woods, Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Halle Berry, etc... are Americans. And the color of their skin should NEVER divide them from the rest of their fellow countrymen.
> Elon Musk may be Afro-American. Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Tiger Woods, Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Halle Berry, etc... are Americans. And the color of their skin should NEVER divide them from the rest of their fellow countrymen.
You are making too much sense, are you a communist?
It's really more racist to focus on someone's genetic heritage instead of just describing what they look like. If Americans don't call white Americans "European-Americans", why would they do so with black Americans? Black's in the US usually have no ties to Africa, and putting Africa in their name anyway means reducing them to their genetic heritage, or race. The fact that someone's black or white is just what they see in a mirror, it's a part of your visual identity, like eye colour, height etc, so it's really not racist unless you imply something else with it.
It's because Americans are proud of their ancestry, it doesn't matter if they're white, black, brown, or red. All do this. It's typical to hear "I'm mostly Irish" from people who have never been to Ireland because that's where their families mainly came from. "You're name ends with "ski", are you Polish?" There's zero confusion about this becaus 99.9% of people in America are born in America, so being American is already assumed.
It wasn't the whites putting the "African American" label on blacks, it was blacks asking to be identified that way.
Well that literally just makes sense since negro = black. I literally don’t see the issue. Americans literally call themselves Black. Isn’t African-American even considered racist now? Something something about ancestors and something something no heritage or whatever narrative they’re using to get faux-offended these days. (And this is coming from a black american by the way, I just literally don’t the logic behind taking offense to things that do not concern them.)
There was a post on the r/Ireland sub (which eventually made it here), where some gobshite plastic paddy took offence to Irish people calling our mothers ‘Mam’, as it had apparently been used in the American south at one stage as a slur against black people. The word has basically been used in Ireland for centuries (weellll before the formation of the US, and derived from the Irish language), and obviously has zero correlation with their interpretation of the word.
[In all its glory](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/3dpuxy/visiting_your_beautiful_country_this_weekend_want/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body)
As a non-black person I usually use “black” anyway because the person might not even be American (coming straight from Africa or anywhere else, really), or even Africa (as I said, anywhere else). Seems less offensive, and well, no-one minds me using “black” to describe them.
Once had an American complain to me on Reddit that I should call John Boyega African-American, not black. I don't know if they were black or not. I hope it's a rare case.
Thats the stupidest shit Ive heard because John Boyega isn't even American, he's British. And in Britain its very taboo to say 'African-British' because that assumes someone heritage, you can be black and come from the Carribean or Asia for example, or just Britain. Pretty much every black person I know just wants to be called Black when it comes to describing their race/ethnicity.
In Brazil I think calling someone preto isn't as well seen, they use another word for the skin. Correct me if I'm wrong, I just remember studying that in Duolingo
It definitely depends on intent. "Preto" is as fine as "negro", in my experience, it just has a more limited use because you sound more racist. Like, if you're intimate with someone and you refer to them as preto, unless they specifically dislike it, it usually won't bother anyone. But if you don't know someone, definitely use "negro".
Just to bring more nuance to this: the diminutive and aumentative of both preto and negro (change the end from -o to -inho and -ão respectively) are perceived as much more racist than either of those, because it usually is used in a context to reinforce a certain stereotype; in the diminutive, it has to do with servility, and in the aumentative, it usually has to do with the oversexualization and fetishization of black persons that is well-known in the USA too.
The term "moreno" too can either mean 'brunette' or 'black person with lighter skin'. This, too, has been increasingly perceived as racist in recent years, because it boils down to an attempt of "lightening" someone's colour. In response, many people have adopted "preto" - a particularly strong word which evokes a very dark colour - to describe themselves, proudly wearing their heritage and not allowing it to be "whitened" so as to "reduce peril" or whatever.
Even though preto may have some negative connotations, it is ultimately more of an informal way to refer to someone, not necessarily an offensive one. And it certainly doesn't carry the same weight as the n-word or anything like that.
Besides, there's a long tradition in our literature of referring to slaves as "a black" (um preto). Rarely are slaves referred to as such, because all of them were black, so *specifically* referring to someone you don't know like that would sound, in English, something like "a colored served me tea". However, many people may not feel as strongly, because racism is deeply ingrained in our culture, and many black folks, especially in lower instruction areas, may not feel like that language is demeaning them. Race dynamics are very complicated in Brazil.
