posted on August 31, 2000 09:07:10 AM
You know how it is when you're prowling the halls of eBay and turn up something completely unrelated to what you're looking for, and you're hit with the *zing* of culture shock. I got it this morning, staring into the vapid mug of "Egyptian Queen Barbie," from the perpetrator's "Great Eras Collection." She's got lurex, she's got spangles, and where you'd expect to see the cool hauteur of Nefertiti, you get the Pearl Drops smile and infantilized features of American child/woman ideal. Barbaby meets the Sphinx.
I loathe things like this and it's beyond me why anyone would want them. They're cultural Pringles. Stomp.
posted on August 31, 2000 01:00:26 PM
I have a friend who ordered the Tutankhamen Ken. The seller promised to throw in Barbie's Dream Pyramid as a bonus. Long story short, the Tutankhamen Ken arrived but -- you guessed it -- no Dream Pyramid. I was there when my friend opened the box. She rummaged around inside, pawing through the styrofoam peanuts in vain until at last she turned to me and cried "Egypt me!"
posted on August 31, 2000 01:13:04 PM
I see that you may not be aware of the origin of the term "Gyped" Or "Gipped".
This is a racial slur against the Romani or Gypsy culture. An amazing culture that has survived intact even though the members of that culture don't have a "homeland".
I am not offended by this, and I am not "PC" by any standard. I just wanted to be sure you see what you are saying may be found offensive by some.
posted on August 31, 2000 01:28:37 PM
Thank you, krs.
When polls are done about racial attitudes, Romani score lower than even "false races". Races that do not exsist are often placed in polls of this type as "control".
This is a sad state of affairs when intellectuals are aware that a slur is made, yet no one cares. And certainly no one cares about the Romani, or Gypsies.
posted on August 31, 2000 01:46:38 PM
It comes with my other mental abilities that I have shifts in thought. Flowing and moving through the written word as one thing or another comes very easily.
It is a sad thing the way the Romani are reviled, and slurs are generally accepted by the general public, is it not?
posted on August 31, 2000 01:52:55 PM
Sadder that a nationality or race can become immunized to slurs against them because of long accustomization. That implies that a people may think of themselves in the way that others have in making slurs. It's demeaning, more so than even the original slur.
posted on August 31, 2000 01:57:02 PM
Many, many cultures have had their turn at being reviled. How many countries were the Jews and Moslems forced out of between 1400 and 1700, let alone what they've had to deal with in modern times. How about the American Indian? Portrayed and treated as a dirty heathen savage throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries of this country, and in some regions still treated as worthless by ignorant people. Ditto for African Americans. How about the Irish and "No Irish Need Apply," a popular sign around 1850.
My point is, everyone's taken hits over the years, and many cultures still do. Acts like sitting around and picking apart words for possible slur content are at the very heart of what it means to be "PC" Cheyenne. And going back on something you've just said because it's convenient is at the very heart of what it means to be a hypocrite.
I don't believe it's a case of becoming immunized to slurs. I think it has more to with the word itself having transcended its original meaning through decades of usage, so that when it's used now very few consider its origin and instead consider only its general meaning.
Should Irish people be offended by the association of St. Patrick's Day and the overwhelming theme of heavy drinking that goes with it? Doesn't that harken back to the 19th-century stereotype of the Irish as a race of worthless drunkards? Yet every bar on every corner serves up green beer and nobody says a word about it.
And why? Because it has become assimilated so thoroughly into our culture that nobody any longer (other than the PC crowd) makes the link with the negative connotation. I think the same goes for "gypped" or "welshed" or "scalped" (as in tickets), etc. At least that's how I see it.
Wasn't this a Seinfeld episode?
[edited for misplaced word]
[ edited by spazmodeus on Aug 31, 2000 02:08 PM ]
posted on August 31, 2000 02:17:08 PM
Yet if another poster, Ceyenne perhaps, had used the term gypped (or egypped, as you like) wouldn't Spazmodeus be here now complaining of the usage as a slur to his relatives?
