Did you know
that there are over 100 words
for "outsider?"
Each word
conveys a subtlely different meaning
from every other word
Take "nigger," for instance
This word and "cracker"
both refer to skin color
However, each is a different shade
of hate
Then we have "kike" and "hebe"
I've had both terms
applied to myself,
my religion
I've flinched
in a slightly different way
when each was said
Since this is a poem,
let's rhyme -
"Dyke" rhymes with "kike"
You could even call someone
a "kike dyke"
This would refer
to a particular type of lesbian,
should you be a particular type of bigot
As long as we're discussing
sexual orientations,
how about "fag," "queer," or "tranny?"
So many labels for "different" and "unacceptable"
Let's not forget
"wop," "chink," "wetback," "camel jockey," "frog"
So many ways to say
"You are not one of us."
Isn't language wonderfully fascinating?
And did you know
that the Eskimos have
over 100 words for....?
submitted with apologies if I offended anyone's sense of decorum to Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Out of Standard with Izy, Eskimo
*
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen
6 comments:
our language, our words heal or hurt...sadly we are always inventing new ways to knock others a few levels lower than us, strip their dignity, enforce our will to be gods...
interesting how humans, at least in the western caucasion world, when put in a situation of threat will use the language to diminish other ethnicities thinking this diminishment gives them superiority through dehumanization.
learned this when first moved to the US. I was a 'wetback' or 'spic'. During war time the enemy is dehumanized by name so that it rationalizes the ability to kill an 'unhuman' example; during Vietnam war the American soldier used terms like 'gook' 'chink' 'dink' 'slant eye', etc., to refer to the NVA
unfortunately words are sometimes more dangerous then guns
that's 'than' guns. Ooops! see I told you words can be hurful
Words have the power to motivate, lift up and accentuate the positive. The people behind the words have to the power to humiliate, degrade and hate. This was an excellent post!
As if more words for division and separation were needed.
Stirring round of applause from me!
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