Sean, who is originally from Ireland, wonders if the term narrowback, which usually refers to second- or third-generation Irish-Americans, is considered a slur against the Irish. He also references an earlier conversation of ours about the term...
In an earlier conversation, we discussed the term gypsy and its ugly history as a slur against the Roma people. That history prompted the Actors’ Equity Association to choose a new name for its traditional Gypsy Robe. For decades, this garment...
A Texas listener came across the word Boche in a biography of a French statesman, and wants to know: What does it mean, exactly?
A cantor from a synagogue in Nyack, New York, says she’s fond of the expression “the heebie-jeebies” but recently began worrying that it might be anti-Semitic. Did the term “heebie-jeebies” originate as a slur against...
nipping n.— «Players are often extraordinarily generous, buying drinks and not merely to make opponents drunk. They are big on “nipping,” and this is no racist slur on the oriental client base: it is poker parlance for lending...
wab n.— «I hate being called “wab,” it’s a slur for Mexicans, like wetback.» —“The Sounds of ‘Silence’ Series: teens” by Theresa Walker Orange County Register (California) May 15, 2001. (source:...