The word 'spic'

carlop

I was out last night with a few Spanish mates in town, they were with a pretty big group, and I heard them referred to as 'spics' a couple of times. I'm not some crazed member of the PC brigade or anything but I was wondering how bad to be people think this word is? Is it a racial slur or is it a harmless nickname?

Mark200

Never heard of it before

biko

As bad as kikes and **** I think, actually maybe not as bad.

FlutterinBantam

carlop wrote: »

I was out last night with a few Spanish mates in town, they were with a pretty big group, and I heard them referred to as 'spics' a couple of times. I'm not some crazed member of the PC brigade or anything but I was wondering how bad to be people think this word is? Is it a racial slur or is it a harmless nickname?

HISPANIC, it's a shortening of that AFAIK.

Not usually used as a harmless nickname

dr.bollocko

Damn that petrochemical industry.

carlop

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

HISPANIC, it's a shortening of that AFAIK.

Not usually used as a harmless nickname

Ah yeah I know where it comes from, its just that its used so much more than other racist terms and doesn't appear to have the same taboo about it.

For example last night we were in a bar and someone came out of the jacks, looked around and said jesus the place is full of spics. Now if I'd been out with a group of black people I'm guessing he wouldn't have said 'jesus this place is full of ****.'

Kold

It's pretty bad form, alright. Mostly it's just the N word that's off limits for direct use but that is a term of racial abuse. It doesn't have the connotations of the N word though.

ART6

biko wrote: »

As bad as kikes and **** I think, actually maybe not as bad.

Or as bad as "Paddies"??

Simi

Given that it's an almost exclusively american term, that's not as widely known as other forms of racial slurs I wouldn't see it as being that bad tbh.

It is mainly used in a joking manner outside america, i'd imagine. Tbh I don't see why people get all riled up about this sort of thing.

phantom_lord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAazd7VgrBE

DirkVoodoo

Great video!

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Yea that word is quite racist... Same as the N word... Not very nice to be honest.

FlutterinBantam

carlop wrote: »

Ah yeah I know where it comes from, its just that its used so much more than other racist terms and doesn't appear to have the same taboo about it.

For example last night we were in a bar and someone came out of the jacks, looked around and said jesus the place is full of spics. Now if I'd been out with a group of black people I'm guessing he wouldn't have said 'jesus this place is full of ****.'

Quite possibly it's because it doesn't refer to a particular skin colour but rather an ethnic origin,which seems to be a bit more acceptable than raw skin colour.

OK?

monkeyfudge

People using the word are either racist or extremely ignorant.

A lot of people seem far too comfortable throwing the word 'chink' around too I find.

mike65

Spic is a bit like Dago and Brit bastard, on the second tier of common abuse.

Mike

ronnie3585

Highly offensive;

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spic

Professey Chin

Its bad but i find "spink-sponks" worse

anonymous_joe

If used in a derogatory way it's bloody awful.

df1985

ive spent a couple of summers working in spain, and although i wouldnt class it as bad as **** if used in the wrong context,it can cause offence.it all depends how you use it.

Aodan83

Whether or not its as bad as the "n" word should be irrelevant. Surely we should have no place for derogartory terms like "spic" in the first place.

Terry

Did you not think to ask your Spanish friends how they felt about it?

Kold

I made up my own racial slur. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pinkdick

Tigger

While the exact origin of the word isn't known, some Latin Americans in the United States believe that some of the Ethnic groups referred to Hispanic Americans using the word as play on their accented pronunciation of the English word "speak" (as in "No spic English").


is it racist to lol this

Lockstep

As far as American TV is reliable, it's very bad.

Overheal

It would be somewhere in severity between "Jew" and "N_____" as a racial slur, so it is quite offensive, yes.

Kold

Overheal wrote: »

It would be somewhere in severity between "Jew" and "N_____" as a racial slur, so it is quite offensive, yes.

Jew isn't a racial slur.

hullaballoo

Kold wrote: »

Jew isn't a racial slur.

Yeah, but he spelt it with a German accent.

mumhaabu

It is an American term that not alot of English speaking Europeans know of, I have heard it in New York and it is highly offensive akin to "N" for African Americans. Spiclita is often used to refer to a female Latino and spiclet for Latino children similar to niglet used of black children. If you ever played the GTA 4 video game or other similar ones you'd soon pick up on the American slang which is quite offensive to those involved. Gringo is a popular derogatory (although tolerated by the liberal PC brigade) that is used to refer to white people by those of spanish speaking backgrounds.

