High Street at Cruelery.com - The Web's Bitter Afterbirth / Pardon my ignorance, but WTF?

sigmoid freud · 2008-02-10 19:29:47

I heard about this on Harry Shearer's radio show and am still baffled (text from Urban Dictionary):

Canadian:
Expression for black people used by whites as "code" when they want to refer to blacks in a semi-derogatory manner without being detected in a group of people

"Jeezus, look at all the Canadians out tonight."

votes 353 up, 213 down

Taint · 2008-02-10 19:46:35

I think this is a hat, but that's not why I'm posting. If this is really true it could be very problematic for me. Many of my friends are Canadian, as in Canadian and not "Canadian". If "Canadians" took offense to folks using the term Canadian thinking they were talking about "Canadians" rather than Canadians, things might become quite awkward, eh?

whosasailorthen · 2008-02-10 23:30:45

Eh. My dad was from West Tennesssee. As a result, I was actually about 23 years old before I knew the real name for a Brazil nut.

Wife and I usually use the Czech word when we want to be referential without discovery - černý.

tojo2000 · 2008-02-11 03:44:07

When I don't want people to know I'm talking about Black people I use the word in Spanish, "Negro".

Zookeeper · 2008-02-11 09:26:59

I'm reminded of the use of the word "Belgian" as slang for "gay" years ago on Cruel.com: "That's so Belgian!"

phreddy · 2008-02-11 13:12:51

I like our Italian word..Mulignon (pronounced mul in yon). Take a lesson from Tony Soprano. Or, some people say melenzan (eggplant).

square · 2008-02-11 14:26:06

Boss If your initial investment is a half a million dollars and your apartments are up in March, you should have x amount of dollars rolling in by the end of this year.
Navin Ah, x amount. That's very good isn't it.
Con Man Not only that, you can depreciate the entire building for the full amount!
Navin Depreciate! Hum, very good. I like that.
Con Man And, we found a way to get around this fair housing crap!
Navin Ah, good. Getting around the crap! That's good!
Con Man 2 By keeping the rents high, we're going to appeal to a select class of people.
Navin Select class. Very, very good.
Boss We'll keep the eggplants out!
Navin Ah good! We don't want any vegetables.
Con Man Na, na. The jungle bunnies!
Navin Oh of course! They'll eat the vegetables!
Con Man Boss, could I talk to him? We're going to keep out the niggers!
Navin The what?
Boss The niggers! We'll keep 'em out.
Navin Sir, you are talking to a nigger!

whosasailorthen · 2008-02-11 15:00:31

phreddy wrote:
I like our Italian word..Mulignon (pronounced mul in yon). Take a lesson from Tony Soprano. Or, some people say melenzan (eggplant).

Yeah, we used to just call'em eggplants or just 'plants for short... but mulignon and eggplant are now too well known to be of use without discovery. Since there are virtually no black Czechs, we figure "černý" is a pretty safe bet (pronounced 'chair-nee', but with a rolled 'r').