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If one more white person says URBAN instead of BLACK.....

edulusedulus 421 Posts
edited October 2012 in Strut Central
I'm a gonna do nothing, but SERIOUSLY? Stop trying to hide behind your linguistical shield. Say what you mean. Because this is what URBAN looks like now:


/Pet Peeves
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  Comments

  • DanteDante 371 Posts
    hahaha. it's not exactly a pet peeve of mine. i just find that particular euphemism kind of funny. i was thinking about it the other day when i saw this:

  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Something I wrote about this issue. There's actually a deep agenda behind the usage of certain words like this:

    http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2012/06/saturday-edition-keeping-up-appearances.html
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    I'm also wondering how this links to the use of "urban contemporary" as a Billboard category? Clearly, it was a way to say "Black music" without having to explicitly write race into the genre...and I suppose, it's an improvement(?) over the days when the charts categorized this stuff as "race records".
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts

    "Blackamerican"
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    The_Non said:
    There's actually a deep agenda behind the usage of certain words like this
    Well, yeah.

    Several years ago, I saw a book that was a thesaurus aimed at lawyers/advocates, and the whole thing was just a hundred pages of two columns: Words to Use If You Want To Make It Sound Good, and Words To Use If You Want To Make It Sound Bad. Want to make a wild neighborhood sound bad? "Crime-ridden." Want to make a wild neighborhood sound good? "Vibrant."

    It was both tragicomic and edutaining.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Gentrified to the outskirts of town-hop.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    james said:
    The_Non said:
    There's actually a deep agenda behind the usage of certain words like this
    Well, yeah.

    Several years ago, I saw a book that was a thesaurus aimed at lawyers/advocates, and the whole thing was just a hundred pages of two columns: Words to Use If You Want To Make It Sound Good, and Words To Use If You Want To Make It Sound Bad. Want to make a wild neighborhood sound bad? "Crime-ridden." Want to make a wild neighborhood sound good? "Vibrant."

    It was both tragicomic and edutaining.

    Title please.
  • dj_cityboydj_cityboy 1,484 Posts
    folks around here sure love that "urban art" talk, they get scared as shit if you talk graffiti though...
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    james said:
    The_Non said:
    There's actually a deep agenda behind the usage of certain words like this
    Well, yeah.

    Several years ago, I saw a book that was a thesaurus aimed at lawyers/advocates, and the whole thing was just a hundred pages of two columns: Words to Use If You Want To Make It Sound Good, and Words To Use If You Want To Make It Sound Bad. Want to make a wild neighborhood sound bad? "Crime-ridden." Want to make a wild neighborhood sound good? "Vibrant."

    It was both tragicomic and edutaining.

    Title please.

    Advocacy Words: A Thesaurus.The same dude has a book called Lay Words For Lawyers that is horse-smackingly ill-conceived and more than a little racist (it is also notable--well "notable"--for referencing Ross Hogg mixtape favorite Roxette).
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    mannybolone said:
    I'm also wondering how this links to the use of "urban contemporary" as a Billboard category? Clearly, it was a way to say "Black music" without having to explicitly write race into the genre...and I suppose, it's an improvement(?) over the days when the charts categorized this stuff as "race records".

    I didn't know that Urban was used other than in Billboard and music industry insiders to mean Black. There is a lot I don't know.

    Billboard has a long history of struggling with this.
    It was considered a big win against racism when Race was replaced with R&B in the Billboard Charts.
    Then came Soul, then Urban.

    There was also a brief period of time in the early 60s when there was no R&B charts, just the pop chart.
    This was good for big stars like Ray Charles, but hurt stars with less crossover.

    I think, at the time, the goal with Urban was to say, this is not Black music, it is music that urban people like, as opposed to Country which country people like.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    dump - fixer-upper
    tiny - cozy
    dirt pile in the basement - rustic
    raccoons living in the roof - countryside setting
  • tabiratabira 856 Posts
    bassie said:
    dump - fixer-upper
    tiny - cozy
    dirt pile in the basement - rustic
    raccoons living in the roof - countryside setting

    Has charatcer - dilapidated
  • jamesjames chicago 1,863 Posts
    You'll like this, bassie:

    A few years back I was watching a Jurassic 5 performance (don't judge) on whatever BET's prime-time show was at the time, and in the little interview afterwards, the host just straight up asked, "So--what are you guys' racial backgrounds?" and went down the line, to the mortification of the group and viewers alike. The DJs were, of course, last, and there was palpable discomfort as neither dude seemed to relish the prospect of using the title by which his particular demographic is most widely known: "I'm, uh, Scots-Irish" and "I'm, uh, Persian." There was a horrible half-second flicker of a confused look where it looked like the obtuse-as-fuck host was gonna go in on some "Hmm, okay...now where is that, exactly?" but to the relief of all, dude just moved on.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    I also move that we replace "urbane" with "blacke".
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    Trailer Park ??? Mobile Home Community
    Boondocks ??? Green Belt
    Suburbs ??? Bedroom Community
    White Trash ??? Country Folk
    Redneck ??? Southerner
  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts
    tabira said:
    bassie said:
    dump - fixer-upper
    tiny - cozy
    dirt pile in the basement - rustic
    raccoons living in the roof - countryside setting

    Has charatcer - dilapidated

    when i was buying a house i actually dropped the first realtor i was using, an "acquanitance" of mine, because he used the term "urban pioneer" when i told him the neighborhood i wanted to look in.