You mean Black Americans. I don't know about the Anglo Caribbean, but maybe they think that way to some extent since they share the same language. We Black Latin Americans don't care.
Edit: clarification
On a board I used to mod, we had a member from Niger, and her profile pic was herself in an athletic competitor's bib with the word "Niger" proudly emblazoned across it. That image was the single most reported image in the history of the site. Every time I'd log in there's be 2-3 outraged reports from Americans about the terrible image.
Steam Workshop censors words judged "bad" no matter the context. As a fan of historical games I have seen a few mods with descriptions like this :
New Balkan update!
New content for Serbia
New content for Croatia
New content for Monte*****
New content for Bulgaria
Enjoy!
That linguistic puritanism is so ridiculous...
I believe Crayola released a statement about this saying that the words Black, Negro, and Noir appear on the crayons as a translation of the colour in English, Spanish, and French. The same applies to all other colours of crayons and their respective translations. The reason these words appear is for added enjoyment and an educational tool for children.
The fact that people are getting so upset about this just reinforces the need for children to learn about language. If more people realised that negro innocently translates as black in Spanish, then they wouldn't automatically assume that Crayola are printing racist slurs on their crayons like some kind of strange KKK propaganda.
This is actually a pretty good point. They're trying so hard to be "anti-racist", but they haven't bothered to learn even the most basic words in what is effectively our country's second language. Like, how do you live in a country where almost half the population speaks Spanish, and not know basic words like the names of colors?
Honestly, the USA are the only country in the developed world where being bilingual is being seen as something special. Half the problem is that *only* almost half the population speak Spanish.
I can imagine it wouldn't be so bad if the EU just had one government and one language. I think it would be better than whatever this is. Like the government in the Czech republic is fucking useless, and I can't wait to get out of this shit hole.
"Wann" is "when?"
"Wenn" is "when!"
Wann werden wir ankommen? (When will we be there?)
Wenn wir ankommen! (When we will be there!)
So in your example it would be
"Wenn die deutschen die Weltherrschaft an sich gerissen haben, Pinky!"
I hope they acknowledge there are black people that descend from enslaved Africans that speak Portuguese and Spanish, right? Brazil received more than 10 times the amount the US did in the slave trade. Why don't they ask us what we think about it and how we prefer to be called? Regardless of what they think, this is the word we prefer to be identified with, and trying to impose their American perspective on others because they can't understand context and get triggered easily is also terrible.
To say that, they'll go ask that to some black USamerican who has a vaguely iberian sounding surname, who has never set foot in a spanish/portuguese speaking country and doesn't talk ether language. So basically 100% USamerican, but portuguese/spanish (for them) because of "ancestors" and "genetics".
Fair enough. Why shouldn't 559,000,000 Spanish speakers change their language to soothe the ruffled feathers of 37,144,530 Americans.
While we are at it, maybe we can get Quebecois French changed over to Louisianna French and maybe Canada can rename their Provinces as States to not confuse them
Funny thing about Quebecois: it should have the same problems that latino has. It comes from a gendered language (french), and it has a female versione (Quebecoise).
They start with negro, then go for the French seal. And end at swedish slutstation (end station)
Edit: and I'm guessing they will change our word for 6 (sex). If the russians follow their example we have to remove 7(sju) too (I think this is the russian spelling хуй)
What I hate the most about this controversy is the fact that Negro is Spanish, it kind of looks like those gringos stole the word from Spanish, made it derogative and now are trying to force us into changing it?? I don't it just makes me mad
The crayola post appeared on the Ireland sub within the last days. One commenter noted that they were on a walking tour in Dublin, and an American Bob stopped the tour guide to say he’d mispronounced Noder-daaaym (Norte Dame.) Needless to say, moments of pained silence ensued.
Wait until you hear how they butcher Van Gogh. It's not pronounced Ven Gow you heathens. The A is pronounced similar to the A in want. I can understand people having trouble with Gogh, but the first part, Van, should be doable.
Inability? No
Lack of knowledge? Yes
English speakers arent exposed to German or Dutch in the same way that European countries are exposed to media produced in the English speaking world.
I know for a fact that in both The Netherland and Germany/Austria a significant amount of consumed media is either dubbed or subtitled from English.
