3 ms·

Off topic: why is "Black" capitalized but "gay" is not? What's the rule here? I'm not a native English speaker, sorry!

jerrycruncher 6y ago
It's a very recent development in the language; one of the ripples that radiated out from the George Floyd protests. The NY Times hosted a piece that explains the reasoning behind it: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black...
- gedy 6y ago
  > It's a very recent development in the language Minor quibble, but political opinion, not "language".
- eplanit 6y ago
  "development in language"? That's a very kind phrasing for a trend for activist-journalists to further proclaim their woke-ness in their writing.
- cmdshiftf4 6y ago
  >It's a very recent development in the language And we in the party all agree that it's very much doubleplusgood.
deleted 6y ago
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pseudalopex 6y ago
Cultural groups are capitalized most of the time. It's like Native American or Latino. White is an exception because most white people think of themselves as Norwegian or whatever. Gay isn't capitalized most of the time because most gay people don't think of themselves as Gay.
- layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
  Ah I get it now! So "Black" means "African American" basically, but "black" would be used for dark-skinned people worldwide. As a foreigner, I find it fascinating how nuanced the seemingly simple English language can be!
  - Dirlewanger 6y ago
    It's not really the English language per se, but over-corrected American political correctness. For example, "African-American" is often used to describe any black person in America. But what if you're a native Ugandian who lives here but not yet a citizen? That term is useless. Had a good friend from school who came over from Nigeria to study here, and he hated the term because he neither identified with Americans blacks, nor did he want to. The fact that we're now back at just Black is where we should have been all along.
  - dschuler 6y ago
    I wouldn't pay too much attention to this particular issue, whatever is politically correct today will keep changing over time.

It's a very recent development in the language; one of the ripples that radiated out from the George Floyd protests. The NY Times hosted a piece that explains the reasoning behind it: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black...

gedy 6y ago
> It's a very recent development in the language Minor quibble, but political opinion, not "language".
eplanit 6y ago
"development in language"? That's a very kind phrasing for a trend for activist-journalists to further proclaim their woke-ness in their writing.
cmdshiftf4 6y ago
>It's a very recent development in the language And we in the party all agree that it's very much doubleplusgood.

deleted 6y ago

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pseudalopex 6y ago

Cultural groups are capitalized most of the time. It's like Native American or Latino. White is an exception because most white people think of themselves as Norwegian or whatever. Gay isn't capitalized most of the time because most gay people don't think of themselves as Gay.

layoutIfNeeded 6y ago
Ah I get it now! So "Black" means "African American" basically, but "black" would be used for dark-skinned people worldwide. As a foreigner, I find it fascinating how nuanced the seemingly simple English language can be!
- Dirlewanger 6y ago
  It's not really the English language per se, but over-corrected American political correctness. For example, "African-American" is often used to describe any black person in America. But what if you're a native Ugandian who lives here but not yet a citizen? That term is useless. Had a good friend from school who came over from Nigeria to study here, and he hated the term because he neither identified with Americans blacks, nor did he want to. The fact that we're now back at just Black is where we should have been all along.
- dschuler 6y ago
  I wouldn't pay too much attention to this particular issue, whatever is politically correct today will keep changing over time.