• Today@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    My family is pretty liberal. Despite that i had a couple of words that i grew up hearing and didn’t realize that they meant until i was an adult. When you know better you do better.

    To jew someone down when negotiating a price was one. It was just a word and i didn’t understand it until i thought about spelling it and realized. Yes, I’m dumb.

    I work with kids and i often call them squirrels, monkeys, octopus, big dog, etc. i mean it as endearing and didn’t realize that it could be offensive, especially monkey racially.

    My grandma worked at a convenience store in very racially mixed, very low income area. She referred to all of the kids as porch monkeys. I thought nothing of it but now realize it can be racially offensive. In her defense, it was a time when kids were sent outside morning to evening and often gathered on the porches of a free homes.

    • glimse@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      I didn’t realize nigrig was (really fuckin obviously) racist until way late in life because the people I heard use it weren’t outwardly racist and pronounced it like “ne-grigged”

      • Today@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Somewhere along the way that became southern engineering. My mom lived in Florida for awhile so it was a good dig at both the locals and the duct tape crowd -though i grew up repairing everything with duct tape and bailing wire. My husband is an engineer - right tool for the job guy. I’m like, "pass me that mallet and a wire hanger.)