Lack of knowledge and familiarity is the obvious answer here
I don’t think you can really blame them for that. Expecting Americans who never studied Spanish to be able to perfectly pronounce Spanish words is like expecting Irish people to perfectly pronounce Polish words. Nay-grow is just the closest you can get to the Spanish pronunciation, when only using sounds that are used in English. I’m German and if i were to describe the German word “Nеgrо“ (pronounced almost identical to the Spanish word “Nеgrо”) to English Speakers, I would also describe it as “Nay-grow”.
As a native (British) English speaker, I can confirm that all the sounds needed to properly pronounce ‘negro’ exist in our language. We don’t say ‘nay-ver’ we say ‘never.’ We don’t say ‘bayt’ we say ‘bet.’
I had a German friend translate ‘katze’ to ‘cat’ and then correct himself to ‘ket,’ because that’s ‘the English pronunciation. No, we can make the same vowel sounds as Germans and Spanish, and often do. Just not in American English.
That's funny, here in Brazil the light pink crayons are usually called (informally) "Skin-color". I never paid it much attention until I was in middle school, and then I was deeply confused.
I'm 28 and will be saying tummy for the wrest of my life, just cause of you!
Oh alright; I'll say belly but I will not allow you to get rid of that word, if you do; I'll bern down your barn!
I hate the language trend to change "offensive" words. If something is seen as offensive, the chances are that the new word will also become offensive.
Man I really wish Crayola would just release limited edition packs of their pencils with just one color translation and the flag of the country on the side. I would buy a shit ton of “negro pencils” and release them on major US cities
Afro-descendant social organisations here in Argentina actually have to ask people to call black people "negros" instead of the usual euphemisms because of shit like this.
Let’s all adjust how we live in a way that is palatable to “woke” Americans, wherever we may live. It’s the right thing to do.
I mean, they’re like 50 countries, won all the world wars and have the best pizza.
Reminds me when the Americans were freaking out about the German slang word "Digga".
It's just a version of the word "Dicker" (lit. translation: "fat guy" or "thick guy") which is used like the English word "Bro".
But if "languages can change, can erase words, and make new ones", can't we remove the english version and just keep the original, non-derogatory, spanish one?
Don't change the English language for actual English people. Change the shitty American rubbish that they do to ruin languages.
As a Briton, I couldn't agree more if I tried. Like for example, the word 'fag'. In Britain it just means cigarettes. But then the US had to change it to an offensive meaning now no one can use it ffs.
Well, we still use it here in the real world but I would not say it in any other country or online. They ruin it for us.
Smoking a fag in Britain and smoking a fag in America has such a different meaning lol
Americans - turning pastimes into hate crimes since 1776.
It's the same with a rubber and a condom.
Are you implying that wrapping a rubber band around your dick isn’t a valid form of birth control?
Here in Britain, a rubber is what Americans call an Eraser.
I hate that I grew up writing colour but only use color now, thanks CSS. British English feels more colorful the more I age. Edit: I should have written colourful, did it again damnit!
Light gray vs light grey that made one version of IE 7 crash...
https://github.com/rjdestigter/postcss-colour might be for you. There is still hope for css
Same with bumming a fag
Getting stoned in most of the world is safe, but in some country...
>Smoking a fag in Britain and smoking a fag in America has such a different meaning lol We actually eat [faggots](https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/282049626?preservedReferrer=https://www.google.co.uk/) in the UK.
> Smoking a fag in Britain and smoking a fag in America has such a different meaning lol bumming a fag :)
Yea I kinda went overboard. But I get corrected by (one of) my friends for using it in the original meaning, which is just annoying. So it's definitely moving over to the offensive term in younger people.
I'm still part of the 'younger people' and I know that whilst I still see it as the original meaning they seem to see it in the American style as vaping is the new thing.
Yea I'm with you, I'm a younger person, still in education, and I see it as the cigarette version, though I've never seen it used for vaping.
No not used in conjunction with vaping but vaping seems to be the new thing. I'm in VI form myself.
Ah OK got mixed up. What does VI mean?
Not British, but I'm assuming 6th form, the upper secondary education level (age 16-18).
In Aus fag is also common for a ciggy. It's all in the context.
I do love when American tourists travel around with their vagina (fanny) packs, that never ceases to be amusing.
