Were you offended already, just by the title of this post ?? LOL !!
I am sitting here sipping coffee again, which is pretty much a given on a Saturday morning. I'm taking advantage of one of the only two days a week I get to sleep in and have the option to spend my morning however I please. My intent was to write about some views of the younger generations by the older ones (in a humorous way of course), but a friend's facebook post sent my mind in a different direction. Maybe my original post plans will be the next post... maybe.
So what caused the change? My friend, who I will affectionately refer to as "Troy" posted a headline from a state newspaper where he lives (here in the US) that read "Ukrainian Officials Say Russia Welshes On Aid-Passage Deal" It seems that Troy was surprised and thought the word "welshes" should have been gone a long time ago along with words like gypped and Indian Giver.
I have to admit when I read his comment and saw the photo of the headline he posted, it made me laugh ! I know Troy as being mostly levelheaded and pretty smart and a call-you-out-on-BS kind of person that also has a great sense of humor. I thought he was just being funny with maybe a little mocking at our current society that seems to be offended by everything. Turns out, he wasn't kidding !
I had responded to his comment and said it had made me laugh and then I said I thought people were annoyingly over sensitive about words that had been used for so long, that many generations had no idea of their origin, but just recognized them as a descriptive word that in general most people knew what the word was conveying.
For real !
I was totally surprised when his response was something like "I agree sometimes about overly-sensitive, but not when you're disparaging an entire nationality of people. They could have said "reneges" in the same amount of space."
Seems his original post had not been meant as humor. Who knew ? ... and the discussion there goes on.....
Maybe my view is too simplified. I always think "intent" counts. Some words have been around so long, that the last "however many" generations don't know the origin of words they/we use, but understand in today's language, what you mean when you use the word.
I also think you can discern if someone means a word with innocence or ill intent by the context in which they write or say it. It's all relative to me and I am more than annoyed when I see headlines run away with a "snippet" of something where they have twisted the intent by taking it out of context. It's an ugly thing to do and a mean and bullying tactic.... and misinforming for those that don't do due diligence to check out the truth of it.
That original post inspired me to "Goog" the worlds Indian Giver. Yes, even as a child I knew it was the act of giving something and then taking it back. THAT though was the depth of my knowledge of it and I have to say I can't remember a time as an adult when I had an occasion to say it. Turns out, it seems to be a true'ish thing, but with a different concept than just giving someone a gift and for no reason, taking it back.
If I understand it correctly (and in a nutshell) some American Indian cultures considered giving as a part of bartering, so something was expected to be given back. If nothing was given in return, then the "gift" could be taken back. Another reason for taking back a "gift" was if the receiver didn't use it at all, then it was ok to take it back and give it to someone else that would use it. In other words, one side was bartering and the other was receiving a gift. Different intents, different cultural understandings. Therefore, it was a little bit true that a "gift" could be taken back, but there was more meaning to it than just because the giver changed their mind.
I also found that there could be a different belief on the meaning behind the origin as well, as more referring to the way the US gave land to the Indians through signed treaties and then broke those treaties. That was a new way to wonder on it for me. I did enjoy going to look it up though.
As for gypped, well, I knew at some point that it originated as being related to gypsies, but that origin was so very long ago, that most folks use it meaning "cheated" and have no idea of where it came from, just that it is an alternative word for cheated, hoodwinked, swindled..... oh gosh... wonder where all those came from ??? ha ha
I thought about all of this and how most of the times these days, many words are not used with the intent to offend as they may have whenever they were first created. It has been so long, that the words took on a different life for themselves and are only meant now as regular descriptive words. Like I said above, maybe I am being too simplistic, because it is absolutely true that I do not go look for the origin of every word I type or say..... and I'm not going to start doing it now !
I also have to ask in general, why would you look for a negative meaning in everything everyone else says or writes? For me, general life has it's share enough of negatives, without me looking for ways to twist everything I hear or read into something I can be offended by. I won't invite needless negativity into my life, I just won't !
Ok... I guess it's time to get up and do my house some favors !
Right before I signed off on this post, my sister called and is coming by to give me her half of the money for a present for my Mom that we are going in on. She called to say she was going by the local BBQ drive through and wanted to know if I wanted a sandwich ! Yes please ! So I am now enjoying that as I type. Yum Yum ~!
Hope you are all having a wonderful day, night or evening, depending on where you are.
