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"shucked & jived" offensive?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by nutgraph, May 15, 2007.

  1. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I think it does make them ignorant by the literal definition of the word ignorant. I was not born before the Civil War, and I knew what those terms mean. I do not think we need to lower our editing standards just because a lot of people have no freaking education about the history of this country, let alone the history of race relations.
     
  2. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    I agree with F_R. Those who react with hysterics to something like this should calm down. But there's no reason why a writer should feel put-upon by having to avoid a phrase that distracts from the point of the story...even if only a small sector of the public would find it distracting or offensive. If you're a good writer, you can find a way to make your point without using a problematic phrase...most of which are cliches and should be avoided anyway.
     
  3. pressboxer

    pressboxer Active Member

    So, if "shines" is offensive, does that mean we can protest the use of "One Shining Moment" at the end of every NCAA basketball tournament?
     
  4. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    When it comes to the debate over language in the public arena, I think that the left and the right are equally bitchy, equally stubborn and most annoying of all, equally prone to depicting themselves as the Ultimate Martyrs to (Insert Forces of Perfidy).

    I undertand that discussions about these issues are necessary, but they still grate on my nerves...and I think my response is widely shared.
     
  5. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    I've never heard the term "shuck and jive" outside of "The Dukes of Hazzard."

    People really go out of their way to be offended.

    And that honestly offends me.
     
  6. Gold

    Gold Active Member

    Frank: it was the dictionary I could find on the internet.

    I suppose anybody of any race, color or creed can do the cake walk (although I don't know if they call it that) at our PTA and get lucky to win a cake. I never win the thing.
     
  7. Now that's a skill I need to master.

    Maybe I'm beat down by perpetually seeing things you can't write or say, but I've found it best to err on the safe side and just plain avoid them. Pick your battles, I'd say.
     
  8. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    If I'm not mistaken, there's a oyster (I think?) bar in either B'ham or Montgomery called Sharkey's. It's motto was Sharkey's, Shuck and Jive. I thought it meant oysters and dancing.
     
  9. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    You can know the roots of a word and not be offended by its modern usage can't you? It is ridiculous that we bend over backwards to try and appease every one with a politically correct complaint.
     
  10. amraeder

    amraeder Well-Known Member

    I'm surprised no one mentioned shucking corn. Oysters but not corn? No Midwesterners?
    shuck (shŭk) pronunciation
    n.

    1.
    1. A husk, pod, or shell, as of a pea, hickory nut, or ear of corn.
    2. The shell of an oyster or clam.
    2. Informal. Something worthless. Often used in the plural: an issue that didn't amount to shucks.

    tr.v., shucked, shuck·ing, shucks.

    1. To remove the husk or shell from.
    2. Informal. To cast off: shucked their coats and cooled off; a city trying to shuck a sooty image.

    As far as the etiology of cakewalk I was trying to pin down how it came to mean "easy" (Which, happened to be the No. 1 definition in most of the dictionaries I checked.) I found this:
    "After Emancipation, the contest tradition continued in black communities; the Oxford English Dictionary dates the widespread adoption of "cakewalk" to the late 1870s. It was around this time that the cakewalk came to mean "easy"—not because the dance was particularly simple to do but rather because of its languid pace and association with weekend leisure." (Thanks to Slate.com)
    From the same Slate article:
    "Southern natives, especially those who grew up attending church socials and PTA fund-raisers, often have a very different notion of cakewalk's definition. To them, a cakewalk is a contest like musical chairs, in which participants walk around circle marked off with numbers. When the music stops, the contestants freeze and an emcee calls out a number; whoever's physically closest to that numbered slot on the loop wins a sugary treat."
     
  11. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Dozens has roots in slavery --perhaps we should never use the word as a replacement for the No. 12
     
  12. Piotr Rasputin

    Piotr Rasputin New Member

    By far my favorite post in this thread, in response to the question "What nationality is Gutierrez?"

    Wow, no shit, huh? With a name like Gutierrez? Thanks for narrowing that down.

    ;D :D ;D :D 8) :eek: :eek:

    Ahem.

    Are there really people here who haven't heard that "shuck and jive" is seen by some as offensive? I shoudn't be surprised; I remember when a contingent of people had no clue that the word "Oriental" is now seen as not being acceptable when describing a person's origins.

    Some places would knee-jerk fire or harshly discipline this writer, as well as the rimmers who let the phrase through. I would hope there's at least a speech or e-mail that reminds everyone to pay closer attention to what goes in the paper.

    Because regardless of whether anyone wants to wail about something being "PC!" the fact is that if a certain phrase will likely offend someone in a racial slur way, it's probably wise to find another way to say what you're trying to say.
     
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