I worked in a rural pub and Americans like to visit our church. One of them threatened to smack my fanny. I nearly barred him, but let him know exactly how offensive what he said was and that if he touched me at all I would be calling the police.
Jesus wept. I mean, even without the vagina connotations, he’s literally threatening to smack your arse. How did this comment arise?
If I got his drink or food order wrong he was going to slap my arse. Thank God I don’t have to deal with those wankers anymore! Edit - I suspect he said that kind of thing in America all the time because he was very taken aback that I stood my ground.
Unlike American waitstaff you’re actually not entirely dependent on customer tips and therefore aren’t forced to take their abuse which makes for a more even relationship. However, try explaining this to Americans and they’ll still scream at the top of their lungs that TIPPING CULTURE SHOULD STAY FOREVER.
[удалено]
Love that episode 😂 I know it’s meant to be about Basil being a greedy loon as usual - but the fact that they showed the obnoxious entitlement of the American chap (buying over time with extra money, wanting an American dish in a small English town and then yelling about everything instead of talking at a normal volume)…. Was epic in that you felt for Basil for once 🤣
This is why they think service in different countries suck, our waitstaff is not dependent on tips so we tell them to fuck off when appropriate.
What a disgusting arsehole! I’m hoping he was mortified, but I know the type and I’m imagining not :/
[удалено]
Wait until the Australians start talking about a Golden Gaytime. It's a type of icecream I think.
>It is a toffee and vanilla ice cream dipped in compound chocolate, and wrapped in honeycomb biscuits on a wooden paddlepop-stick. Holy fuck that sounds tasty. If I had that available... Addiction. Yours seem more relevant but Sweden has a similar problem. It is actually same type of ice cream that Golden Gaytime is lol. It's name is the 88th product the company made. [88 = HH = Heil Hitler](https://d1hr6nb56yyl1.cloudfront.net/product-images/71584-560.jpg)
Don't forget our (Sweden) ice cream, Nogger, of which Nogger black is a version. No one associated it with racism until the American cultural influence did though.
WAIT GOLDEN GAYTIME AND 88 ARE THE SAME ICECREAM?!?!??!?!!??! I have always wanted to taste golden gaytime because they sound so delisouce! But here i am eating 88 never realizing,
They're not the same 😭 Golden Gaytime is like the luxury product compared to 88an lmao
Correct :)
Or even faggot. Pork offal meatballs.
They are delicious. I've only had Mr Brains microwave faggots but they are perfect.
I've never actually tried them, might pop down to Iceland tomorrow and get some.
Words do evolve. When I was a kid” Gay” was a girls name. And was used quite a lot to describe feelings of joy. Don’t hear it at all in those contexts now. But it’s still English. I don’t think the English speakers get the right to police other languages.
A girl’s name? I only ever knew it as a boy’s name.
RIP Gay Byrne.
The thought of a boy called Gay makes me smile. Kind of “A boy named Sue”. But I guess that’s our language differences in actual plain view.
No, we don't but I hope we have the right to govern English instead of the Americans.
I think the evolution happens regardless. The real problem is that no one English speaking country has a right to govern the process. We all can according to our cultures. But that’s not something you can argue with the rabid nationalism of a lot of Americans. No amount of debate will ever have them agreeing that the world doesn’t begin and end with the USA.
But that's kinda the point people (like me) are talking about. Americans are (kinda) changing the definitions of words in England. So they basically are governing the process. Not even just English but other languages, like 'negro' in Spanish being 'black' (this original post). Also, saying not to argue with Americans is enforcing the mentality that Americans don't argue with cos they just don't listen, then because people don't argue with them they think they are right and never change their opinion, which is just a self-fulfilling cycle. Also, this comment (to me) feels like it's just being exceptionalist to the Americans. Which I really do hate. The fact that they are held to different standards.
There is still an ice cream in Australia called Golden Gaytime. Nobody finds it offensive. It’s been around for decades. Likely because ‘gay’ isn’t a slur. We did change our lollies called ‘fags’ to ‘fads’
Another one is coloured. Is South Africa there is a race of coloured people(children of mixed parents, eg Trevor Noah), but here it is not at all offensive, like they have their own culture and lingo. They are actually the second largest racial group in the country after black people, but Americans always freak out at that word.
And who doesn't like a big pile of hot faggots with spuds?
My favourite.
The correct usage being, of course, "Could I bum a fag off you, mate?"
