ANSWERS: 40
  • They are most likely a selfish, mean, bigot conservative. Like the crazy homeless guy who used to wander around in my old neighborhood, for example.
  • my mom still uses the word "colored" http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/317973
  • I find using any slang name to call anyone by is wrong. I call a man a man and a woman a woman and shall remain colorblind when it comes to a skin tone.
  • Negro means black in Spanish and Portuguese, people who have these as a first language I can understand if they say it, not knowing that many find it offensive however, a born and bred american (maybe one who thinks these people have been marked for some reason??) has no good reason to use the term and should SERIOUSLY reconsider the values they hold and attempt to portray. That's my opinion.
  • I don't like that word but my friend whose black considers black to be an insult, she prefers African American. I get very confused about which word to use
  • I am not really offended by the word Negro, it seems like an older term, but that doesn't in and of itself make it bad. I would think the word Colored to be much more offensive than Negro. I think of the phrase - Negro spiritual - that has no derogatory meaning. Keeping up with what is socially acceptable can be daunting - Whose to say that your use of the word Blacks isn't offensive? It could be argued endlessly - but what really matters is intent - if the person saying the word uses it with no slander in mind than it is fine. Any word can be used as a slander - the intent, or context is the important part, Negro is just a word.
  • How about this: if you are born in America, YOU are an American, and forget, the African American, Mexican American,and all the politically correct BULL S__T out.
  • This is probably a generation thing. In the 1950-1960's, Negro was the most PC term to use. The racial classifications were something like Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid and, I think, Austroloid. I would never have been offended to be called what I was, which was Caucasoid. Negroid and Negro were not derogatory terms, and many people from that time period have no idea what the most recent PC term should be. To call a negro man "black" back then was an indication that he was less than human and didn't deserve a human classification. Personally, I see the fuss over the words and classifications as worrysome. If I were black I would be confused and angry since all words that indicate I have dark skin are considered offensive to society. What is this saying to a person who has dark skin?
  • I don't think it's offensive per se - its colloquial use is just old-fashioned by our standards, and curiously technical (I think of myself as white, not "Caucasian".) I don't know why anybody less than, I don't know, 60 or 70 years old would still use the word, but then again my mom used the word "colored" all her life, and might still, and I don't think she has a prejudiced bone in her body. The only possible negative connotation I can think of is that a person could theoretically think "I'm not gonna listen to what THEY want to be called, black or African-American or Person of Color, I'll call 'em Negroes, those darn Negroes aren't going to boss ME around", possibly with a childish dig at ticking them off because he doesn't like them... but that sounds like a stretch to me. I believe "Negro" was superceded by "black", a previously offensive term, in the early 60's, but now that term sounds jarring - like anybody with darker skin is starkly black, to be judged by the color of their skin. I think "colored" is out of favor because it's a holdover from the institutionalized racist era, but what about it is racist - why would I think that people hate me because of the color of my skin if they called me "whitened"? "People of color" sounds like PC gone wild - I have a color too, it's just vaguely orangey caucasoidish. Like someone said above, it's all in the motivation and intention, and if I say "black" a few years after the term "African-American" comes in, it doesn't make me a bad guy.
  • I'm going to use a quote from Star Trek, an episode ((The Savage Curtain)) in which the crew through some happenstance meet Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln: "What a charming Negress! Oh, forgive me, my dear. I know in my time some used that term as a description of property."* Uhura: "But why should I object to that term, sir? In our century, we've learned not to fear words."* *fixed.
  • I'm not offended when it comes from someone who's say, over 50 - they grew up in a time when that phrase was the "PC" thing to say. Colored doesn't bother me a whole lot from that age group either, actually. Both words are old fashioned and didn't automatically mean radcist. Nigger, however, did. People who use such terms and did not grow up in an era when it was common usage offend me. Someone my age who calls me colored or a negro will automatically come across as closed minded. Times and termonology have changed drastically in the past 50 years.
  • Probably someone who has not kept up with the changing times, not intending to offend anyone.
