Someone save us from the PC Police!

This HAS to be an Onion story, right???

http://news.yahoo.com/black-spanish-teacher-claims-she-fired-using-word-141803930.html

I could just about believe anything now-a-days.

They could have used this as an excuse to fire her because the budget was tight. Sequestration is making everyone niggardly lately.

I just saw that one. Frickin' amazing. For crying out loud, 'negro' is the Spanish word for the color black.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/negro

Merriam-Webster calls it 'sometimes offensive'.

I can believe it. Not saying the story is true, but I could see a story like that being true.

Not much different than that professor a few years ago who got canned for using the word niggardly. Which does not mean what people think it means, but one kinda has to be a fool to use it without anticipating some backlash.

someone in that article said: “They haven’t even accounted for how absurd it is for someone who’s black to be using a racial slur to a student,” Reid told the Post.

yeah, because black people can't be racist... i wonder what Uncle Ruckus would say about this one?

Seems to me I was reprimanded for using the word "negro" on this very forum a couple years back. About two US elections ago to be exact.

In school, which was only in the 1980's, we were taught that "negro" was the proper, english term for a black person.

Apparently, somewhere along the line, some folks have decided to get offended by that word.

From now on, I'm going to find the term "caucasian" offensive.

Trans_Maro wrote: Seems to me I was reprimanded for using the word "negro" on this very forum a couple years back. About two US elections ago to be exact. In school, which was only in the 1980's, we were taught that "negro" was the proper, english term for a black person. Apparently, somewhere along the line, some folks have decided to get offended by that word. From now on, I'm going to find the term "caucasian" offensive.

in the time since the 80's, it has been decided that all minority groups are to be addressed with a label that has a hyphen in the middle..

Really, because I've only met a couple folks who were actually African.

One African-Canadian I know is whiter than I am.

Hyphenation is idiotic and I'm getting sick and tired of ignorant people being offended at things for no reason.

I think I'll call my Chinese-Portugese-Canadian friend and ask for his perspective.

hey, i don't make the rules... i just relay them...

Seems to me I was reprimanded for using the word "negro" on this very forum a couple years back. About two US elections ago to be exact.

Holy E36 M3! Harry Reid's on GRM!

Prof. Farnsworth, this planet, etc.

If there was ever a world that needed to put on his/her big boy/girl pants/culturally historic native dress, we're living in it.

friedgreencorrado wrote: Prof. Farnsworth, this planet, etc.

GOOD NEWS, EVERYBODY!!!

Trans_Maro wrote: Really, because I've only met a couple folks who were actually African. One African-Canadian I know is whiter than I am. Hyphenation is idiotic and I'm getting sick and tired of ignorant people being offended at things for no reason. I think I'll call my Chinese-Portugese-Canadian friend and ask for his perspective.

I was just thinking about my HS buddy! He was born in South Africa, and moved to my town in Jr. High. So when it came time to fill out a form, he couldn't figure out why a white Jew from Pretoria couldn't claim to be African-American. He did spend the next few weeks irritating teachers with that fact.

In reply to DoctorBlade:

The guy I was talking about was from Johannesburg, he helped me out in the repair shop.

Any time a customer's parts order got forgotten, I just told them "I've got a kid from a third-world country helping me out and sometimes he makes mistakes"

The customer must've been picturing a kid from "the gods must be crazy" in the back, not a 6'2 skinny white kid with an afrikaans accent.

Shawn

In reply to poopshovel:

Sorry, I'm Canadian, I had to google that person.

We don't have minorities in Canada because our country is one big homogeneous melting pot of culture!

Until one of those minorities decides they need special treatment because they're unique and different from everyone else, then we are told to celibrate our wonderful diversity.

"Niggardly" (noun: "niggard") is an adjective meaning "stingy" or "miserly", perhaps related to the Old Norse verb nigla = "to fuss about small matters". It is cognate with "niggling", meaning "petty" or "unimportant", as in "the niggling details".

Yea, DC mayor's aide got fired for using that one.

novaderrik wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote: Prof. Farnsworth, this planet, etc.

GOOD NEWS, EVERYBODY!!!

A friend of my dad's who came to visit from the UK was confused and at a loss in regards to what was an appropriate title to refer to people with dark skin. Eventually he settled on the term "non-reflective people", and was told that was sufficiently unoffensive.

I have known exactly zero black people who got offended by being called black. None of them demanded to be called African Americans or anything else. I have known a lot of white people who bitch about not being able to call them whatever they want, though.

Joey

Just because someone is a certain color does not automatically make them a hyphenated anything. For instance, would I call a black guy with a Barbados accent African-American? Hell, no. Would I call every Hispanic a Mexican? Again hell, no. In fact, some of them take great offense at being called Mexicans when they may be from, say, Ecuador. There's no way for this dumb honky to have any idea what to call them at first sight.

I think I've found the way around that: call everyone yes sir/ yes ma'am until I learn their names then use that as Mr/Ms __, in short same thing I do with people of every color. But when referring to groups I use white, black, Asian, Hispanic etc.

I am with you Curmudgeon. I worked for a "black" radio station. We played what was referred to as Urban Adult Contemporary. I was the Oreo filling in the staff and they were just people.

I think visitors were more surprised to find a singlular white guy there than anything else.

Trans_Maro wrote: In reply to poopshovel: Sorry, I'm Canadian, I had to google that person. We don't have minorities in Canada because our country is one big homogeneous melting pot of culture! Until one of those minorities decides they need special treatment because they're unique and different from everyone else, then we are told to celibrate our wonderful diversity.

It's the same world wide.

Curmudgeon wrote: I think I've found the way around that: call everyone yes sir/ yes ma'am until I learn their names then use that as Mr/Ms ______________, in short same thing I do with people of every color. But when referring to groups I use white, black, Asian, Hispanic etc.

And I just heard on the radio of a lady who was fired for calling a female of color "Mam". She said it was offensive and the lady was being "uppity" so she sued and won.