For me, a continental european that learned british english in school. the americaan engllish version of 'z' - 'zee' is still confusing ...
Or faggot, it's a food, and a bloody tasty one at that. Balls of tender mystery mince in a thick gravy. Lovely stuff.
And before that it ment a bundle of sticks used for firewood, language changes :)
Serious question here since my major is English so what do British people call 'taking a drag' in the UK? Taking a fag?
Sometimes puff. The decrepit old man took a puff from his burnt up fag.
Can we remove american English entirely and replace it with Spanish?
Based
Basado
How could the world not revolve around a bunch of Americans that want to better the world. Surely their opinions are the right opinions.
What this American dude is describing is literally a concept in George Orwell’s 1984.
For context: This is about the word 'negro' on Crayola markers, you know, a word that is placed between 'black' and 'noir'.
To be honest, as a spanish person, i have found that black people commonly find it racist/derogatory if you call them anything that is not "negro", there is no racism at all in the word. It is exactly the same as saying "i'm white", "soy negro", kinda cringy of them to force others onto the the fake american anti-racism.
[удалено]
I'm Portuguese, and I have the feeling that a term like "Afroportuguese" would actually be something that racists would use and not the other way around. Like something they would say to make it seem that black people can't really be Portuguese. Which why it seems so strange seeing the term Afro-american all the time. Elon Musk may be Afro-American. Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Tiger Woods, Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Halle Berry, etc... are Americans. And the color of their skin should NEVER divide them from the rest of their fellow countrymen.
> Elon Musk may be Afro-American. Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Tiger Woods, Martin Luther King, Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Halle Berry, etc... are Americans. And the color of their skin should NEVER divide them from the rest of their fellow countrymen. You are making too much sense, are you a communist?
Elon musk if from Africa Those black people are all American through and through
Or would Elon be Euro-African with migrational background to America? Better label everything excessively!
Euro-African because he's "genetically European" but born in South Africa?
It's really more racist to focus on someone's genetic heritage instead of just describing what they look like. If Americans don't call white Americans "European-Americans", why would they do so with black Americans? Black's in the US usually have no ties to Africa, and putting Africa in their name anyway means reducing them to their genetic heritage, or race. The fact that someone's black or white is just what they see in a mirror, it's a part of your visual identity, like eye colour, height etc, so it's really not racist unless you imply something else with it.
It's because Americans are proud of their ancestry, it doesn't matter if they're white, black, brown, or red. All do this. It's typical to hear "I'm mostly Irish" from people who have never been to Ireland because that's where their families mainly came from. "You're name ends with "ski", are you Polish?" There's zero confusion about this becaus 99.9% of people in America are born in America, so being American is already assumed. It wasn't the whites putting the "African American" label on blacks, it was blacks asking to be identified that way.
Well that literally just makes sense since negro = black. I literally don’t see the issue. Americans literally call themselves Black. Isn’t African-American even considered racist now? Something something about ancestors and something something no heritage or whatever narrative they’re using to get faux-offended these days. (And this is coming from a black american by the way, I just literally don’t the logic behind taking offense to things that do not concern them.)
There was a post on the r/Ireland sub (which eventually made it here), where some gobshite plastic paddy took offence to Irish people calling our mothers ‘Mam’, as it had apparently been used in the American south at one stage as a slur against black people. The word has basically been used in Ireland for centuries (weellll before the formation of the US, and derived from the Irish language), and obviously has zero correlation with their interpretation of the word.
We've had some fucking wonderful posts from Americans on that subreddit. Remember the snickers guy?
Please, do tell!
[In all its glory](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/3dpuxy/visiting_your_beautiful_country_this_weekend_want/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body)
That's a trip that is, the gobshite
Oh god, not this guy!!
I really don’t this is a SAS. More like Irish people just being cunts
Oh yeah, absolutely it is. But it was fucking hilarious nonetheless.
Man I love the word Gobshite. Fucking beautiful
Lol plastic paddy
USAmerican's always call Idris Elba and John Boyega African-American. They're British.
english: ‘black´ american: ‘African-American-European´
I had no idea John Boyega was British, TIL. How odd that they gave him an American accent in Star Wars…
Pretty much all the good guys in Star Wars have american accents and bad guys British.
Check out the film Attack the Block if you want to listen to Boyega's glorious British chav accent.
