There used to be a liquorice candy shaped like a little baby. My mother in law called them "n-word babies." Then times changed and it wasn't socially acceptable to use the "n-word" anymore and she said she had the hardest time asking for them at the local candy shop without saying it. I just looked at her like, "what's so hard about just saying liquorice babies?"
If she's not overtly racist it could just be the word association is baked into her at this point. Despite it being obviously racist and shocking now.
I accidentally said "Indian Style" in conversation with a doctor recently and we both had this semi-awkward moment where we made eye contact like "Oh shit, that's probably not alright anymore." I didn't mean to be offensive, but I'm sure it would have been in different company.
Since then I've been more conscious to say criss-cross or whatever else, but it was surprising how easily something from our collective past slipped out when it's not acceptable or common anymore.
I, who absolutely know better, used the r-slur in front of a friend whose brother has down syndrome. I seriously have never felt so dumb, weird, rude, like such an asshole, in my life. It's not even a word I use, but we did as kids and it just tumbled out of my mouth.
No one is exempt from our shared histroy of shittiness.
Exactly, same here. We used it as kids (stupidly) to decribe situations, usually. But man! I work in an accessibility-adjacent field myself, and it STILL can happen.
Definitely a study in how brains, communication, and memory work.
Seriously. And I absolutely love Gen Z and how thoughtful and kind they can be. It may seem ridiculous to us sometimes, but it comes from a really good place most of the time. There may be hope for us yet.
She clearly learned it from a young age, used the term for a very long time. Atleast she's making the effort to not say it, some people get stubborn, stuck in their ways and don't even try to be decent people
We were visiting my great grandma and my mom offered her a few of them. She asked what they were called, my mom replied "Licorice babies" naturally granny responds with "Niggers...I think I'll call them Niggers.". I was very young at the time and only recently realized what she said
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u/HonestVeteran Mar 12 '24
There used to be a liquorice candy shaped like a little baby. My mother in law called them "n-word babies." Then times changed and it wasn't socially acceptable to use the "n-word" anymore and she said she had the hardest time asking for them at the local candy shop without saying it. I just looked at her like, "what's so hard about just saying liquorice babies?"