Me: You are such a bitch for pointing that out.

You: Now that language is not called for me.

Me: What> There's nothing with that word,...a bitch is a dog, dogs bark, bark is part of a tree, a tree is part of
nature and nature is beautiful, thanks for the compliment...(or so my teenage daughter tells me..of course, my normal response to the word bitch is "you say that like it's a bad thing").

Hilzoy, thank you for calling them out on their hypocrisy.

Actually it's possible she didn't mean it that way. "Uppity" is not solely used to describe African-Americans who are assertive. It can mean snobby in general. I've heard it used that way, without any racial subtext, by white people against another white person.

If she had thought about it and run it by other people before saying it, for example as a coordinated strategy, that's another thing. But just popping out of her mouth it's not necessarily the way you mean it. Not everything a Republican says is "code".

Actually, a Cracker was a minor league baseball player. The Atlanta Crackers were Atlanta's baseball team until the Braves arrived in 1966. There was a team in the negro league called the Black Crackers. So, at one time there wasn't any/much racial connotation to the term.

Westmoreland should be honored to be called a Cracker!

Good point captcrisis. It's the same with the word "gay," which is not solely used to describe homosexuals. It can mean happy and joyful. I've heard it used that way, without any sexual or derogatory subtext.

>"Actually, a Cracker was a minor league baseball player."

The term 'cracker' (ala 'southern cracker') predates minor league baseball by a century or so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)

For what it's worth, I've never, ever heard "uppity" used in a non-racial sense. The first time I remember seeing it used was in a small-town newspaper clipping from 1967, describing Sidney Poitier.

I believe him - in his defense he is incredibly stupid...

Got to:
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=70730.

Watch this Georgia Peach get incinerated by Colbert. That a guy this stupid could have been elected to anything tells a lot about Republican voters, especially from those from the South.
____________________________________________

I myself have not only not heard a non-racial usage of "uppity" before, but I'm not sure I've heard anyone use it seriously. It was always in an ironic sense, as a way of making fun of racists who used to say such things. The fact that Westmoreland hadn't gotten the memo on this yet would indicate that he hangs out with more racists than anti-racists.

It does seem like a very specific term to have used for this specific situation, but I really do believe him when he says he didn't know the racist aspect of the term. I suspect he just hangs out with racists who say such things and he's so immersed in their culture that he didn't know it was racist. But really, I kind of think that's even worse than if he did it on purpose.

Funny, in Florida you could more or less get away with calling someone a cracker. "Cracker" is a historic term referring to the cattle drivers there at the turn of the century. It was slightly derogatory at the time, yes, but remains a descriptive term. 'Course, if you happen to be in Liberty City, they're insulting you.

Shoulda stuck with "Bitch".

It can mean snobby in general. I've heard it used that way, without any racial subtext, by white people against another white person.

It doesn't actually mean "snobby." It means that the person is getting above their station and trying to act like they're from a better social class than they really are. Which is why it's particularly insulting to apply it to African-Americans -- Westmoreland implied that Senator Barack Obama is trying to pretend to be middle-class when everyone can see that he's not.

Anyone who watched Colbert's interview with this guy would realize that he's dumber than clam dung.

But captcrisis, Westmoreland might have just made a slip and could have said so. Instead, he showed his dishonesty by pretending he didn't even know the historical insinuation it implied - that's the main complaint of this thread, get it?

English is my second language and we weren't taught much slang back in Poland, where I learnt it. But, within my first year in US (south-western Virginia, 1973), I learnt that "uppity" and "nigra" went together like a "hand" and "glove". And Westmoreland, in Georgia, never knew it??? Pull the other one...

"Cracker", OTOH (as describing whites) didn't swim through my field of hearing till about 4-5 yrs ago.

In the racist, Democrat-ruled South, when faced with the "uppity" problem, Democrats got a rope...

[And then 1964 came, LBJ signed the civil rights act and all the racists became republicans, and you know this because you have been told about 9658 times in this forum, and I have seen every comment by you and in answer to you. Get some new material. -Mod]

As has been pointed out at Wonkette, the Republicans have lost touch with their ability to demonize in racialist term the Afro-American, of late. Since '01, the target of much of the scapegoating has been against the Mohammedan, with the remainder, largely, directed toward the Wetback. Now, faced with a dark-skinned opposition, but neither Chicano nor Raghead, they are feeling their way like a blind man at an orgy to find the right touch to get their point across to the bitters. Expect by end of the month for the GOP to have its groove back.

I sent Westmoreland an email calling him, among other things, a jerk-off.

He replied, thanking me for my comments.

my elderly neighbor said uppity" means a woman that looks down her nose at other women. She never heard it was racist. Men usually aren't uppity, she says.

I came to this country about 14 years ago with a degree in American lit and learned idioms as I went along--and the first context in which I encountered the word "uppity" was purely racial (don't remember the precise context any more, though). So, especially given that Westmoreland comes from Georgia, there is really no excuse for his wording (not even ESL).

Actually it's possible she didn't mean it that way. "Uppity" is not solely used to describe African-Americans who are assertive. It can mean snobby in general. I've heard it used that way, without any racial subtext, by white people against another white person.

Yes, and "bitch" is not solely used to describe women who are assertive. It can mean a female dog. I've heard it used that way, without any insulting subtext, by one dog owner to another dog owner. Therefore when I call a woman a bitch why would you assume I'm being insulting.....

[sarcasm, for those not quick on the uptake]

I've heard it used that way, without any racial subtext, by white people against another white person.

Yes, but Westmoreland wasn't using it to describe one white person to another white person, was he? He was using it to describe an African-American.

I am white, a male, and a southerner. I had no idea that uppity had racial connotations. Seriously.

I am white, a male, and a southerner. I had no idea that uppity had racial connotations. Seriously.

Bull. You're either lying or a functional moron.

Which is it?