Wow. I did not think it would be possible to get further away from the point -- but you did it, and you made it look easy!

From the song "Cuttin' Heads" on the album of the same name by John Mellencamp, with a rap about the "n" word in the song by Chuck D:

"Hey Poppi yea ho
Hey Poppi yea ho
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Lay low proud Poppi
Lay low proud Poppi (shout it out)
He's from the deep south (shout it out)
Pass Christian Mississippi
Where the cane breaks are burnin' every night
Lay low proud Poppi (shout it out)

[Chant:]
Hey o
Hey o
O Poppi
Hey o
Hey o
Hey Poppi
Hey o
Hey o
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Poppi had a wife
And she was black and Poppi was white (shout it out)
Everything was rollin' great (shout it out)
'Til some man called her race a disgrace
Oh no

[Chant]

Well Poppi went down to the river
To defend the honor of his wife
(somebody's killin' somebody)
Gonna drown the man in the water (shout it out)
And the water was shiny like a new knife
But Poppi stopped at the banks of the Delta
He said this sure ain't worth this man's life
Someday the wind of change
Is gonna blow on through
And put all of these jokers right
C'mon and sing now

[Chant]

[Chuck D Rap:]
Papa got a brand new bag
Delta blues got 'em dazed and confused
Came a long way crazy
Seems the abuse
Is racism's baby
It's wild
'Cause I connect the word with pain
Now some smile when they scream the name?
Funny how the times have changed
And the rhymes have changed
But some cat's frame remains the same
Agitating adjective
What gives? die n word die
But I wanna live
Known' all this
Where the word came from
I must be 3 times stupid
And stuck on dumb
If I use it and confuse it
With a term of love
Now popular culture
Can't stop 'til it gets enough
Underlined in marketing campaigns
I feel undermined
Heard the n word promotes the bottom line
Down by the river there's a great divide
Let's ride

Don't call me nigga 'cause you know I don't like it like that
Don't call me nigga 'cause you know I don't like it like that
Don't call me nigga 'cause you know I don't like it like that
Don't call me nigga 'cause you know I don't like it like that

Shout it out
Yeah Shout it out
Tell the world
Shout it out
I said
Hey o
Hey o
Hey o
Hey o
O Poppi
Hey o
Hey o
Tell the world
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Tell the world
That it ain't right
Tell the world
Don't set us back oh Poppi
Don't set us back now Poppi
Tell the world"

Lyrics copyright John Mellencamp

Matthew Hansel
matthewphansel@mac.com

Did you type that from memory, JB?  Color me impressed!

AND...can you recommend any good books on the "origin" of words or language...especially this silly English that we speak/type/write?

Matthew Hansel
matthewphansel@mac.com

Mr. Byrne, your illustration is so crystal clear. It brings to mind something that has bothered me for a long time. The problem with internet forums. People from all walks of life folk to the forum and give their two cents worth on all manner of topics.Which is fine for the most part. Where it becomes a problem is when they begin hauling insults and degrading people they don't know and probably never will outside of what they see in the media. The reason i'm mentioning it here is i believe it falls into this catagory in a sense of what you are saying. I'm glad that you have insisted that the members who wish to post on your forum must use their real names. It helps not having such an anonymity of a made up internet tag. So people aren't quick to sling such vile terms such as have been mentioned in this thread. People seem to think it's their right to express that to other people. Thank you for your insisting on the use of our real names.

"GetaLife" syndrome is an important part of what is wrong with this system, of course. People who insist they need to use fake names for "protection". Apparently they learned a lot from reading superhero comics. Unfortunately, not the right stuff -- not the stuff about honor, and honesty, and personal responsibility.

Wow. I did not think it would be possible to get further away from the point -- but you did it, and you made it look easy!

***********************************************

I'm good like that.  I'm just saying that people are getting mad about stuff they have no control over and are blowing out of proportion.  Brandon pointed out that you've been building towards this, and I agree with that to an extent.  It's fine if people think you... overstated your point, but when they act as if you should be treated as some kind of leper, it gets to be a bit much.

I, of course, paraphrased Malcolm in a silly way when he was pondering human relations.  I should have been clear.  I've followed your work and commentary for a long time.  When you say "crazy shit," I can't get mad because you're just being you.  You let me say my piece, and most of the time, you've taken the time to respond.  I respect that.

Steven Grant's comments about this were reasonable.  Some other people have been a bit... emotional.  Maybe they should wonder why?

John Byrne wrote: People who insist they need to use fake names for "protection".

And the "protection" they -really- mean is from any come-back from the lies they spue! 

Were they? I did not notice that Steve posted this entire thread in his "response". Without that, there is no context. Without context, this is throwing more fuel on an already ridiculous "fire".

Speaking of which, Sudan was named from an arabic word meaning "black" - though there is debate about what they were refering to when they named it - the black sand in the region, or the black people.

Interesting!  Entomology (sp?) is fun!