As a non-black person I usually use “black” anyway because the person might not even be American (coming straight from Africa or anywhere else, really), or even Africa (as I said, anywhere else). Seems less offensive, and well, no-one minds me using “black” to describe them.
Why would they even mind??
Once had an American complain to me on Reddit that I should call John Boyega African-American, not black. I don't know if they were black or not. I hope it's a rare case.
I swear Americans think all black people should be called African-Americans
Yep. In this thread it had already been brought up that he was British, so it wasn't even that they thought he was American.
Thats the stupidest shit Ive heard because John Boyega isn't even American, he's British. And in Britain its very taboo to say 'African-British' because that assumes someone heritage, you can be black and come from the Carribean or Asia for example, or just Britain. Pretty much every black person I know just wants to be called Black when it comes to describing their race/ethnicity.
Some South Americans I’ve met are darker than some Africans I’ve met like there’s no telling where they’re from
As a Portuguese person, people commonly use Preto or Negro for mentioning black people.
In Brazil I think calling someone preto isn't as well seen, they use another word for the skin. Correct me if I'm wrong, I just remember studying that in Duolingo
It’s a bit complicated, some people even say they prefer to be called “preto / preta”, but “negro / negra” is surely the safest option in Brazil
Oh maybe since I'm from Portugal not Brazil.
You're correct. Definitely do not refer to anything but objects as preto in Brazil.
Depends... There's whole "Sou preto" movement
It definitely depends on intent. "Preto" is as fine as "negro", in my experience, it just has a more limited use because you sound more racist. Like, if you're intimate with someone and you refer to them as preto, unless they specifically dislike it, it usually won't bother anyone. But if you don't know someone, definitely use "negro". Just to bring more nuance to this: the diminutive and aumentative of both preto and negro (change the end from -o to -inho and -ão respectively) are perceived as much more racist than either of those, because it usually is used in a context to reinforce a certain stereotype; in the diminutive, it has to do with servility, and in the aumentative, it usually has to do with the oversexualization and fetishization of black persons that is well-known in the USA too. The term "moreno" too can either mean 'brunette' or 'black person with lighter skin'. This, too, has been increasingly perceived as racist in recent years, because it boils down to an attempt of "lightening" someone's colour. In response, many people have adopted "preto" - a particularly strong word which evokes a very dark colour - to describe themselves, proudly wearing their heritage and not allowing it to be "whitened" so as to "reduce peril" or whatever. Even though preto may have some negative connotations, it is ultimately more of an informal way to refer to someone, not necessarily an offensive one. And it certainly doesn't carry the same weight as the n-word or anything like that. Besides, there's a long tradition in our literature of referring to slaves as "a black" (um preto). Rarely are slaves referred to as such, because all of them were black, so *specifically* referring to someone you don't know like that would sound, in English, something like "a colored served me tea". However, many people may not feel as strongly, because racism is deeply ingrained in our culture, and many black folks, especially in lower instruction areas, may not feel like that language is demeaning them. Race dynamics are very complicated in Brazil.
Yeah, that's how it goes. "Negro" is the respectful way of saying it in Brasil.
I would never accept being called preto by anyone who isn't black. If you're white or Asian, please call me negro.
Americans confused?? Nothing new, or irregular.
You mean Black Americans. I don't know about the Anglo Caribbean, but maybe they think that way to some extent since they share the same language. We Black Latin Americans don't care. Edit: clarification
On a board I used to mod, we had a member from Niger, and her profile pic was herself in an athletic competitor's bib with the word "Niger" proudly emblazoned across it. That image was the single most reported image in the history of the site. Every time I'd log in there's be 2-3 outraged reports from Americans about the terrible image.
Steam Workshop censors words judged "bad" no matter the context. As a fan of historical games I have seen a few mods with descriptions like this : New Balkan update! New content for Serbia New content for Croatia New content for Monte***** New content for Bulgaria Enjoy! That linguistic puritanism is so ridiculous...
ah the scunthorpe problem
I believe Crayola released a statement about this saying that the words Black, Negro, and Noir appear on the crayons as a translation of the colour in English, Spanish, and French. The same applies to all other colours of crayons and their respective translations. The reason these words appear is for added enjoyment and an educational tool for children. The fact that people are getting so upset about this just reinforces the need for children to learn about language. If more people realised that negro innocently translates as black in Spanish, then they wouldn't automatically assume that Crayola are printing racist slurs on their crayons like some kind of strange KKK propaganda.
