Comments on: Stupid Quotes

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 04:51:24 +0000

Les:

I know. The problem is that there simply is no inoffensive way to refer to someone’s ethnicity if you don’t know precisely what it is (which, because of slavery, we often simply don’t know for blacks).

Uncle:

I’m pretty sure that’s generally considered offensive, although it varies from person to person. I hear “asian” a lot, but I don’t think that’s right, either.

David:

I prefer “cracker ass crackah.” Or “polack.”

By: David A. Garrett Jr.

David A. Garrett Jr. — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 22:07:27 +0000

Then consider me a european american, on second thought, white is fine.

By: Les

Les — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:37:30 +0000

Tom and Uncle: not only were these guys not American in any way (this was in France, for anyone who hasn’t gotten the joke), but even the “African” part in this context is totally unhelpful in determining the person’s ethnicity. They could be sub-Saharan Africans (i.e., black), or they could be North Africans (most of the Muslims in France are Algerian, Moroccan, or Tunisian). In fact, it’s the latter, but you’d never know it from that CNN report.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:05:18 +0000

I’d call them oriental.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 17:00:21 +0000

Ya know, I’m sypmathetic, but what happens when they’re of Chinese or Japanese descent? Do we call them “yellow?”

By: persimmon

persimmon — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:34:20 +0000

Hilarious. Those TV journalism jobs are challenging.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:47:08 +0000

Is “dumbass” hyphenated?

By: Les

Les — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 15:43:27 +0000

“it�s been 11 days since two African- American teenagers were killed”

Gosh, I hope it wasn’t the Gun Guy’s kids.