In the ghetto....

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35296993

Is the word ghetto racist?
Since bloody when?

What’s wrong over there in the good old US of A.

The word nigger I can understand. Sort of.
Obviously here in Europe it’s a derogatory term, but it’s not like a word you can’t use. It’s not like this big thing which makes strong men tremble at the knees.
I mean, there’s so many nasty things to say about people, one more or less isn’t gonna change an attitude.
In Britain it’s worse to smite the Anglo-Saxon word for labia, for example. And in the Netherlands you shouldn’t use the word cancer to describe someone’s personality.

But the word ghetto?
To us in Europe it generally refers to the slums the nazi’s stuck the Jews in.
However, there’s a the grander context (bad neighbourhood or area of poverty).

And when Tarantino says:
"Ennio Morricone... is my favourite composer - and when I say favourite composer, I don't mean movie composer - that ghetto. I'm talking about Mozart, I'm talking about Beethoven, I'm talking about Schubert. That's who I'm talking about."
It’s clear he’s using an exaggeration; meaning being a movie composer is somewhat impoverished in comparison to being a now classical composer.

So, I can understand people being up in arms about his pretentiousness, but racist?
That’s just crazy.
And then Jamie Foxx getting upset about it. As if he’s some sort of moral barometer on what can and cannot be said.

I’ve never subscribed to the: “Only Jews can make Jewish jokes” sentiment (exchange Jewish for catholic, Muslim, gay, or any other group of people). And so it goes for all language.

But ghetto being racist, because a white man uses it whilst segmenting music?
Completely bizarre.

Originally posted by shavixmir
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35296993

Is the word ghetto racist?
Since bloody when?

What’s wrong over there in the good old US of A.

The word nigger I can understand. Sort of.
Obviously here in Europe it’s a derogatory term, but it’s not like a word you can’t use. It’s not like this big thing which makes strong men tremble at the knees.
I ...[text shortened]... t ghetto being racist, because a white man uses it whilst segmenting music?
Completely bizarre.

You're right.

Tarantino has a good taste in music.

As long as niggers use the word nigger to address fellow niggers, niggers shouldn't moan about non-niggers using the word nigger to describe niggers.

Also, isn't it generally accepted that Jamie Foxx is an enormous tool? That nigger needs to STFU, I'd say.

“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

"ghetto"

early 17th century: perhaps from Italian getto ‘foundry’ (because the first ghetto was established in 1516 on the site of a foundry in Venice), or from Italian borghetto, diminutive of borgo ‘borough'.

https://www.google.com/search?q=etymology+ghetto&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Here's a more extensive and interesting discussion of the word "ghetto."

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/27/306829915/segregated-from-its-history-how-ghetto-lost-its-meaning

Sung to Elvis's In The Ghetto:
Then one day in desperation the young blood breaks away
He steals a gun
Hijacks a car
He rapes some chick
But he don't get far
From the ghetto
And his momma cries
Him dindu nuffins

Originally posted by shavixmir
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35296993

Is the word ghetto racist?
Since bloody when?

What’s wrong over there in the good old US of A.

The word nigger I can understand. Sort of.
Obviously here in Europe it’s a derogatory term, but it’s not like a word you can’t use. It’s not like this big thing which makes strong men tremble at the knees.
I ...[text shortened]... t ghetto being racist, because a white man uses it whilst segmenting music?
Completely bizarre.

It was negro, then nigger, then colored or colored folk, then black. Did I miss any?

Originally posted by RJHinds
It was negro, then nigger, then colored or colored folk, then black. Did I miss any?

A few.

http://www.rsdb.org/race/blacks

Remembering "coon" made me think to look.

Originally posted by JS357
A few.

http://www.rsdb.org/race/blacks

Remembering "coon" made me think to look.

My family never said that. We did use "African American" sometime and I have heard "Uncle Tom" but my family never used it ourselves.

I had never heard of the term Nigger Toes applied to Brazil nuts until I moved to Oklahoma.

In California the term nigger isn't used much. When I use the term, I apply it to gang banger types. If I see a white guy who dresses, talks and acts like a black gang banger, I call him a white nigger or whigger.

In other words, the term has different meaning in different parts of the nation.

In general, I simply use the term black person to describe a black person.

Originally posted by Eladar
I had never heard of the term Nigger Toes applied to Brazil nuts until I moved to Oklahoma.

In California the term nigger isn't used much. When I use the term, I apply it to gang banger types. If I see a white guy who dresses, talks and acts like a black gang banger, I call him a white nigger or whigger.

In other words, the term has different meaning ...[text shortened]... rts of the nation.

In general, I simply use the term black person to describe a black person.

Believe it or not, it was not until I was in the military and was sent north to Ft Detrick, Maryland and met my future wife that i learned the real name for Brazil nuts. It took me a long time with my wife reminding me to get over that habbit.