Is the word Uppity(sp) racist?

[WetSprocket]

There is a big news story in the Huntsville Ala. area about the Mayor using the word uppity about someone. It was in a town meeting and an alderman was saying something (about someones job) and she(the mayor) said that he shouldn't be so uppity. Now there's this big thing that says that she was being racist. Has anyone ever thought of this as being racist? Is it going to come down to each "group" of people submitting a list of words that they find offensive, and making a law that it is illegal to say those words? At least then we'd know what we could say.

 

[Thanatopsis]

I find wetsprocket a racially offensive term to my race of sprockets. Please remove it now

Uppity has nothing to do with being racist.
From dictionary.com



<< Taking liberties or assuming airs beyond one's station; presumptuous: &quot;was getting a little uppity and needed to be slapped down&quot; (New York Times). >>



Show me the racial remark in that.

 

[konichiwa]

It may be rude (especially for a Mayor) but it's certainly not racist. Is &quot;presumptuous&quot; a race? I don't think so.

 

[StageLeft]

niggardly is about as close as you can get while not being racist - check its definition at dictionary.com

 

[azazyel]

no, it is just a word.

 

[zippy]

Thw word uppity is by no means racist, unless there is a heavy population of Uppits in that town. (For the slower members here at AT, there is no such thing as an &quot;Uppit.&quot; )

 

[WetSprocket]

It was reported on the news that &quot;uppity&quot; was used by the slaves back in the day to describe a house n, Or a slave that thought they were better than all the other slaves. That does fit the definition but it doesnt fit as being racist.

 

That ordeal stems from the phrase &quot;uppity great person,&quot; which was used in the south starting in the Reconstruction to describe the newly freedmen that dared try to make something of themselves. During the period right after the Civil War, some blacks even held public office in the South, although it didn't last long.

It's good to see that to most Americans, well AT'ers at least, the word is just a regular old word with no implicit connotations of racism.

It's VERY SAD to see that some Americans can hear a word and be transported a hundred years into the past.

 

[DefRef]

EVERYTHING has the potential to be deemed racist if someone wants to make a issue of it.

Some city budget guy got popped a few years back for using the word &quot;niggardly&quot; which means &quot;stingy&quot; in describing how he needed to be cautious with spending. The word has absolutely no racist connotations in it's etymology, but he was fired and called a racist. I can't remember what happened in the end, whether he sued or what, but it was a mess.

Definition:

nig·gard·ly adj.
1. Grudging and petty in giving or spending. (See Synonyms at stingy.)
2. Meanly small; scanty or meager

 

[SUOrangeman]

My thing is this: if you have been bestowed with the gift of words, please use them intelligently. The point is not to show that you have an excellent vocabulary, but that you know how to use it when appropriate. If you can same the same thing without potentially upsetting someone, why not do it (other than spite)?

-SUO

 

[Russ]

I think the most appropriate use of the word &quot;uppity&quot; is when it is directed at modern elected officials. For example: The uppity Seattle City Council that is suing the people of the State of Washington to overturn a ballot initiative that just passed.

Damn, politicians piss me off sometimes.

Russ, NCNE