  • I think it is a word that goes with whatever generation the person is from. In previous times the word was considered acceptable, just like using "colored" was in the past. IF you are taught that it is an acceptable term, it isn't always easy to stay current as you get old. Look at how many of our "enlighened" youth now in the 21st century use the "N" word daily, probably more than slave owners did in the 1860's. SOmeone using negro, especially with no offense being attempted is not nearly as bad. There is way too much sensitivity today with everyone feeling like it is some kind of RIGHT not to be offended. We all are offended by some things, it is part of living in a society with varying views and ideas.
  • At least they didn't call them porch monkeys, boot lips, splibs, coons, jigaboos, blue gums, Buckwheat, or the ever-dreaded nigger. "Negro" is a technically correct, politically neutral term that is on a par with "Caucasian". Some people simply go out of their way to allow themselves to become offended, and they have to be either accommodated, if you choose and have the time, or ignored, if you can't be bothered. I typically ignore those who wish to extort me with fabricated offense so they can extract apologies and such. Their alternative is to not choose to be offended at such silliness. In the course of a normal workday, I will have five or six hours with very professional, well-educated, accomplishment-focused individuals of Negro extraction. Somehow or another, we manage to neither become offended nor direct offense in the course of business. It's not all that difficult.
  • It's NIGGA now not NEGRO.
  • I think it depends on the intent. If someone says something offensive, and uses the term "Negro" in a derogatory way, then yes, I find it offensive. If it's someone from the south who isn't using it in a derogatory way, but in the same way as saying "Caucasian" or "Hispanic", then I don't find it offensive. It's use is entirely regional and individual.
  • what it comes down to, I think, is less the specific terms that offend us, as it is the mentality and sentiments that feed them. Yes, language has a history (and a present) that gives a word or term it's power, but should that word be simply removed, the void it's no longer describing will adopt another face; another word to replace the term we've hated, and the battle begins again, while we continuously miss the point. We will reach a comfortable "PC" term when "comfortably PC" is possible in this society. when the racial prejudice and systematic oppression of (pick your term) people of color, THEN we can talk about what is not offensive.
  • The only time I have heard that term in many many years is from older people in the south. I never knew the term Negros to be offensive, now or in the past. It is the other "N" word that is the awful one, if you are white. If you black, it's ok because the meaning is very different.
  • I am not really offended by the word Negro. It was the common word for black race from the 1600's until the 1960's.
  • its their real name weather they like it or not i realy dont care.
  • I do not think it Derogatory
  • Some people consider "blacks" to be derogatory and use "African American" instead. I don't see what is offensive about "negroes"..perhaps an African American can better answer that question! Happy Friday AR! :) ((hugs))
  • i don't It's know worse than cracker
  • It really depends on when the person grew up. My mother still refers to them as colored people. She means no disrespect by it. I always ask, "what color"
  • A: the really offensive term is nigger B: negros is spelled negroes
  • 'Negro' simply means 'black,' from the Latin 'niger.' In the southern American states (and maybe wider), the term 'nigger' was deliberately used by slave-owners and others, with disparaging overtones. AFAIK, 'nigger' has never been acceptable in any context except in the pseudo-musical format called hip-hop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger As late as the 1950s, 'Negro' continued to be the 'correct' term if you did NOT want to appear offensive. . In the 1960s, black folks began calling themselves simply 'black,' just as whites usually call themselves 'white.' I don't know who invented the composite, 'African American,' but over the last four decades it seems to be the default 'proper' term. Some years ago, a young white girl from South Africa stated her race as 'African American' on a school form she submitted. This was accurate, obviously, but the school principal made her change it. I seem to recall that it caused a political ruckus but I don't remember how it turned out. If my recollection of the history is errant, I expect corrections.
  • I think they are from an older generation. As I have a very dear elderly family friend, who also happens to be what is now called "African-American" who still uses the word, I don't consider it offensive. After all, it was considered highly respectful until the 1960's when it fell out of favor and was replaced with the term "Black". It wasn't until the 1990s, that "Black" was replace by "African-American". The word "Negro" isn't derogatory, it's simply old-fashioned.