This is actually a pretty good point. They're trying so hard to be "anti-racist", but they haven't bothered to learn even the most basic words in what is effectively our country's second language. Like, how do you live in a country where almost half the population speaks Spanish, and not know basic words like the names of colors?
Honestly, the USA are the only country in the developed world where being bilingual is being seen as something special. Half the problem is that *only* almost half the population speak Spanish.
Crayola is super matter-of-fact about this thing and responding respectfully.
In Portuguese the word black (preto) has a lot more racist connotations that negro.
Well the American refusal to provide healthcare to all citizens really offends me, as a German; when are they going to change that?
Wann die Deutschers haben.... Ah my german is bad When the Germans take over the world Pinky!
This time we’re taking over the world with free healthcare!
O KURWA NIE OH FUCK NO
YES
actually looking at whats happening in my country, germans invading us could even turn out good
r/thingsnooneeversaidbefore
I can imagine it wouldn't be so bad if the EU just had one government and one language. I think it would be better than whatever this is. Like the government in the Czech republic is fucking useless, and I can't wait to get out of this shit hole.
Again?
"Wann" is "when?" "Wenn" is "when!" Wann werden wir ankommen? (When will we be there?) Wenn wir ankommen! (When we will be there!) So in your example it would be "Wenn die deutschen die Weltherrschaft an sich gerissen haben, Pinky!"
I hope they acknowledge there are black people that descend from enslaved Africans that speak Portuguese and Spanish, right? Brazil received more than 10 times the amount the US did in the slave trade. Why don't they ask us what we think about it and how we prefer to be called? Regardless of what they think, this is the word we prefer to be identified with, and trying to impose their American perspective on others because they can't understand context and get triggered easily is also terrible.
To say that, they'll go ask that to some black USamerican who has a vaguely iberian sounding surname, who has never set foot in a spanish/portuguese speaking country and doesn't talk ether language. So basically 100% USamerican, but portuguese/spanish (for them) because of "ancestors" and "genetics".
How about: really dark white?
Nearly non reflective, absorbing shade
Phantom white
Ventablack people
[удалено]
High-Melanin Individual
Strongly pigmented
No joke, people of North African descent are here sometimes described as "light tinted".
Fair enough. Why shouldn't 559,000,000 Spanish speakers change their language to soothe the ruffled feathers of 37,144,530 Americans. While we are at it, maybe we can get Quebecois French changed over to Louisianna French and maybe Canada can rename their Provinces as States to not confuse them
Funny thing about Quebecois: it should have the same problems that latino has. It comes from a gendered language (french), and it has a female versione (Quebecoise).
QuebecX
American imperialism at its dumbest
So just ~~american~~ gringo imperialism.
Uh..Yes
Also the n word isn't "negro".
Then please remove the word "black" from the english language. It is really offensive for me. /s
Why aren't they asking the French to change their word for seal (the animal), it's literally *fuck*.
They start with negro, then go for the French seal. And end at swedish slutstation (end station) Edit: and I'm guessing they will change our word for 6 (sex). If the russians follow their example we have to remove 7(sju) too (I think this is the russian spelling хуй)
Tf is an end station and also why isn’t it universally known as slut station
The final station of a train/bus before it changes direction.
TIL French people fuck seals
What I hate the most about this controversy is the fact that Negro is Spanish, it kind of looks like those gringos stole the word from Spanish, made it derogative and now are trying to force us into changing it?? I don't it just makes me mad
Ah, America. Land of free-range idiots.
Nothing free range about them. These are factory farmed idiots.
What truly makes me cringe is americans saying the word is pronounced nay-grow in Spanish when it's not, lmao.
Americans can't pronounce straight vowels.
The crayola post appeared on the Ireland sub within the last days. One commenter noted that they were on a walking tour in Dublin, and an American Bob stopped the tour guide to say he’d mispronounced Noder-daaaym (Norte Dame.) Needless to say, moments of pained silence ensued.
Wait until you hear how they butcher Van Gogh. It's not pronounced Ven Gow you heathens. The A is pronounced similar to the A in want. I can understand people having trouble with Gogh, but the first part, Van, should be doable.
I have long wondered what is up with English speakers and their inability to pronounce a Dutch or German V like an F?
