Should Racial slurs be eliminated from the English language?

Samoht   Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:28 am GMT
Should Racial slurs be eliminated from the English Language sue to their harsh nature?
Dave   Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:36 am GMT
yes, because they are offensive and few use them anyway.
Schoon   Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:38 am GMT
Although they are offensive it is part of the English language and should be kept.
Cum   Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:43 am GMT
"yes, because they are offensive and few use them anyway."

sort of Dave, they are not really used anymore and we havent kept words such as "shalt" and "laddy" and due to their harsh nature it should be even more important to at least try to eliminate them.
Slobodan Milosevic   Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:54 am GMT
How do you propose to eliminate them? How will you enforce the ban?
Achab   Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:11 am GMT
What do you mean by "eliminated"? If you mean "outlawed", well, I don't think I can say to be with you.

It should be up to individuals to weed out from their talk the words that they don't like.

I don't find it a good idea to be niggardly with personal freedom in cases like this.

With all good wishes,

Achab
strict constructionist   Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:20 am GMT
<<How do you propose to eliminate them? How will you enforce the ban? >>

Easy:

1) modify the First Amendment
2) Pass laws outlawing "hate speech", etc. (this would include anything offensive to anyone, and also disagreement with the political party currently in power, for good measure).
3) Install microphones everywhere, including in each room of everyone's house.
4) Hire a huge army of "hate speech monitors". (This might help us out of our upcoming Great Depression II). Perhaps computerized void recognition technology could help here.
5) Imprison/execute anyone who utters anything offensive, unpleasant, politically incorrect, etc. To expedite things, suspend due process for all hate speach violations.
Guest   Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:50 pm GMT
No because they are part of the English language .
Lazar   Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:32 am GMT
There's no way to eliminate words from a language - it's like trying to unring a bell. In the case of racial slurs, just don't use them, and try to persuade others not to use them.
choose   Wed Dec 03, 2008 9:17 am GMT
Hell no
Guest   Wed Dec 03, 2008 10:51 am GMT
I can understand when african-americans use the n-word as a term of endearment for each other, because it de-powers that racial slur.
Johnny   Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:01 pm GMT
<<Should Racial slurs be eliminated from the English Language>>

Yes, along with other offensive words like "dog", for example. Yes, that's actually offensive, if you think of the idiom "son of a female dog". But I'm afraid "female" should be banned too, since it appears in the insult.

Seriously, are you going to ban the word "frog" too? Then what are we going to call those green animals?

Conclusions: ban a word, and someone will come up with a better one. Hypothetical replacements for the word "frog": baguette-faced, eiffel-up-there, zidane-headed, blanc-backgrounded, etc.
There's no limit to insults.
Walter   Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:41 am GMT
Most definately.
chin   Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:52 pm GMT
no
Deanna   Tue Dec 09, 2008 3:40 pm GMT
Okay... I get that racial slurs can be offensive. But don't you all think that we are being limited by the government enough already? What is going to be next? Banning certain types of music, websites, advertisements? I mean COME ONNNN. Just because someone says something offensive to you does not give you the right to say "that offends me we need to ban it!" Find something better to do... How about IGNORE IT? If someone were to call me a wop, dago, cracker, honkey... Whatever. I really do not care. I have better things to worry about than being called a name.

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me ....

Remember that saying? Yeah... Didn't think you would.