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From: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: \"Implicitly racist language\"
Message-ID: <569@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-May-85 10:25:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: mnetor.569
Posted: Fri May 10 10:25:10 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 10-May-85 12:06:34 EDT
References: <2039@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: clewis@mnetor.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Organization: Computer X (CANADA) Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 39
Summary: 

In article <2039@decwrl.UUCP> arndt@lymph.DEC writes:
>
>Lucius Chiaraviglio refers to 'implicitly racist language which always 
>associates black with evil and white with good.'
>
>Better to get rid of associating 'black' or 'white' with race!  How about
>'round eyes' and 'dog face' to use the old American Indian term for the
>black troopers.  That way black can still be used for evil as it was in
>ancient civilizations long before it came to mean anything to do with race
>in some people's minds.

I imagine that there are several examples of where "black" isn't
associated with evil.  One is: "The company is in the black"
(making a profit - which is good unless you are an anti-capitalist
I suppose).

If we try to purge the language of words or phrases that offend some
people when they use a different meaning of the word or phrase than
is intended, we won't have much language left, and what is left won't
be worth using.  No culture, no history, no colour.  Especially, as 
KA has said, the usage far predates current alternate meanings.  For 
example, the origin of "dark" or "black" for evil has it's roots not 
in racism but in a natural fear of night (they didn't have street 
lights then...)

If I took exception to every such word, then one of the first candidates
I have is "welsh" (or "welch").  The original meaning of the word
("Wales" or "welsh-person") is derived from the ancient Saxon
(old-german) word "strange place" or "strange people".  Lately
it has become to mean "cheat" ("Taffy was a liar, Taffy was a cheat..."
(however it goes)).  The real name for the country is "Cymru"!
Cymru-am-beth!

We'd lose the word "hooker" too - I've seen people with that last
name complaining.
-- 
Chris Lewis,
UUCP: {allegra, linus, ihnp4}!utzoo!mnetor!clewis
BELL: (416)-475-8980 ext. 321