Undertow
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,126
- Location
- Des Moines, IA, US
...You can call me anything but late for supper.
Call me a dummie, but I always laugh when people say this.
...You can call me anything but late for supper.
Have never heard of that...why Hoosiers?
Same here. My dad served in WWII and I remember when I was young he occasionally used the terms "limey", "frog", "kraut", etc. when referring to other nationalities. I assume other members of his generation used the same terms without meaning any offense - just part of their times and culture.
OT....I'll never forget when Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight chastised the Northwestern students for chanting Who's your daddy? at a IU/NU game. He thought it was a taunt directed at his black players, some of whom were raised without their fathers. When he was told later at the post game press conference that the term is an expression of domination (NU was winning the game) he just shrugged and left the room. Gotta' love the General.There are a handful of stories about the origin of "Hoosier."
Yank wouldn't bother me at all. Something like "four eyes" or some four lettered word followed by the word "head" might bother me a little. Even then, the intent and source would be more important than the words themselves.
Some people are overly sensitive. Bottom line: treat others the way you want to be treated!!
Some people don't get it.
A humorous aphorism attributed to E. B. White summarizes these distinctions:
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
I don't know what's wrong with eating pie for breakfast (so I guess I'm a yankee), but apparently it was quite a faux pas to Mr White.
Yep. I have an elderly aunt who still refers to the Japanese as "Japs". I'm sure she's never bothered to think about whether or not the term might be offensive in this day and age.
(to any of our Japanese members, tell me, does the term "Jap" offend you? I'm honestly curious.)
This is fascinating,I really joined the FL because I thought this is what was going on.I mean I love hats,I never leave the house without one on my head,and my hats are great,my vintage watches are something my 13 year old son just wishes I would die so he can inherit,My collection of leather isn't in the league of '58panhead',but it's respectable and whenever I googled areas of interest this site just kept coming up.I have found it really hard to get into a proper conversation,but I've got to say this is one,but REALLY,we don't have an alternative,american is a copout,it's supposed to be short and pithy.C'mon give us an alternative!But see....why does it necessarily have to be a nickname? American works just fine. As does any other actual nationality term.
And trust me, I have met enough Scots and Irish who would be quite offended at being called English, so its not about getting it -wrong-, its about always picking a slangy term laden with meaning beyond the obvious.
Just as easy to not do that.
Put it this way, those who are offended have probably never told folks so because they do understand the speaker just doesn't know any better. But that doesn't mean they are not still offended deep down, just like you would excuse someone who called you English. You might still not like it.
Why not learn and then not use something like that...rather then just telling others to get over what for them is an actual issue. Tolerance does not consist of saying 'get over yourselves'.....but instead helping that person along, in hopes he helps you along someday when its you who has the issue and he doesn't kick you when you are down.
This is fascinating,I really joined the FL because I thought this is what was going on.I mean I love hats,I never leave the house without one on my head,and my hats are great,my vintage watches are something my 13 year old son just wishes I would die so he can inherit,My collection of leather isn't in the league of '58panhead',but it's respectable and whenever I googled areas of interest this site just kept coming up.I have found it really hard to get into a proper conversation,but I've got to say this is one,but REALLY,we don't have an alternative,american is a copout,it's supposed to be short and pithy.C'mon give us an alternative!
While I myself rarely use salty language, I'm not offended by much in the way of "foul" language unless it's in ridiculous amounts [as in using them every other word]. Though, I don't particularly care for phrases like Gd. I REALLY don't find what everyone else seems to find offensive about the "other" word for having sex or "bug" off. [huh]
HoosierDaddy said:Although our nations are probably more alike than not...there are still cultural differences that can cause us to look at things differently. Some more dramatic that others. Some music..food...at times humor...and even slang. Havent you noticed?
A Canadian once told me that he thought it arrogant of US citizens to call themselves Americans as there are over a dozen countries in the Americas.To us living in America..we are 'Americans' living in the United states of America(all of us).