OK didn’t realise. Could be used with racial tones but it’s not conclusive. People still use it as a friendly term. Some husbands and wives use it with each other.
You could say something like ‘vamos negro’ and it would be like saying ‘come on mate’ but of course it could be used racially but then the tone would come into play. Was Suárez being concilitory or confrontory.
Again it’s a different way of speaking that’s alien in the English language. Eg: You could say ‘vamos chino’ (Chinese), you wouldn’t be being offensive,
I live in Latin America and I get called gringo, meshito/canche (means blonde, I, m not blond but I have a light skin colour and blue eyes) all the time and there is absolutely no offence meant.
1 Like
Hahaha, that brings back memories on some chatters in chatrooms: First question some of them ask before buggering off was a/s/l. 
2 Likes
No bullshit - that would literally make my year.
5 Likes
Suarez argued that he was being conciliatory but the Tribunal didn’t buy it and determined that he was being confrontational.
1 Like
Well we know how and why they came to their conclusion don’t we?
1 Like
As you know far more about the language that I do, just one question. Does any possible usage of negro negrito negria negtit etc etc reference anything primarily except the colour of the person’s skin?
Thanks.
1 Like
Yes. It means black. So also refers to the colour black or should I say tone.
So black and white is blanco y negro.
For example, a black car is un auto negro.
Negro never means n#g#er but it can mean a black person.
In Spanish for example you could say “Estaba hablando con un negro” literally I was talking with a black. Sounds terrible in English. We soften the meaning by adding person. It would sound bad in English if a black person said I was talking with a white. Of course as I mentioned you could use the term negro despectively in Spanish but it’s not the word negro in itself it would depend on the tone.
Negro means black never nig#r. I know there’s subtle ways to be racist but a blatent, openly racist person would never just use the word negro and even less negrito.
I don’t know Suárez (always liked Torres more), he may or may not be racist but to me the instances with Suárez and Cavani don’t stack up.
1 Like
So simply, in this country given the insane nature of the law, you prefix any comment to a person with “black” and you’re doomed. Nuance in translation be dammed, the word is there for all to see.
I’m white and wouldn’t care if somebody insulted me accordingly but apparently that’s a privileged stance.
1 Like
Yes true. In the States they use the term ‘white trash’ don’t they. I don’t know how badly that is taken as an insult but I wouldn’t fuss over it.
1 Like
There are two difficulties there. One is that in English, there is a world of difference between using the word ‘black’ and ‘negro’ and ‘n----r’, in meaning, intent, everything - even if the reference is to colour of skin. For obvious reasons, moving across to Spanish drops a lot of that distinction.
Culturally, in most English-speaking places, we are also far more reluctant to use physical indicators freely - you don’t just call someone ‘hey, big nose’ the way South Americans do.
Not far from where I live in the summer, there are some rapids on the river, named Des Negres, after the body of a black man and woman found drowned there somewhere around 1900. I always thought it was a great name, a monument of sorts to a terrible mystery. I was stunned to find out that Google Maps was reporting it as ‘N----r Rapids’, which eventually led to the name being changed. It had never occurred to me to even try to translate it into English.
1 Like
5 Likes
And this is the crux of the Suarez/Evra matter. Despite Evra claiming he could speak Spanish he obviously couldn’t speak it well enough to know that when Suarez was saying “negro” he wasn’t calling him “n.gger”.
However, he thought that’s what Suarez was saying, hence his outrage and his complaint. The Tribunal then seem to have punished Suarez for the offence that was taken, notwithstanding it was based on the mistaken understanding of the offended.
3 Likes
The look on his face just after he finishes reading what is on the bit of paper is priceless.
Such a perfect harbinger of what is about to unfold…
1 Like
There’s a country lock on it, so I can view it
what’s is it? In a nutshell
2 Likes
That’s one way to stretch 30 seconds of material to 3 minutes.
2 Likes
It’s a bit about a discussion with a taxi driver who said to him,
‘These days, you get arrested and thrown in gaol if you say you’re English, don’t you.’
He then starts a back and forth with the cabbie whether or not he means literally thrown in gaol etc, ultimately wearing the cabbie down and forcing him to admit he doesn’t, in the process highlighting the absurdity of the aggrievement.
It is pure Lee, the repetitive, 3min punchline.
And at the very end he takes the piss out of those who spout that shit with a joke about writing There ain’t no black on the Union Jack on a passport application.
1 Like
I take it you’re not a fan of Stewart Lee, then?
3mins is him being quick.
1 Like
No, not my cup of tea. Eddie Izzard, Peter Kay and most of Jimmy Car.
1 Like
All gooduns…
1 Like
Best stand up comedian I’ve ever seen and it isn’t even close.
2 Likes