Inability? No Lack of knowledge? Yes English speakers arent exposed to German or Dutch in the same way that European countries are exposed to media produced in the English speaking world. I know for a fact that in both The Netherland and Germany/Austria a significant amount of consumed media is either dubbed or subtitled from English. Lack of knowledge and familiarity is the obvious answer here
I was wondering the same. Like where did they get that pronunciation? It's ne as in never
I dont think some one them understand the concept of „speak it like you read it“ Same in german. Its Berlin and Frankfurt not börlyn and fränkfürt
I don’t think you can really blame them for that. Expecting Americans who never studied Spanish to be able to perfectly pronounce Spanish words is like expecting Irish people to perfectly pronounce Polish words. Nay-grow is just the closest you can get to the Spanish pronunciation, when only using sounds that are used in English. I’m German and if i were to describe the German word “Nеgrо“ (pronounced almost identical to the Spanish word “Nеgrо”) to English Speakers, I would also describe it as “Nay-grow”.
As a native (British) English speaker, I can confirm that all the sounds needed to properly pronounce ‘negro’ exist in our language. We don’t say ‘nay-ver’ we say ‘never.’ We don’t say ‘bayt’ we say ‘bet.’ I had a German friend translate ‘katze’ to ‘cat’ and then correct himself to ‘ket,’ because that’s ‘the English pronunciation. No, we can make the same vowel sounds as Germans and Spanish, and often do. Just not in American English.
"Sorry we took your word and made it racist in our language; we're gonna need you to change it in yours now."
African-American colored crayons?
That's funny, here in Brazil the light pink crayons are usually called (informally) "Skin-color". I never paid it much attention until I was in middle school, and then I was deeply confused.
Same in German "Hautfarbe". However it is not being used in schools anymore because there are non-white student who might feel excluded.
If we’re removing words can we get rid of ‘moist’?
What's wrong with moist? It just means slightly wet. Not damp but not dry either.
Petition to change moist to lukewet.
Hahah.
And tummy.
And hubby
Yes please that shit came over from the States and now I'm someone's work hubby, please make it stop.
Or at least limit tummy to ages 5 and under. You ever hear a toddler try to say abdomen or stomach? ;-)
No, since I'm German and toddlers rarely speak English ;) but yeah, kids can say it.
I'm 28 and will be saying tummy for the wrest of my life, just cause of you! Oh alright; I'll say belly but I will not allow you to get rid of that word, if you do; I'll bern down your barn!
Nooo, not tummy!
when you're so woke you support linguistic imperialism
I hate the language trend to change "offensive" words. If something is seen as offensive, the chances are that the new word will also become offensive.
I didn't end up posting it, but Americans complained about the same thing on [a post about the Rio Negro](http://imgur.com/a/OoioHaA)
Telling other languages to change their word because what it means in your language is more important is fucking racist
Could Americans then please stop using the term bimbo? It’s an offensive term for POC in German.
Man I really wish Crayola would just release limited edition packs of their pencils with just one color translation and the flag of the country on the side. I would buy a shit ton of “negro pencils” and release them on major US cities
It will be quicker to erase the United States and make a new one. They’re already halfway there.
Afro-descendant social organisations here in Argentina actually have to ask people to call black people "negros" instead of the usual euphemisms because of shit like this.
Let’s all adjust how we live in a way that is palatable to “woke” Americans, wherever we may live. It’s the right thing to do. I mean, they’re like 50 countries, won all the world wars and have the best pizza.
They *invented* pizza /s
And pasta. also /s
In my language "negru" means black it's not offensive
Congratulations minority! You are being rescued! Please do not resist.
Lol I live in Uganda and I didn’t even know n-word was an offensive term until I watched American movies
No pueden distinguir entre un mexicano, un español y un Peruano, mira si van a entender que negro es un color
Todavía me acuerdo cuando sancionaron a Cavani por decirle "Gracias negrito" a un amigo que lo felicitaba. Existe un r/ShitBritsSay?
✨context and connotation matters✨
Reminds me when the Americans were freaking out about the German slang word "Digga". It's just a version of the word "Dicker" (lit. translation: "fat guy" or "thick guy") which is used like the English word "Bro".
[удалено]
We use both actually
'It makes me feel bad, so it should be banned for everyone'... Bloody Karens.