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Apr. 9th, 2002 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wickedfleaSomeone just asked me how I pronounced "Baton Rouge" -- like most people pronounce it, or in the Cajun/French style. I said the former, adding that "the coon-asses do pronounce it differently, though."
About two seconds after I'd said it, I started thinking -- oh shit, is that an offensive term? I mean, yeah, when you stop to think about it, it's gotta be, right? But I'd never stopped to think about it! Where I lived for most of my life (north Mississippi), it was always just a funny term for those people down in south Louisiana. I've never known any Cajuns, so I don't know if many of them use it themselves -- though of course that wouldn't necessarily mean it's not offensive -- or how they typically react to it.
I'm really not the sort of person who throws around derogatory racial terms (except when it comes to white people, in which case I feel I'm justified (kidding, sort of)). Why would that fly out of my mouth like that? I guess it's because I've never heard any discussion about whether it's offensive, though apparently there is some.
I guess I'm just a redneck.
About two seconds after I'd said it, I started thinking -- oh shit, is that an offensive term? I mean, yeah, when you stop to think about it, it's gotta be, right? But I'd never stopped to think about it! Where I lived for most of my life (north Mississippi), it was always just a funny term for those people down in south Louisiana. I've never known any Cajuns, so I don't know if many of them use it themselves -- though of course that wouldn't necessarily mean it's not offensive -- or how they typically react to it.
I'm really not the sort of person who throws around derogatory racial terms (except when it comes to white people, in which case I feel I'm justified (kidding, sort of)). Why would that fly out of my mouth like that? I guess it's because I've never heard any discussion about whether it's offensive, though apparently there is some.
I guess I'm just a redneck.
