Not everything is a competition, you know.

The band sucks.

but I'm a girl so......

However I can grow a quick pair if it's absolutely necessary.

and I believe I've got the constitutional fortitude referred to as 'balls,' similar to 'guts,' 'gumption,' etc etc etc.

the problem is the origin of both expressions, which is rooted in the belief that one is better than the other; i.e., having balls is better than not having balls, and having white skin is better than the alternative. i certainly disagree with both and i cringe whenever i hear the "balls" reference, especially when it comes from women. way i see it; they're laughing at you, not with you.

but I'm WAY past cringing and caring about whether 'they're' laughing.

and stop being so sensitive? well, fine, that's their choice; others may disagree.

I was describing my own, fortunate, 'intestinal fortitude.' I certainly appreciate that people differ.

You may 'suppose' what you wish.

all the words are different

When you tell a black he is mighty white it is condescending.

When you tell a white he is mighty white you are trying to be insulting .

When you tell a man he has balls (or tits) you are being complimentary.

When you tell a woman she has balls, she should understand that its a compliment.

try to compliment a black person by comparing them to a white person??? if you don't understand what's wrong with that, i can't explain it to you.

They don't mean the same thing.

methinks thou dost contradict thine self...

"mighty white of you" is NOT a compliment. And if you want to get all technical, testes produce testosterone, which in fact does increase aggression, in men and women. It's not better or lesser, it's a descriptor. No one is insulting you.

I am generally being a least a little sarcastic, or engaged in ribbing, when I say 'mighty white of you' to someone. That is often the case when I say 'that took balls' or something on that line as well. For me that generally denotes something with a tinge at least of foolhardiness, or heedlessness....

breath, plus the tensile silliness of brass...

doesn't mean you dislike another. It's just not an insult to women and you can't make it one.

The word "virtue" comes from the Latin virtus, which is the state or quality of being a man. The word "testify" relates to swearing by one's "testes" which comes from the Latin word testis, i.e. witness.

Identifying goodness with maleness has a long history, similar to identifying skill or ability with being right handed. "Dextrous" comes from dexter, meaning right-handed. "Sinister" comes directly from sinister, left-handed.
[center]


Diana, Goddess of the Moon [/center]

circumstances, but i'm sure in others it wouldn't be. why don't we just stop with the biologically based value judgements, and stick to the facts?

is an insult. They responsible for everything from slavery to Bush.

What you know about history? Nothing?

White people not responsible for slavery. They responsible for many bad thing, but slavery, they not responsible for.

Maybe you look up Code of Hammurabi. You think Babylonian people white? Code of Hammurabi date back to almost 2000 B.C. Code of Hammurabi contain one of first description of difference between free man and slave.

It's a phrase that passes between white people pretty much implying that if you just did me a solid you must be white, because we're good like that.

It IS a compliment, but one that is pretty much like an "inside joke", and an inside joke that has racial overtones.

i have heard it almost exclusively in the context of sarcasm.

Of what, Mid-May 2012?

Welcome back.

thats indigo amore....

i have been responding to a ghost.

Go on, try to figure out if that's an insult or a compliment.

Through wind and mud, snow and hail,
whether long or short, dark or pale.
Remember that when duty calls,
you've got Balls.

Based on today's mainstream understandings of communication anyway. It doesn't really matter what people say as much as knowing what they mean when they say it. Its the same reason its okay for black people to use the N word and not so much for white people.

No doubt to appear again soon with a new sock.

But as used today, "Mighty white of you," is more offensive in practice.

"Mighty white of you" is one of those things that takes on a racial implication, but most likely didn't start that way.

White meant good, and black bad, in English before most English speaking people knew Africa existed. (White magic is good, black magic is bad, etc.. People commit "black deeds", have a "back heart," White knights rescue you... etc..)

It's use in America, on the other hand, cannot escape racial connotation, and it is thus offensive and Americans who use the phrase are clearly up to no good.

Today is used by black people ironically, meaning stinginess or doing the bare minimum.

The "testicles are the source of strength, courage, conviction," thing seems to be so central to people's modes of expression that they cannot convey the concept except in those terms, so it's here to stay.

is actually an insult.

You have to be able to "get it" however.

I grew up in the south, and that is an insult. Not a serious insult, but it's an insult.

"you've got balls" has so much history now that I turn a blind eye to it. We all have balls...women's balls just don't hang around outside the body waiting to get whacked.

If a white guy gets a beer from the fridge for his white buddy at the same time he gets one for himself, his buddy might say "that's mighty white of ya" as a way of saying "thank you".

If a white guy said "that's mighty white of ya" to a black person for doing the same, he'd rightly get his ass kicked into next week.

Where the fuck do people get this stuff?

It's an insult by a white person to a white person. A mild one, but it's a joke on the whole white privilege thing.

Like I said, you have to "get it". But I can understand how some whites might not see it as such lol.

We can agree to see it differently.

"That's mighty white of ya". It just doesn't happen. White privelige? Thanks for getting me a beer, white guy? How does that convey privelige? It's white exceptionalism, conveying "you're a good person for getting me that beer".

Can I see a man, insensitive though he may be, tell a woman "you've got balls" for telling her superior at work they're full of shit? You betcha I can.

Apples from Mars vs Oranges from the Moon.

I think people who use it sarcastically are trying to make fun of the original intent of it, which I agree with you about. I think it's in very poor taste regardless of how it's used.

from one white person to another white person and said in a condescending tone of voice.

humorously, to characterize a certain attitude, so, as a rhetorical flourish, rather than seriously complementing someone for being white as a positive trait as opposed to not being white.

Double standards abound. The attempt to make logical sense of it all is often just as silly as the double-standard was in the first place.