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Admit it - we all use them
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- One of the best ways to understand culture and the way people
think is to look at the language they use. The words we use to
insult others offer a unique insight into our psyche.
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- However, do
you know the origins of these words? If you knew their original
meaning, would you still use them?
- A prime example of a commonly used insult is the racial or ethnic
slur. These are used by all groups of people to label and define
anyone who isn't like them, sometimes even within their own race and
ethnicity.
- A slur is defined as a deliberate slight. First used in the 1600s,
the word originally referred to “thin or fluid mud.” It is
derived from the Middle English “slore” Middle Low German
“sluren” and Middle Dutch “sloren”, all of which mean “to
trail in mud.”
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| Is this what it means to sling mud? |
- The word “slur” is closely related to the East Frisian “sluren”,
meaning “to go about carelessly” and the Norwegian “slora”,
meaning “to be careless”. In 1746, “slur” was also
used in a musical sense to mean “sliding.”
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| Being careless with words can be dangerous! |
- Ethnic slurs are also known as ethnophaulisms
(if we want to get linguistically complicated). These words/phrases
are insinuations or allegations about a specific ethnicity or refer
to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or insulting manner. I will be
delving into several of the more common slurs in my next few posts.
In
the meantime, what are some of the more colorful or creative slurs
you have used or heard others use?
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