10 ms·
bigot (noun) : a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with
by fsckboy 3y ago
bigot (noun) : a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices
The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with "racist" is a modern change; traditionally it was just concerned with intolerance of conflicting ideas. I think it was over the political debate about segregation that the idea bigotry transferred to racial attitudes.
(obsolete) One who is overly pious in matters of religion, often hypocritically or else superstitiously so.
the eighteenth century probably dates back to the more obsolete sense of the word
1820 Charles Robert Maturin "Donna Clara was a woman of a cold and grave temper, with all the solemnity of a Spaniard, and all the austerity of a bigot."
- Etheryte 3y agoFrame challenge, I wouldn't say it's common to consider bigot synonymous or nearly synonymous with racist, or at least that has never been my experience. What makes you feel like this is the case?
- dmurray 3y agoRacist might be wrong but it's definitely now used for people who are intolerant of other people, usually for identity-politics reasons. These days you can be bigoted against black or Muslim or gay or transgender people, but not really about Greek statuary or rap music or electric cars or PHP, no matter how strong your opinions on those.
- pluijzer 3y agoAre your sure this is the case? I see the word used in the original meaning all the time.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- harpooniker 3y agoRacist is used to describe someone who is intolerant of people based on their ethnicity ,skin color, national origin, and the like.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- leidenfrost 3y agoI only see it used that way in the US, where everyone is obsessed with race Elsewhere, it's just used in its original meaning
- rsynnott 3y agoHrm, in which country? I'm Irish; in modern writing in Ireland and the UK, certainly anything from the last 50 years, it's generally used to mean racists, sexists et al. Wasn't aware there was any English-speaking country which had held onto the archaic meaning, at least as a primary meaning. (India? Indian English has a few things still in common use which are obsolete in UK English). Example UK usage from 50 years ago: the "Barry bigot" doll in S3E5 of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1972; it's a wind-up racist doll).
- Waterluvian 3y agoFrom my context: I’ve often heard it used to mean things other than racist, but it always carries a very strong, intentionally hurtful connotation.
- badcppdev 3y agoAn "intentionally hurtful connotation" or an intentional condemnation. The difference from my point of view is that the intent of using the word bigot is not to hurt but instead to judge and condemn.
- Waterluvian 3y agoYeah I hear you. Condemnation is so often realized by being hurtful, so I think in my context it’s usually both.
- rsynnott 3y agoIt's a difference of intent. Quite frankly, when I refer to someone as a bigot, I couldn't care less whether they find it hurtful or not; I do absolutely intend to condemn them, though.
- AnimalMuppet 3y agoHmm. I have several times described myself as a "keyboard bigot". That is, I have very strong opinions about what is and is not a good keyboard, and a very strong dislike of bad ones. I'm questioning whether I should say that now, based on your comment. Could you explain a bit more about what you mean by "intentionally hurtful"? Specifically, intentionally hurtful of whom?
- Waterluvian 3y agoI’m afraid to because I mean specifically in my context and I don’t want to inadvertently police how you communicate. You may not live where I do and the word can hold a different connotation as demonstrated by the original commenter pointing out that bigot was not originally about racism.
- OJFord 3y agoI agree: 'racist bigot', 'racial bigotry' might be common uses, but also clearly show it's not specifically about racism on its own. I couldn't have managed a definition, but on its own I'd take it to mean something like the supposedly 'obsolete' meaning above.
- infecto 3y agoWeird takes down this thread. Personally I have never heard/seen bigot being used to describe as defined here. I have always heard it used in the context of intolerance to some group of people. Would never have guessed it’s history.
- thr_math 3y ago[flagged]
- mtinkerhess 3y agoOr, you know, language shifts over time
- _a_a_a_ 3y ago> The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with "racist" is a modern change Not to me. Bigot is a wider term that encompasses racism, but isn't just about it.
- layer8 3y ago> The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with "racist" is a modern change; And primarily a US-American one, it seems to me. I wasn’t aware of his change, and the definition marked as “obsolete” above is actually what I think of as the word’s literal, non-metaphorical meaning.