This is an interesting about article with a couple of word related discussions. First, it shows how far we've veered into political correctness. I hadn't heard the phrase, empowering a culture of controversy prevention before. It sounds boring!

Second, the etymology of the word boujee, meaning upwardly mobile, and materialist, African Americans, from the word bourgeois, was discussed.

And lastly, the university administration said the fraternity's punny name for an event, Bad(minton) and Boujee, was "appropriating culture." I am not even sure I know what that means. In the end, the administration apologized for not following their own protocol when shutting down the event, but they gave no explanations for what they meant by cultural appropriation, except that it "could be controversial."

Thoughts?

Good grief.

I'm with Bill Maher when it comes to so-called political correctness. A NAZI is a NAZI, be it on the left or on the right. http://thebigstory.org/ov/ov-p...icallyincorrect.html

I thought a bougee was someone who jumps off a bridge while tied to a rubber band.

BTW, what school is "AU?" Assholes United?" Their sphincters are clearly in severe spasm.

I think Rampell is being disingenuous when she says

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When the fraternity was accused of “appropriating culture,” the obvious question was: Which culture? Latin? French? Marxist? Urban hip-hop?

"boujee" is a term from a specific culture. Rampell doesn't even acknowledge that (Leaving aside whether cultural appropriation is good or bad or whatever)

This whole concept of cultural appropriation bothers me. Do we have to go through the whole of the English language and remove every term that came from "another" culture? Which culture shall we keep? How far back shall we go? Are only cultures that exist today to be counted?
Should we perhaps produce separate dictionaries that say, for example, if you a black speaker of English you can use these words, if you are White Middle Class American you can use these words? Is it cultural appropriation if an American makes toad-in-the-hole or an English restaurant sells Welsh Rarebit? If I invite folks over for dinner and cook a lasagna have I done something wrong?

I'm all for not offending people but this concept baffles me.

Crystal's "The Stories of English" shows that our present language is derived from several sources. Would Rampell have us expunge the Roman influence, or the French, or the German, or...? What about the spread of culture and language due to the many forced diasporas throughout human history? Shall we reject them? One might as well say there is no climate change or that some deity told us that we should annihilate people and ruin ecosystems.

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Originally posted by BobHale:
This whole concept of cultural appropriation bothers me. Do we have to go through the whole of the English language and remove every term that came from "another" culture? Which culture shall we keep? How far back shall we go? Are only cultures that exist today to be counted?

I don't think that's what cultural appropriation is. This is the first time I have heard of borrowing a word being cultural appropriation. If that is really what is going on - Rampell's article does not quote the school's entire letter so it is not completely clear what the problem was.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

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Originally posted by Geoff:
Would Rampell have us expunge the Roman influence, or the French, or the German, or...?

Hold on... Rampell wrote the article where she argued that "boujee" had an etymology and was therefore not offensive. I think she would agree with you.

Ummm... Yeah. Cancel my rant.

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I think Rampell is being disingenuous when she says

Maybe, but, when I read it I thought the circumstances were extraordinary enough that she could get away with it.

What exactly is cultural appropriation? I am unclear.

As I understand it, it's using an element of another culture without understanding how it might be offensive. Like the Chicago Blackhawks name and logo, or getting a tattoo in Chinese or Sanskrit when you don't know the language.

I guess this means that lexical borrowings could be cultural appropriation. Lexical borrowings happen all the time and are a normal part of language, but that doesn't mean that they might not sometimes be offensive.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

I've heard about the Redskins, but I haven't heard that people think our Chicago Blackhawks name is offensive. I suppose it is, though.

Some people think so
http://www.thehockeynews.com/n...support-crest-change

https://www.thestar.com/sports...o_has_got_to_go.html

The name I find most offensive is "Patriot missile." It's used in the sport of mass murder by players opposed to in-utero abortion, which is often a consequence of under-age players' failure to follow the rules of bedroom sports.

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Some people think so

I was going to say probably New Yorkers, but now Canadians don't seem too happy with the U.S. That controversy I had not read about.