4 ms·

I don't know what you meant by tarbaby but that's a pretty offensive term. HN is not the place for that kind of speech. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.h

I don't know what you meant by tarbaby but that's a pretty offensive term. HN is not the place for that kind of speech. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

orionvmjoseph 14y ago
I gather he meant the colloquial meaning in most places of the world which is something to the tune of "Something best avoided rather than confronted.". I believe it originates from a story or fable as such. However I assume you meant he was using it in the more offensive slang usage for african-american. Chances are he might not even know it has the connotation as it's pretty specific to America.
- waqf 14y ago
  Here is your story or fable as such: (2004 retelling) http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_meets_a_tar_baby.html http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_mee... (1886 version) http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus:_His_Songs_and_His_Sayings/The_Wonderful_Tar-Baby_Story http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus:_His_Songs_and_His...
- Resident_Geek 14y ago
  Nobody uses "tar baby" as a slur in America. It's like "niggardly" - ignorant people use an incorrect interpretation to try to shut down people they don't like.
  - jongraehl 14y ago
    That said, you'd have to be crazy to use "niggardly" now after the reaction it got whoever that was. If you use words that most of your audience doesn't know, what does it say about you? :)
- Calamitous 14y ago
  I'm an American who grew up in the deep South. I've been exposed to just about every racially derogatory term you can think of, in every direction, and I've never heard "tarbaby" used as anything but "a trap to avoid." I'm all for keeping the discourse civil, but the term was clearly used in a nonracial fashion. Please don't destroy perfectly useful words in an attempt to act offended on someone else's behalf.
beosrocks 14y ago
I don't know what you meant by tarbaby If you don't know what a word means, the first step is to check the dictionary! "tar baby: a difficult problem that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it".
- philsnow 14y ago
  Do not do an image search for "meconium". If you do, however, you might get new insight into the term "tar baby" and why it has that definition.
- peter_l_downs 14y ago
  I didn't know what varelse meant by tarbaby. Try googling "tarbaby team" and seeing what comes up. That being said, I'm clearly in the wrong, sorry for having been a dick. I know the phrase tarbaby, I'd just never heard of a "tarbaby team" before and was thrown off.

orionvmjoseph 14y ago

I gather he meant the colloquial meaning in most places of the world which is something to the tune of "Something best avoided rather than confronted.". I believe it originates from a story or fable as such. However I assume you meant he was using it in the more offensive slang usage for african-american. Chances are he might not even know it has the connotation as it's pretty specific to America.

waqf 14y ago
Here is your story or fable as such: (2004 retelling) http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_meets_a_tar_baby.html http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_mee... (1886 version) http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus:_His_Songs_and_His_Sayings/The_Wonderful_Tar-Baby_Story http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus:_His_Songs_and_His...
Resident_Geek 14y ago
Nobody uses "tar baby" as a slur in America. It's like "niggardly" - ignorant people use an incorrect interpretation to try to shut down people they don't like.
- jongraehl 14y ago
  That said, you'd have to be crazy to use "niggardly" now after the reaction it got whoever that was. If you use words that most of your audience doesn't know, what does it say about you? :)
Calamitous 14y ago
I'm an American who grew up in the deep South. I've been exposed to just about every racially derogatory term you can think of, in every direction, and I've never heard "tarbaby" used as anything but "a trap to avoid." I'm all for keeping the discourse civil, but the term was clearly used in a nonracial fashion. Please don't destroy perfectly useful words in an attempt to act offended on someone else's behalf.

beosrocks 14y ago

I don't know what you meant by tarbaby If you don't know what a word means, the first step is to check the dictionary! "tar baby: a difficult problem that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it".

philsnow 14y ago
Do not do an image search for "meconium". If you do, however, you might get new insight into the term "tar baby" and why it has that definition.
peter_l_downs 14y ago
I didn't know what varelse meant by tarbaby. Try googling "tarbaby team" and seeing what comes up. That being said, I'm clearly in the wrong, sorry for having been a dick. I know the phrase tarbaby, I'd just never heard of a "tarbaby team" before and was thrown off.