Miguel de Maria -> RE: Picardo - knuckle or 2nd joint? (Jul. 9 2004 18:09:54)
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I for one, have only knowingly met a gypsy once here in the States. I was at a 7-11 and there was this odd-looking group of people, one of them was a girl (pregnant), and they were speaking some strange langauge that sounded...well I don't know what it sounded like, maybe Eastern European something....slavic perhaps. I asked one of them what language they were speaking, and one of them looked at me hard and seemed to spit something rather harsh my way. But then one of them said they were Gypsies. I certainly had no idea there existed a foul word for them in the US. As for blacks, it's funny, I guess "African-American" is the "correct" term, but I refer to them as blacks, and they refer to themselves with that word as well as sometimes another word which I don't use... I have two fairly close black friends, so maybe that's why I feel comfortable. But if I can call a white person white, I would feel silly calling a black person black. Although you aren't supposed to call Asians yellow, or American Indians red. I guess you just have to be here to know what you're supposed to say! :) By the way, Andy, political correctness is obnoxious but in the end I think it is for the better. I don't like being called a chink or a jap... and you know you aren't supposed to say "oriental" anymore either. Just say Asian, I certainly feel more comfortable that way. What political correctness does is go overboard to protect the rights of those who have historically been put upon. We in the racial majority, who have no real understanding of what it is like to be a minority, should just put up with this minor inconvenience, taking it on faith that by doing so we are sparing other people some measure of pain. When people gripe too much about it (and I am not putting you in this category), it shows they are insensitive and ignorant of the condition of other people's lives.
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