Wednesday, January 30, 2008

another bad languistic trend in our dear nation(UGH!)

One of my favorite websites http://www.tolerance.org/ is listed on the right on my blog as one my favorite website. If you read this sad, unfortunate excerpt of something going on in the Redneck area of the South, then you should pay a visit to Southern Poverty Law Center a/k/a http://www.tolerance.org/ as well.

Southern racists adopt "Canadian" as a euphemism for "black"
Posted by Cory Doctorow, January 27, 2008 12:10 AM


The Canadian National Post looks on with mild horror as American linguists report on the growing trend in the American south to use "Canadian" as a masking euphemism for black people, so that white racists can say socially inappropriate things without tipping listeners off about the cancer in their souls.
Last August, a blogger in Cincinnati going by the name CincyBlurg reported that a black friend from the southeastern U.S. had recently discovered that she was being called a Canadian. "She told me a story of when she was working in a shop in the South and she overheard some of her customers complaining that they were always waited on by a Canadian at that place. She didn't understand what they were talking about and assumed they must be talking about someone else," the blogger wrote.

"After this happened several times with different patrons, she mentioned it to one of her co-workers. He told her that ‘Canadian' was the new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using to describe persons they would have previously referred to [with the N-word.]"
A similar case in Kansas City was reported last year on a Listserv, or electronic mailing list, used by linguistics experts. A University of Kansas linguist said that a waitress friend reported that "fellow workers used to use a name for inner-city families that were known to not leave a tip: Canadians. ‘Hey, we have a table of Canadians.... They're all yours.' "
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emphasis added by VPJS
sad, sad, sad..............................

5 comments:

Michelle said...

oh wow... sad and pathetic.

Humans never cease to amaze me!

Qualityservice44 said...

You are right about that, Michelle. Sometimes in their greatness they can inspire, but unfortunately, to the level they stop that confounds and saddens me.

Amel said...

Oh my GOODNESS!!! That's CRAZY!!! *big sigh*

Michelle said...

PS... I've added your blog link to my "regular reads"

I'll be back to read when I can, and (late, but since we just "met" okay) HAPPY NEW YEAR. :-)

Qualityservice44 said...

is it good to be a trusting soul?
(referring to last comment)
Thanks for visiting my blog
barb michelen