We got the Civil Rights Commision Called on US

[zzapp the witch]

We have a sandwich we make in the family that's absolutely huge with ingredients that you would probably think taste awful together, but is a most blissful experience to eat.

We call them Ginny Grinders. Anything less would be an insult.

I didn't know until well into my 20s that ginny was an Italian racial slur.....but I refuse to recognize it as anything other than an awesome name for an awesome sandwich.

[Difdi]

Why are people so afraid of those who are different than themselves?

If you pick the most accepted and beloved member of a group of chimpanzees, separate him from the group for a day, dye all of his fur pink during that time, then put him back with the others...they will kill him on the spot, literally rip him into bloody chunks.

Hatred of things that look different is an ingrained instinct in all apes. Why should one variety of ape be any different than the rest?

[Gruesome]

On the topic of slurs....

My old boss, midwestern to the core, went to the company HQ in Manhattan a few years ago. In a largish meeting of directors and VPS he intended to use the term "Guinea pig" to mean that one division would be the first to get somne new product or service, and mid sentence he decided that might be considered offensive.

So he dropped the "pig."

There are more than a few Italian-Americans in the room.

Now I'm not sure just how rude "Guinea" is as a slur against Italians, but I think HE knows it now.

[Bliss]

Lars Ulrich and Lars Von Trier?

You get a cookie

[Willis]

I'm always amazed when I read how some people NEVER freaking listen when someone is telling them something and then go into a tantrum looking for justifications.

[Anriana]

Kerrigan

That is such an awesome last name!

"I am Kerrigan, Queen of Blades... no really, it's right here on my license!"

If you pick the most accepted and beloved member of a group of chimpanzees, separate him from the group for a day, dye all of his fur pink during that time, then put him back with the others...they will kill him on the spot, literally rip him into bloody chunks.

Hatred of things that look different is an ingrained instinct in all apes. Why should one variety of ape be any different than the rest?

Please tell me someone didn't really do that experiment.

[gerund]

Coon Cheese is popular in Australia. A nut job insisted that it is denigrating to our native people and insisted that it be changed.

In April 2003, there was a stir in Australia over the naming of part of a stadium in Toowoomba, "E.S. Nigger Brown Stand". "Nigger Brown" was the nickname of Toowoomba's first international rugby player. Edward Stanley Brown used the shoe polish brand "Nigger Brown". The stand was named in the 1960s. As in the United States some decades ago, the word was used casually by whites, with little thought. Brown himself was happy with the nickname, and in fact it is written on his tombstone. A growing black consciousness among Australia's aboriginal population, however, has led to the term being considered increasingly offensive, particularly when uttered by whites.

Australian activist Stephen Hagan took the responsible local council to court over the use of the word. Hagan lost the court case at the district and state level, and the High Court ruled that the matter was beyond federal jurisdiction. The federal government cited the High Court ruling on a lack of federal jurisdiction as its legal justification for continued inaction. (Hagan also has tried changing other supposed racial slurs such as the Coon brand of cheese.)

In fact Australians used to call anyone who's name was "Brown", "Nigger" after the shoe polish. There was no reference to our natives as it was only used on white people. At least our courts had the sense to throw the case out.

[edible_hat]

In fact Australians used to call anyone who's name was "Brown", "Nigger" after the shoe polish.

I believe it's actually Nugget the shoe polish. Hence smearing brown shoe polish on somebody so it looks like they've crapped themselves is "Nuggeting".

[gerund]

I believe it's actually Nugget the shoe polish. Hence smearing brown shoe polish on somebody so it looks like they've crapped themselves is "Nuggeting".

That is something else entirely. It is "Nigger Brown" the colour. Wikipedia says "Historically, British people would often describe a dark shade of brown as "nigger brown""

[WhiteWolf]

The problem is. here in the U.S. at least. people go on these, well theres really no other way to describe it, but "Crusades" against falsely perceived Racism.
We've just become so overly sensitive now, we're afraid to call people by their real names or use normal English words for fear that someone might be offended by it (which I point out, you do not have a right to not be offended)

[Samaliel]

When I took my art test for my Baccalauréat (high school graduation or A-level equivalent), I met an Asian girl who referred to herself as Mai (pronounced "my") but she was listed under the name of Véronique on the test schedule. I thought it was odd and she told me that Mai was her birth name, but it became her middle name when her parents moved from Vietnam into France, some 15 years or so earlier. Apparently, they were required to give her a "French" name. So Mai was still the name she usually used, but on anything issued by any public agency, she'd be listed either as Véronique or as Véronique Mai.

At first, I thought it was weird, but then I remembered that my own first name isn't the one I usually use. My full first name is a compound of a very common Scandinavian name (but highly uncommon in France) and a common French name. But I tend to us only the first half, even though most people will misspell it. Why they insist on writing it with a Z, a W or a double N, sometimes all three at once, is beyond me.

But on the other end, I later met a few other people from Vietnam, about the same age, with Vietnamese first names, some of which I think are the most beautiful ever. I think it depended a lot on the person from Vital Records with whom you had to deal.