5 ms·

I heard a podcast about this and the singer of the Slants said by naming the band that, they were "reclaiming" the disparaging word.

jonlucc 9y ago
If it was the Planet Money episode [1] I also heard, I thought it was interesting how uncomfortable I was when the reporter was asking the lawyer what words should be off limits, and he was fine with every one of them being trademarked. [1] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episode-774-unspeakable-trademark http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episo...
- BossHogg 9y ago
  I just listened to that this weekend. I noticed in the list of sample slurs they discussed they avoided "nigger" and variants but that is exactly what white people will now rush to.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    White people could already use "nigger" in the names of their bands. Why would they now "rush to" use it just because it can be trademarked?
    - sowbug 9y ago
      Right. In the earlier NPR episode, it was clear that they'd been using the name for a while, and it was only when they started conflicting with _other_ bands of the same name that they sought the exclusionary power of trademark.
  - jonlucc 9y ago
    Yes; I think they were intentionally using slurs that would apply to the lawyer. The problem with that, is that you're relying heavily on how offended a single person is as an indicator of how offensive a word is, but the point was made anyway.
joekrill 9y ago
I'm guessing it was the Planet Money episode they did last month? Great episode: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episode-774-unspeakable-trademark http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episo...
tyrust 9y ago
This was pointed out in the article: >The band has said it wanted to reclaim what is often seen as a slur. >"We grew up and the notion of having slanted eyes was always considered a negative thing," Tam said in January. "Kids would pull their eyes back in a slant-eyed gesture to make fun of us. ... I wanted to change it to something that was powerful, something that was considered beautiful or a point of pride instead."
slantyyz 9y ago
It begs to ask the question "who is the word really disparaging to"? I grew up in Canada in the 70s, and was called all sorts of epithets, and "slant" isn't even remotely the most disparaging of the things I've been called. Note my handle as well -- I've been using a variant of it for 30+ years. A white guy gave me the handle "slant" in the mid 80s during the BBS days... and yes, it had something to do with my ethnicity. But I wasn't offended, and decided to own it. Fast forward to the 90s, and the word "slant" was too common to be able take as an alias anywhere on the Internet, so I innocently added the suffix "YYZ" (the three letter code for Toronto's Pearson International Airport). I didn't even realize for a few years that it phonetically sounded like "Slanty Eyes" until a friend pointed it out. I've been lucky to not get any flack for my handle in most places, with the exception of one instance. Some of a white friend's twitter friends (also white) saw a twitter conversation I had with him and told him to tell me they found my name offensive. Which I found to be incredibly bizarre. -- edited fixed grammar issue
- Sohcahtoa82 9y ago
  > Some of a white friend's twitter friends (also white) saw a twitter conversation I had with him and told him to tell me they found my name offensive. Which I found to be incredibly bizarre. It's another form of this: http://imgur.com/aqnfsVa http://imgur.com/aqnfsVa I have a white friend who is extremely sensitive about the word "nigger". So much that he wouldn't join a black person's Discord server named "The Real Niggaz" and got upset that someone in a game had the name "TheNiddaSteve". That's not a typo. Nidda. He was upset about "Nidda" because he believed they really meant "nigga".
  - Retra 9y ago
    Turns out that that the human brain doesn't seem to make a strong distinction between the meanings of words and the determination of the appropriateness of words used in context (i.e., their moral value.) Understanding this has taught me a lot about human behavior. Or maybe it's just primed me to expect certain kinds of misunderstandings.

jonlucc 9y ago

If it was the Planet Money episode [1] I also heard, I thought it was interesting how uncomfortable I was when the reporter was asking the lawyer what words should be off limits, and he was fine with every one of them being trademarked. [1] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episode-774-unspeakable-trademark http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episo...

BossHogg 9y ago
I just listened to that this weekend. I noticed in the list of sample slurs they discussed they avoided "nigger" and variants but that is exactly what white people will now rush to.
- icebraining 9y ago
  White people could already use "nigger" in the names of their bands. Why would they now "rush to" use it just because it can be trademarked?
  - sowbug 9y ago
    Right. In the earlier NPR episode, it was clear that they'd been using the name for a while, and it was only when they started conflicting with _other_ bands of the same name that they sought the exclusionary power of trademark.
- jonlucc 9y ago
  Yes; I think they were intentionally using slurs that would apply to the lawyer. The problem with that, is that you're relying heavily on how offended a single person is as an indicator of how offensive a word is, but the point was made anyway.

joekrill 9y ago

I'm guessing it was the Planet Money episode they did last month? Great episode: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episode-774-unspeakable-trademark http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/05/26/530252213/episo...

tyrust 9y ago

This was pointed out in the article: >The band has said it wanted to reclaim what is often seen as a slur. >"We grew up and the notion of having slanted eyes was always considered a negative thing," Tam said in January. "Kids would pull their eyes back in a slant-eyed gesture to make fun of us. ... I wanted to change it to something that was powerful, something that was considered beautiful or a point of pride instead."

slantyyz 9y ago

It begs to ask the question "who is the word really disparaging to"? I grew up in Canada in the 70s, and was called all sorts of epithets, and "slant" isn't even remotely the most disparaging of the things I've been called. Note my handle as well -- I've been using a variant of it for 30+ years. A white guy gave me the handle "slant" in the mid 80s during the BBS days... and yes, it had something to do with my ethnicity. But I wasn't offended, and decided to own it. Fast forward to the 90s, and the word "slant" was too common to be able take as an alias anywhere on the Internet, so I innocently added the suffix "YYZ" (the three letter code for Toronto's Pearson International Airport). I didn't even realize for a few years that it phonetically sounded like "Slanty Eyes" until a friend pointed it out. I've been lucky to not get any flack for my handle in most places, with the exception of one instance. Some of a white friend's twitter friends (also white) saw a twitter conversation I had with him and told him to tell me they found my name offensive. Which I found to be incredibly bizarre. -- edited fixed grammar issue

Sohcahtoa82 9y ago
> Some of a white friend's twitter friends (also white) saw a twitter conversation I had with him and told him to tell me they found my name offensive. Which I found to be incredibly bizarre. It's another form of this: http://imgur.com/aqnfsVa http://imgur.com/aqnfsVa I have a white friend who is extremely sensitive about the word "nigger". So much that he wouldn't join a black person's Discord server named "The Real Niggaz" and got upset that someone in a game had the name "TheNiddaSteve". That's not a typo. Nidda. He was upset about "Nidda" because he believed they really meant "nigga".
- Retra 9y ago
  Turns out that that the human brain doesn't seem to make a strong distinction between the meanings of words and the determination of the appropriateness of words used in context (i.e., their moral value.) Understanding this has taught me a lot about human behavior. Or maybe it's just primed me to expect certain kinds of misunderstandings.