Last edited Mon Aug 6, 2018, 12:51 PM - Edit history (3)

Besides, we have things like have things like "a bottle short of sixpack" or "his elevator doesn't go to the top floor" or "he was swimming in the wrong end of the gene pool" to choose from.


rocktivity

"Can short of a six-pack" could be triggering for alcoholics or recovering alcoholics and may seem to some to be denigrating to them.

"Swimming in the wrong end of the gene pool" could be inflammatory for those who aren't very bright or who have genetic abnormalities in their families.

Now, the elevator one...I got nothin'.

At some point, we're going to have to accept that there are few colloquialisms that can't be considered negative at some level.

I understand the need to be sensitive, but it's getting kind of silly these days.

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westerns.

.... then we are going to end-up with a pretty boring, drab language.

Besides, nothing will cause a faster backlash against liberalism/progressivism than speech police.

But maybe it's a term used on the East Coast, I grew up in AZ and currently live in Oregon.

heard that phrase used by anyone other than Native Americans, who spoke of being "from the Rez", "off the Rez", "on the Rez", etc.

So it's a new one for me in the context of whites using it in a derogatory manner.

usually in the context of someone who is normally a good team player but is now going rogue.

I can't think of any specific instance, though.

I also don't tend to use it.

If the Native communities think it should be off limits, then I've got no problem purging it from my lexicon.

... All words and phrases should be closely examined and racist words, slogans, dog whistles and thoughts should be abolished, purged and heavily criminalized.

I live very close to Pine Ridge Reservation. One of my daughters-in-law is Lakota and many of her relatives live there.

I don't like the sounds of the phrase and would never use it.

Sayings like these don't have to "go through a PC wringer..." reasonable people can make up their own minds about whether they feel comfortable using them, given their background.

Having worked on Indian reservations for several years, and read many histories and memoirs, I'm personally not comfortable with it.

I think it dates back to when an Indian person strayed from the constraints imposed upon them here by Euro-American settlers, to stay within the boundary and confines of the geographic area decided as their residence by government and military forces. So, a moving outside limits - whether physical or political or otherwise, pre-established for a person, by someone else.

maybe Vin Scully. Anyways, I heard it somewhere quite often growing up and it doesn't strike me as offensive because its part of the lingo to me. But I could change my mind at some point.

It's not something I'd consider saying, I think it's stupid in whitefolksspeak.

However, off limits? We're supposed to be grownups here. Anyone who uses it in a post can jolly well accept his lumps afterward. We don't need to ban words and phrases.

although there are certain words that will get you in trouble on DU. What I am trying to do is help make people aware that many common words and phrases could be interpreted as pejoratives by others. For example, how many are aware that the verb "to gyp" is a pejorative? For many of us, "tar baby" was a reference to a folk tale, and the perfect metaphor for an entangling problem someone brought upon his self. It wasn't until the discussion here on DU that I was aware that in some places, it's a pejorative applied to African American children.

who transgresses a consensus of thought or action. The metaphor of the Native American who refuses to be confined to the land prescribed for him by the U.S. Government seems apt.