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Trucktober and Frappuccino aren't "real words" but most Americans know what they mean. The unfamiliarity with Juneteenth is not due to the unrealness of the wor
by pvg 1y ago
Trucktober and Frappuccino aren't "real words" but most Americans know what they mean. The unfamiliarity with Juneteenth is not due to the unrealness of the word.
- loughnane 1y agoBoth of those are portmanteau's, giving hints as to their meaning. No such thing with Juneteenth. I agree lack of familiarity isn't because it's "unreal"---we invent words all the time, but I agree with OP that we could have come up with a better name. I bet if you I were to walk down the street here and ask 10 people what Juneteenth is only 1 would be able to do better than: "something to do with freeing the slaves".
- pvg 1y agoJuneteenth is the same sort of portmanteau as Trucktober. Plus holidays have weird names. What's a Christmas, a Mardi Gras, a Festivus? It's almost entirely a matter of usage and familiarity.
- delecti 1y agoI mean, Christ Mass is also the same sort of portmanteau. And as an aside, I was curious about Festivus. Apparently it's Latin for "excellent, jovial, lively."
- pvg 1y agoYou're pre-qualified for the Feats of Strength but not, so far, for the Airing of Grievances.
- Izkata 1y agoOrigin of Festivus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1njzgXSzA-A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1njzgXSzA-A The writer of this episode based it on something from his family that his father did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oeu2cVABHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oeu2cVABHg
- delecti 1y agoI knew what Festivus is, I was specifically curious about the etymology.
- SketchySeaBeast 1y agoYeah, people get their knickers in a twist about Juneteenth but will say "February" like that makes complete sense.
- quesera 1y agoHow is "Juneteenth" any less of a portmanteau than "Frappuccino"? It's been called Juneteenth for more than a century, and has been a state holiday for almost half a century. Wouldn't it be even more ridiculous if the US federal government took an existing celebration and renamed it?
- loughnane 1y agoThere both portmanteau but Frappuccino combines two things you can envision. A date doesn’t unless the association already existed. Regardless of its history I venture that 95% of the population hadn’t heard the word before 2020, so it’s not like it was in the public consciousness. You’re right though, even if almost joined knew about it, it _did_ have a name and so def tough to change it.
- pvg 1y agoA June and a -teenth is no harder to envision than a Frapp and a CCino. It's a silly tangent.
- loughnane 1y agoAgree it’s a silly nitpick of language. I’ll keep picking. Picturing a frappe and cappuccino gives you a sense for what a Frappuccino _is_. Picturing june and thirteenth/nineteenth only gives you sense for _when_ it is. In only contend a better name would be one where the name suggests something about the content to someone hearing it for the first time.
- pvg 1y agoThe name of the holiday, so named by the people affected, is a century and change old. The problem isn't the quality of the name, which is where we started.
- derstander 1y agoWait until you hear about September through December not being the 7th through 10th months of the year. They don’t even give you a sense for _when_ they are. Or, more accurately, they give you the _wrong_ sense for when they are by name alone.
- ryanmcbride 1y agoThis is such a weird hill to die on
- bilbo0s 1y ago[flagged]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- loughnane 1y agoI’m not dying on this hill, I just think the name could be better, but I don’t particularly care. It’s not as though I’ve got a beef with the celebrating the freedom of slaves. I think that’s essential for America to celebrate.
- pessimizer 1y agoIt's simply important, while celebrating slavery, to correct the way that black people speak. Just so they'll be understood. Just so they'll know that regular people don't talk like that.
- qualeed 1y ago>ask 10 people what Juneteenth is only 1 would be able to do better than: "something to do with freeing the slaves". That shouldn't be considered a naming failure. It's an education failure.
- loughnane 1y agoIt’s both. The name Juneteenth requires more education than, say, emancipation day or something along those lines. Easy names require less “education” than hard names.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- pc86 1y agoAsk the same 10 people what "Emancipation Day" is and you'll have 7 or 8 people say the same thing even though it's not even an actual holiday.
- Jordan-117 1y agoJune (nine)teenth, seems pretty straightforward to me. Clearer than All Hallows' Evening --> Halloween. >I bet if you I were to walk down the street here and ask 10 people what Juneteenth is only 1 would be able to do better than: "something to do with freeing the slaves". And lots of people think Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day, doesn't make the holiday any less valid. It's just an issue of education.
- loughnane 1y agoI’m not saying the holiday isn’t valid, I think it’s a great holiday. The name is all I take exception to. Eventually we’ll all know what it is, but that eventually would be sooner with a better name.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y ago> but that eventually would be sooner with a better name Do you have some basis for thinking this? I rather suspect the reason White Americans don't know about it has more to do with the fact that it celebrates Black American history and culture, which is just not that popular among White Americans. (Of course there are exceptions, but the point is they're exceptions.) I seriously doubt that the name is the problem. The problem is that relatively few people are interested.
- naniwaduni 1y agoThe really striking thing is how poorly the name distinguishes the date from the seven days before it...
- Jordan-117 1y agoJu(ne) n(in)eteenth! :D
- thfuran 1y ago>And lots of people think Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day, Probably because it has the same sort of bad name as Juneteenth.
- Zigurd 1y agoI'm white AF and this thread is cringe. "We" didn't name it, for starters. It would take an electron microscope to find the amount of self-awareness to avoid suggesting better alternatives. Damn.
- browningstreet 1y agoWhite guy here, and I have never heard of "Trucktober".. I'm also going to my local Juneteenth events (in Oakland).. that said, I did have to look it up a few years ago. EDIT: Yeah, downvote me, I replied to the wrong sub-thread post. Made more sense w/r/t resistance to Juneteenth naming.
- pvg 1y agoI have never heard of "Trucktober" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzPBaC6VPuU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzPBaC6VPuU You must be some sort of communist! There's a Trucktober question on the naturalization test, right before the one about Thanksgiving.
- libraryatnight 1y agoI don't know what your point is. You know Frappaccino? So his point stands? Regardless of his examples, we deal with no end of made up nonsense words, rarely anybody bats an eye until it sounds black and has to do with black people.And yes, this is a thing, this thread is the umpteenth one I've encountered today with people undermining and questioning the name for what amounts to it sounding black. So your anecdote isn't useful. Kind of the opposite.