  • I only recently learned negro is considered offensive by some. It's the word Martin Luther King used, and I figure if it's good enough for MLK, it's good enough for the rest of us. Below you will find his "I have a Dream" speech, in front of the memorial to the Republican President who signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The speech took place approximately five years after the Democrats in Congress had blocked the Civil Rights Amendment of Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. If someone is offended by Dr. King's use of the word negro, then I think they are just wrong.
  • When that term was in common use, it was descriptive not offensive. It sounds like someone is behind the times, not particularly rude.
  • Portugese and spanish used to carry black slaves on trade ships and used term negro to address them. Around 1442, the Portuguese first arrived in sub-Saharan Africa while trying to find a sea route to India. The term negro, literally meaning "black", was used by the Spanish and Portuguese to refer to people. From the 18th century to the mid-20th century, "negro" (later capitalized) was considered the proper English term for all people of sub-Saharan African origin.
  • I would think that person is from the stone age.
  • My name is Dani Atkins and I am one of 4 surviving children of Ronald Edward Atkins and Clancyna Marie Atkins. On January 26, 2008 my father was killed in a tragic car accident that took place only 2 minutes away from my home. My parents had been married for 30 years at the time of the accident without separation. As I have been assisting my mother with putting together various lawsuits and claims against several different persons, insurance companies, and even the Los Angeles Police Department regarding several acts of negligence and dishonor surrounding my fathers death, I have come across a disturbing piece of information that I, being a 24 year old African American person am appauled. My father having been born on April 9, 1955, has a birth certificate that identifies his color and race as being "NEGRO." My grandmother, Eloise Marie Harrison having been born on April 4, 1933 has a birth certificate that identifies her color and race as being "NEGRO". My mother, who is still alive, Clancyna Marie Atkins born on September 4, 1956 has a birth certificate that identifies her color and race as being "NEGRO" as well. And I am quite sure there are thousands if not milliions of other African American people dead or alive who have been identified on paper at birth as being "NEGRO" I am absolutely disgusted that the United States of America even in 2009 have not made an attempt to make right this defamation of character in administering all new birth certificates to those who have died as well as those still living to identify these HUMAN PEOPLE with dignity and respect. I am passionately committed to make my fathers name wholly reflect the honorable father, husband, and man that he was and the fact that his life was not even given an opportunity to start before he was branded on United States of America paper as being a "NEGRO" is a disgrace and a shame on America. PLEASE SUPPORT THIS MESSAGE TO THE WHITE HOUSE BY SIGNING MY ONLINE PETITION at: http://www.gopetition.com/online/29117.html If you have any questions e- mail me at: kingdom.servant.dani@gmail.com Thank You, Dani
  • I was speaking with an elderly black women the other day and she exclaimed "some of these coloreds around here don't know how to act" I think she found their behaviour offensive.
  • Maybe he's European. In many languages, the word for black contains some root of the word negro. I bought candy in Serbia last month called "Negros". It's hard black candy with white filling, and on the package is a white guy dressed in a chimney sweep outfit. Speaking of offensive terms, what's the "C" stand for in NAACP? Has the United Negro College Fund changed their name to fit the times? These forms of cultural hyper-sensativity are silly, and are a way for disadvantaged groups to convince non-disadvantaged groups that they are always wrong.
  • Why is it offensive anyway? I thought Negroid was the race (as Causcasion is for white) - which is where Negro came from. Negro also means "Black".
  • "Negros" would be fine if he spoke spanish and it just means 'black'. "Negroes" is not really offensive, just outdated. I use Negro on a constant basis... and I'm a Negro. http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/7653056 I'm quite fond of it, actually and it pops up in a few academic circles more frequently than you might think. Similarly, plenty of people still use the term "Colored", including the NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Personally, though many people use it, I find "African American" to be offensive, so you can never please the whole crowd.
  • P.S. I apologize I meant this to be in the comments section for someone's post.
  • in the dictionary negro is the spanish word for black now how is that offensive.
  • I am so surprised that this question has not been rejected as offensive!!! I realise you have fully explained your terms, but when i did the ame using the term faggot (explained as a food item) the question was rejected!!!!
  • Those people know that it offends some people (including me) yet they choose it instead of a variety of other possible terms. Why?

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy