Ariz. to still allow racist images on trucks

MSNBC ^ | 02/15/2007

[ExpatGator]

"I think the term broadened out and evolved" as many terms do with the passage of time.

We have an ever-changing language.

[discostu]

Some of them have remained in use, but the power they're carrying now is the power that came from the book, they didn't give power to the book. But pickaninny is not on that list, the word has basically gone away, like ugly fashions it crops up again every 20 years or so but for the most part it's on the ash-heap of history like most of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs .

[paulat]

Interesting list...but only a few terms have "expiration dates."

Most are still functioning in society.

[discostu]

No most of them are toast. Because most racial slurs are basically slang and slang by its very nature is a temporary add-on to the language. Some slang, and some slurs, lives on for many years, but most shows up for a couple of decades and then goes away.

[Eagle Eye]

but not all women are 36Ds

At least not many liberal women.

[paulat]

Some slang, and some slurs, lives on for many years, but most shows up for a couple of decades and then goes away.

Not true at all...the "n"-word has lived on for centuries...I know for a fact that "Polack" has (even though Wiki doesn't include the spelling, "Pollack.")

The ethnic slurs between France and Great Britain are legendary for going on for centuries. See Wm. Shakespeare.

I could go on and on down that list.

[BlessedBeGod]

"I personally am tired of explaining to my 11-year-old son why they (women) are depicted on mud flaps, but not all women are 36Ds. He's very confused by that," Ulmer said.

ROFLMHO!!!

[Nam Vet]

Nam Vet

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***"He's very confused by that," ***

Don't worry. When he is grown he will have a "gay" old time.

[okie01]

In my 67 years and something over a million miles, I don't recall ever seeing a mudflap with "Pickaninny" on it. A lot of edgy, semi-lewd stuff, but never anything "racist" (the rebel flag is not racist).

Methinks Rep. Ed Ableser of Tempe is full of crap.

[discostu]

I aknowledged that some slang and slurs live on for a long time. But most don't. Most only last a couple of year, some make it a couple decades. It's the rare few that manage to permanently implant themselves in the language.

[ltc8k6]

No, I meant Picatinny.

A fairly famous place in New Jersey. :-)

[Publius6961]

The amendment's sponsor, Rep. Ed Ableser of Tempe, said he'd seen a splash guard that used the word "pickaninny"

Someone needs to get a life.

I just had to revisit this thread today due to something I ran across on the way to do something else...

I was discussing Scott Joplin with a friend, and needed to revisit his works, since the first 5 years of my daughter's lifetime piano experience were almost exclusively rag...

Here among his dozens of works, Scott Joplin had this one...

"I Am Thinking of My Pickanniny Days" (1902); lyrics by Henry Jackson

When I saw that, I just couldn't stop laughing.
Words...
They are simply words.