    Racist-realtor-redlining-bullshit related.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    james said:
    You'll like this, bassie:

    A few years back I was watching a Jurassic 5 performance (don't judge) on whatever BET's prime-time show was at the time, and in the little interview afterwards, the host just straight up asked, "So--what are you guys' racial backgrounds?" and went down the line, to the mortification of the group and viewers alike. The DJs were, of course, last, and there was palpable discomfort as neither dude seemed to relish the prospect of using the title by which his particular demographic is most widely known: "I'm, uh, Scots-Irish" and "I'm, uh, Persian." There was a horrible half-second flicker of a confused look where it looked like the obtuse-as-fuck host was gonna go in on some "Hmm, okay...now where is that, exactly?" but to the relief of all, dude just moved on.



    They should have all made up fake ethnicities. I guess back then, Persian was about as much anyway lol
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts
    Rockadelic said:
    Trailer Park ??? Mobile Home Community
    Boondocks ??? Green Belt
    Suburbs ??? Bedroom Community
    White Trash ??? Country Folk
    Redneck ??? Southerner

    Hillbilly - Son of the Soil, Hillwilliam
  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,135 Posts
    I thought about this when I was organizing my DVDs and tapes this weekend....



    haha
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts
    Didn't anyone get the memo? Urban died in 2006.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Urban_Music
  • herbacios tweedherbacios tweed 445 Posts
    I dont mean to derail but I cant remember any prior president being casually referred to as po-tus by subsets of the media. First noticed it in frequent usage when BP was cleaning up the Gulf, I suppose a multinational has to differentiate between different presidents or heads of state, but if you're going to slight him, why not plain Obama instead of pronouncing POTUS? After BP a few right wing talk radio and bloggers picked it up, as if using an acronym made him less of a chief executive.
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    herbacios tweed said:
    I dont mean to derail but I cant remember any prior president being casually referred to as po-tus by subsets of the media. First noticed it in frequent usage when BP was cleaning up the Gulf, I suppose a multinational has to differentiate between different presidents or heads of state, but if you're going to slight him, why not plain Obama instead of pronouncing POTUS? After BP a few right wing talk radio and bloggers picked it up, as if using an acronym made him less of a chief executive.

    Bush was referred to this way all the time, not sure why you think it's anything new.
  • vintageinfantsvintageinfants 4,538 Posts
    im glad we're in good company here, because this thread is teetering on the brink of 'ethnic slur glossary'.

    add to the lexicon the ever-changing termS used for aboriginal people and 'new members' of western society. ive had people admit to me that they avoid talking to ENTIRE groups of people NOT because of hate, but out of fear of what to adress them as without offense.
  • Fred_GarvinFred_Garvin The land of wind and ghosts 337 Posts
    herbacios tweed said:
    I dont mean to derail but I cant remember any prior president being casually referred to as po-tus by subsets of the media. First noticed it in frequent usage when BP was cleaning up the Gulf, I suppose a multinational has to differentiate between different presidents or heads of state, but if you're going to slight him, why not plain Obama instead of pronouncing POTUS? After BP a few right wing talk radio and bloggers picked it up, as if using an acronym made him less of a chief executive.

    Use of the term 'POTUS' goes back at least to FDR, if not further. It crept into the public vernacular during the Clinton years, though I don't remember hearing it used widely until GWB.
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    DB_Cooper said:
    I also move that we replace "urbane" with "blacke".

    Urbane + black= blaque?
  • Fred_GarvinFred_Garvin The land of wind and ghosts 337 Posts
    skel said:
    DB_Cooper said:
    I also move that we replace "urbane" with "blacke".

    Urbane + black= blaque?

    Nice. But then there's this:
    Blaque
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    Damn they cute.

    I was thinking more of Taurean Blaque from Hill Street Blues.
    Played 'Washington' iirc.
    Or was Washington the black dude in Kotter?
    Maybe both.
    And then there's Denzel Washington.

    Stereotypical tv n film black dude naming convention REVEALED
  • amphibiousamphibious 147 Posts
    DJ_Enki said:
    Hillwilliam

    Amazing
  • herbacios tweedherbacios tweed 445 Posts
    Fred_Garvin said:
    Use of the term 'POTUS' goes back at least to FDR, if not further. It crept into the public vernacular during the Clinton years, though I don't remember hearing it used widely until GWB.

    I don't doubt you, I've certainly seen it in print for quite a while, but never heard it pronounced w/r/t Clinton or Bush, and then heard it all the time with Obama. Probably just a Baader-Meinhof phenomenon on my end.
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