Thread: Racist comment?

Originally Posted by zeezil

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Spade to a black person is just like some of the other racial slurs!!

He is probably right about this!!

"that word in the 60,s and the 70,s was a common word white people used in place of the n-word, another word that was used was coon."

Whaaaaaaaaat? I was a teenager in the 60's and an adult in the 70's in the midwest and I did not hear these slang terms utilized.

I can't believe that you never heard them!!! I have definitely heard them. Add to the list of what NOT to say.........spook and tar baby as well.

Maybe some of you never heard it, because it was mainly used in only certain parts of the country??

Bren I would say it is how you use the word.How can saying "I call a Spade a Spade",which we all know what that means, be interpreted to mean a racial slur ?

Sounds abusive to me to turn something innocent into a charge of racism.

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Originally Posted by zeezil

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Spade to a black person is just like some of the other racial slurs!!

He is probably right about this!!

"that word in the 60,s and the 70,s was a common word white people used in place of the n-word, another word that was used was coon."

Whaaaaaaaaat? I was a teenager in the 60's and an adult in the 70's in the midwest and I did not hear these slang terms utilized.

I can't believe that you never heard them!!! I have definitely heard them. Add to the list of what NOT to say.........spook and tar baby as well.

Maybe some of you never heard it, because it was mainly used in only certain parts of the country??

Where are you going with this? As I said in my previous post:

This has been a very common expression in the English language for so may years that it goes back many generations. It is not racist. It's meaning is: To speak plainly - to describe something as it really is and it was first derived back in the mid 1500's.

I know that corhanem's intentions were innocent.

However, I also know that where I group up----Pittsburgh area---this word was used quite frequently to negatively describe black people. So were the words coon, spook, and tar baby----along with the "N" word.

Originally Posted by Bren4824

Spade to a black person is just like some of the other racial slurs!!

He is probably right about this!!

"that word in the 60,s and the 70,s was a common word white people used in place of the n-word, another word that was used was coon."

I can remember talking to a friend of mine who was born in the south back in the late forties and this term, when used, meant just what it says.
It was in reference to cards and nothing else with no racial untone at all.
I suppose if we want to be pc we could call a diamond, a diamond. But I'm sure somebody would find a way to complain about that just as well.

I am thinking that the use/familiarity of this word----in a negative manner to describe a black person------must depend on where you live/lived.

The expression "calling a spade a spade", has one meaning, most likely it's misconstrued intentionally.

Originally Posted by Bren4824

I know that corhanem's intentions were innocent.

However, I also know that where I group up----Pittsburgh area---this word was used quite frequently to negatively describe black people. So were the words coon, spook, and tar baby----along with the "N" word.

Obviously you ran with a crowd that reveled in caricatures. But back to the crux of this post..."calling a spade a spade" has nothing to do with racial caricatures, stereotyping and/or denigration. It's origin and use goes back over 400 years and is meant soley as a commonly use expression to describe something as it really is. You are reading way, way too much into it and, I believe, totally intentionally twisting the intent and the wording of the expression to suit an agenda.

Zeezil:

"Obviously you ran with a crowd that reveled in caricatures"

I DEFINITELY do not think that I deserved this to be said to me!!! I do not deserve to be insulted by you.

The original poster asked a question-----is there any reason why a black person would be offended by this word or take it as a racial slur-------and I answered the question.

What, you want me to lie?? Nope, never heard the word before.

You obviously have an agenda regarding this issue that is out of place in this discussion. Give it a rest and move on to something else. Now your reading insults into postings? You should take a time out.