Does Spazmodeus go bargaining about in search of items to sell and occasionally say "I jewed him down" upon purchasing safe in the knowledge that through long usage that phrase is no longer a slur?
Who determines a slur? The slurrer, or the slurree? If it is, as I would think it would be, the slurree who feels a slur, no amount of careful rationalization by the slurrer would help dissuade that feeling.
posted on August 31, 2000 02:30:42 PMYet if another poster, Ceyenne perhaps, had used the term gypped (or egypped, as you like) wouldn't Spazmodeus be here now complaining of the usage as a slur to his relatives?
After all this time, you ought to know me better than that.
I realize you're of Hungarian descent, krs, and it's obvious you're bugged by the usage of "gypped.". While it was never my intention to offend you, I apologize if my pun had that effect.
posted on August 31, 2000 02:52:21 PM
Actually, I'm not, Spaz. Scotch-Irish all through. That Hungarian reference was to a, umm, non-slur joke by sgtmike long ago.
I can, however, tell you that there are many Irish who are offended by the bastardized American celebration of St. Patrick's Day.
Awaiting the day that "mick" becomes an acceptable term no longer demeaning to the Irish. How would you use it?
posted on August 31, 2000 03:03:29 PM
I wouldn't. There's no "mick" verb. The only possible reference of a "mick" is to the Irish. Ditto for "jewed," a word I don't use. Ditto for several other notorious words.
posted on August 31, 2000 03:18:06 PM
The whole point of the doll is its a toy for little girls. Not for some old man to over-analyze in his retirement. Gee, you guys would argue over anything.
[ edited by artdoggy on Aug 31, 2000 03:19 PM ]
posted on August 31, 2000 03:24:20 PM
Kinda' fuzzy. See above.
And once there was no gypsy verb, but that doesn't prevent an abberation to gypped. So it's "micked" in our future, is it?
And what shall that mean? "He sure got micked up last night", eh? Not long in coming, I'd say, considering the perceived new acceptability of a definition of the Irish as a bunch of worthless drunks.
posted on August 31, 2000 03:40:07 PM
In the intrest of keeping Krs busy (I like to know where he is):
As a full blooded Irish American I would not be offended by the word "mick". Why? Well, because I have found that spending time being offended by stupid people is time not well spent.
I have found that slurs tell us much about the person saying them. I LIKE to know, up front, how stupid someone is. If a person is being PC just for the sake of being PC, then it could take days...maybe even weeks to discover how truly stupid they are. Why bother?
Of course, I think 'Yep, Im stupid' signs should be mandated, but that's just me.
You may believe I believe any or all of my post, whichever sets up your next argument better.
posted on August 31, 2000 04:45:57 PM
So I wonder what a barbie doll would look like if Parneau designed it. Would it have hairy legs and armpits? Would it be grossly over weight and wear Birkenstocks? Would it have yellow teeth and hawkish features? Would it have grisly ratted hair and a hairlip? Then little girls would really want to play with her! Yeah, mommy, I want a Barbie that looks like a troll lady. No way! God forbid that the barbie has fashionable clothes and pearly teeth. I bet shirley temple makes you wretch too!
posted on August 31, 2000 04:50:19 PM
I like St Patrick's Day. For the life of me ---wondered why my family never celebrated it. Seemed harmless enough and oh so jolly with green beer and all.
KRS said:
"I can, however, tell you that there are many Irish who are offended by the bastardized American celebration of St. Patrick's Day."
Geesh--KRS--thanks for the simplistic clarification on this---but after a few years---it's a bit more than being upset about bastardization. My kin were from Northern Ireland and they were Protestant.
Bastardization is the least of it.
edited to add--Geesh Artdoggy--what is the point? Humor?
[ edited by jeanyu on Aug 31, 2000 04:53 PM ]
