Almost Niggardly
Via Brittney, comes MTA who tells us that the phrase That’s Mighty White of You is racist. Don’t know that I agree, really, as one of the definitions of white is Honourable; square-dealing – though it is possible that definition came about through racist intent, I suppose. So, no, I tend to not think such a phrase is inherently racist.
There are a few phrases that I hear quite often that are inarguably racist. I think these phrases are so ingrained in the local vernacular that people who use them do not really mean them in that racist way but they’ve just been used for so long that it’s acceptable. Heck, I’ve even heard my black friends (both of them) use them. One phrase is nigger-rigged (i.e., shoddy quality and thrown together haphazardly). And I hear it a lot.
But there is a bit of overeagerness in labeling things racist, which is what I think MTA has done here. For example, there was that time a public official was almost fired for using the word niggardly, which turned out to really be a sign that a lot of folks needed to buy a damn thesaurus. Then there was the time when a Tennessee school official used the phrase yard-apes, which I’ve always heard as being a derogatory term for children, not black folks. Some folks are just overly sensitive.
Where do we draw the line? Beats me. I hate racism and racist comments with one exception and it is: if it’s damn funny. Sure, some jokes are crude and offensive but if they’re funny, go for it. Hell, Carlos Mencia and Dave Chappelle made entire careers on that premise. And I think they’re hysterical. Feel free to make fun of Asians who can’t drive, black folks who can’t swim, Jews who complain a lot, or how white people can’t dance if it makes me laugh. But do it in a way that’s funny. If it’s just mean, I don’t want to hear it.
Also, I wonder what stereotypes there are about white folks that I don’t know about? I mean funny ones, not the ones about us being in league with Satan.
What’s white and 12 inches long?
Nothing.
May 31st, 2006 at 9:11 am
I’ve always taken the phrase “how white of you” as sarcastic, but implicitly racist if it were uttered sincerely, which it (almost?) never is.
May 31st, 2006 at 9:12 am
My size 15 foot, but only if you chop off a few toes.
May 31st, 2006 at 9:36 am
I always thought the SNL skit where Eddie Murphy put on white face and went about town for a day as a white guy was one of the funniest things that program ever did. Heck, the ONLY funny thing Whoopie Goldberg ever did was put a floor mop on top of her head and pretend she was a pretty dumb blonde haired white girl.
May 31st, 2006 at 9:36 am
I also recommend Martin Mull’s History of White People in America.
May 31st, 2006 at 9:46 am
The term “mighty white of you” was first used (as far as I know) by the Lone Ranger.
He said that to Tonto once, after Tonto did some good deed. I remember seeing it on TV.
Personally, I’ve always considered the phrase racist, but I’ve seen the sarcastic aspect of it too. Maybe it’s a context thing?
May 31st, 2006 at 9:50 am
On another Knoxville blog a writer for the NY Times writes that if you oppose gay marriage you are a BIGOT.
I did not know that.
Some quotes from said writer:
and yeah, dean’s stupid pandering is apparently the kind of thing the guy in that article was hoping to see from the dems. also, i’m sorry, but being against gay marriage is bigotry. it just is.
opposing gay marriage is bigotry. just like opposing interracial marriage is racism.
Is it bigoted or racist to say that some people are hippie dipsticks?
May 31st, 2006 at 10:38 am
Except there is an enormous functional distinction between gay and straight sex. IMO marriage is more spelling out the obligations for future parents than about some vague moral principle.
Then again, none of the old restrictions once found in marriage (like against divorce) still exist and we have made a such huge mess of straight marriage , that allowing gays equal footing would not really tarnish it much further.
May 31st, 2006 at 11:23 am
What’s white and 12 inches long?
Nothing.
Speak for yourself there, Chief 🙂
May 31st, 2006 at 12:24 pm
This is probably not common knowledge, but as for stereotypes of white people…
I had some black friends in high school explain to me that black people don’t smell like a wet dog when it rains like us white people do. I tried a couple of times to sniff some rained-on black people to test his claim, but it didn’t go over so well. No, not so well at all. It didn’t seem to matter if I was sniffing on a guy or a girl, either.
However, I know that we do smell funny when we get wet, so at least that part of it is correct. I can’t vouch for the rest.
May 31st, 2006 at 3:20 pm
Damned if I can find it now, but a couple of years ago I stumbled across a site that had detailed research on the origins of various phrases, expressions, and colloquialisms, and how they were often mistaken for being racist when in fact their origins were benign. In the case of “mighty white of you,” however, they concluded that unlike most such expressions they encountered, the origins and common usages were decidedly racist.
Wish I could find that site, it was a good one.
May 31st, 2006 at 3:23 pm
Tom, if you follow the yard ape link above, there is a link to that list. But, for time’s sake,
here you go.
May 31st, 2006 at 5:45 pm
countertop:
That’s one of my all time favorite SNL skits as well. Here’s the script:
http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84iwhitelikeeddie.phtml
May 31st, 2006 at 7:51 pm
The meanings of words change.
My family farmed on both sides of the Ohio River during the Civil War…some were for the North and some for the South. The northern branch of the family called the southern branch ‘crackers’, originating from the hard-tack that the confederate army used as a diet staple. The northern half were ‘blue bellies’.
I was informed recently by a black guy at work that the term was racist…he felt it referred to poor southern blacks.
I always thought it was my Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins. Live and learn….or not! Aunt Fern and Uncle Beau will always be crackers to me.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:14 pm
what were harold ford jr and michael jordan’s nicknames in high school?
May 31st, 2006 at 11:37 pm
Uncle:
No, that’s not the site I was thinking of. This site was run by linguistics experts and was very detailed. Not just a short blurb about each expression, but often a full page of history, references, etc. That’s why I wish I could remember where I found it.
trainer:
I’ve always understood “cracker” to be a racist term used primarily by blacks about whites. Hence Chappelle: “We traveled all the way back in time to call you a cracker!”
August 15th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
[…] In the beginning, some DC politico got into trouble for using the word niggardly. Turns out, some ignorant twits just needed to buy a damn dictionary as it’s merely a synonym for stingy. Then, there was the time where some school official used the term yard-apes, and everyone called her a racist. Yard-ape, they said, was a derogatory term for black people. Well, it’s also a derogatory term used for children. Then I recall the time when someone asked if the phrase That’s Mighty White of You is racist. turns out, one definition of white is Honourable; square-dealing. […]