• norbert@kbin.social
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        6 months ago

        We were just talking about this (at work). I never considered my parents racist, but I definitely heard Brazil nuts called that, it’s uncomfortable to think about how pervasive systemic racism is.

        • NovaPrime@lemmy.ml
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          6 months ago

          Same thing with “monkey bread”, though less overt and I’d argue in some ways more sinister

          • Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Please explain how monkey bread is racist? I know calling people monkeys can be racist, but that has nothing to do with monkey bread or why it’s called that.

              • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                6 months ago

                Honestly it’s kinda wild to me that we just automatically assume racism when we hear the word monkey these days. We either need to rename the animal then or learn nuance imo.

                Like ok fine “can’t say monkey” but I really like the members of the climbey hairy bois genus, they’re adorable especially Squirrel Climbey Hairy Bois.

                • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  5 months ago

                  mmm, monke

                  calling someone a monkey is just scientifically accurate anyways, it should be as offensive as calling a female dog a bitch, like hm yes that is indeed what it is

            • tsonfeir@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              It’s an odd name for bread anyway. It looks nothing like a monkey.

              I can sorta see “bear claws,” but it’s a stretch.

              We should really just let the French name all food products.

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Man, America never fails to surprise me. They’re white, as well, so it’s not even realistic. My little toe kind of does look like a cashew.

      • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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        6 months ago

        As their edit suggests, this name actually was for Brazil nuts, where they are at least kind of the right color.

        This name also dates back to the 18th century, which best I can tell was before that word was considered a slur in those regions, if not everywhere.

          • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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            6 months ago

            Antiquated terms can and frequently do become more offensive when they refer to a characteristic people consider undesirable. This is true of >!negro!<, >!retard!<, >!cripple(d)!<, as well as several other terms.

            You see the term “>!negro!<” used a lot in abolitionist literature, because it was a polite way to refer to a black person at the time. As we all know, that is very much not the case anymore.

            • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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              6 months ago

              Just… Shut the fuck up.

              it was the era of racial chattel slavery and your dumbass is pretending it wasn’t a slur, that every interaction between the slavers and black people wasn’t an attack.

              • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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                6 months ago

                It literally was not a slur. You are trying to burnish your progressive bonafides way too hard. Word meanings change over time.

                As you mentioned, there was actual slavery happening at the time. Being called a “negro” was the last thing a slave would worry about. They wouldn’t even identify as that, because they would consider themselves Ashanti or Igbo or some other West African ethnic group. It’d be like calling you “North American” (I assume).

              • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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                5 months ago

                MLK junior literally refers to himself and other black people as “The Negro” repeatedly in his “I have a dream” speech, if you still want to imagine that it was a slur then you’re simply deluded.