All those words are extremly derogatory and using the word spic amongst white people can have bad consequences as alot of "White" people are actually Hispanic and with the melting pot of America it is hard to tell who is who, whereas you can tell a black person rather easily. It is probably something picked up by J1'ers and they use it here in an attempt to seem modern and cultured. :rolleyes: *spontaneously vomits*

Latino people in America get alot of abuse and quite often it comes from blacks and Asians as the way it goes in America is, Whites either like or hate everybody, blacks blame everybody for their own self inflicted problems, Latinos dislike blacks and Asians consider themselves above everybody but really aspire to White Culture, obviously these are sweeping generalisations but it is how they are portrayed but there is an element of truth in it especially when you look at the voting records of the various ethnic groups.

Also I must add Latino women are gorgeous!!

Fanny Cradock

monkeyfudge wrote: »

People using the word are either racist or extremely ignorant.

A lot of people seem far too comfortable throwing the word 'chink' around too I find.

Oddly enough, I've heard people refer to a Chinese takeaway as a Chinky.

Sir Gallagher

mumhaabu wrote: »

It is an American term that not alot of English speaking Europeans know of, I have heard it in New York and it is highly offensive akin to "N" for African Americans. Spiclita is often used to refer to a female Latino and spiclet for Latino children similar to niglet used of black children. If you ever played the GTA 4 video game or other similar ones you'd soon pick up on the American slang which is quite offensive to those involved. Gringo is a popular derogatory (although tolerated by the liberal PC brigade) that is used to refer to white people by those of spanish speaking backgrounds.

All those words are extremly derogatory and using the word spic amongst white people can have bad consequences as alot of "White" people are actually Hispanic and with the melting pot of America it is hard to tell who is who, whereas you can tell a black person rather easily. It is probably something picked up by J1'ers and they use it here in an attempt to seem modern and cultured. :rolleyes: *spontaneously vomits*

Latino people in America get alot of abuse and quite often it comes from blacks and Asians as the way it goes in America is, Whites either like or hate everybody, blacks blame everybody for their own self inflicted problems, Latinos dislike blacks and Asians consider themselves above everybody but really aspire to White Culture, obviously these are sweeping generalisations but it is how they are portrayed but there is an element of truth in it especially when you look at the voting records of the various ethnic groups.

Also I must add Latino women are gorgeous!!

That's racist against ugly Latino birds.

carlop

Terry wrote: »

Did you not think to ask your Spanish friends how they felt about it?

Yeah obviously I did, they'd never heard of it so I don't think they really knew what to make of it. When I tried explaining it, I wasn't sure how exactly to classify it as an insult eg. how bad it is, what I could compare it to etc. hence the thread.

Kold

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Oddly enough, I've heard people refer to a Chinese takeaway as a Chinky.

Wasn't that just in Peep Show?

AckwelFoley

Spic is the same to them as nigg3r is to an black person.
My best mate is chinese irish
as great of friends i am with him id never call him chink

javaboy

snyper wrote: »

Spic is the same to them as nigg3r is to an black person.
My best mate is chinese irish
as great of friends i am with him id never call him chink

Of course not. He's part Irish. You'd need a hybrid slur like Mink or Chaddy.


I always thought spic was considered offensive but just as some black people don't mind the term ****** in some contexts, I'm sure there's plenty of Hispanic people who don't mind spic.

Terry

snyper wrote: »

Spic is the same to them as nigg3r is to an black person.
My best mate is chinese irish
as great of friends i am with him id never call him chink

I used to work with a black guy and would regularly call him a nígger.
It was used in a joking manner and he accepted it that way and would retort by saying that he didn't care because he had a big dick.*

Granted, I knew him before we worked together, so that might have had something to do with it.
Also, he was half Irish and was born here, so he listened to that crap all his life and was well able to give as good as he got.


*He had much better retorts than that, I just can't think of them right now.

Kold

javaboy wrote: »

Of course not. He's part Irish. You'd need a hybrid slur like Mink or Chaddy.


I always thought spic was considered offensive but just as some black people don't mind the term ****** in some contexts, I'm sure there's plenty of Hispanic people who don't mind spic.

I'm either a pook or a gaddy.

longshanks

mumhaabu wrote: »

It is an American term that not alot of English speaking Europeans know of, I have heard it in New York and it is highly offensive akin to "N" for African Americans. Spiclita is often used to refer to a female Latino and spiclet for Latino children similar to niglet used of black children. If you ever played the GTA 4 video game or other similar ones you'd soon pick up on the American slang which is quite offensive to those involved. Gringo is a popular derogatory (although tolerated by the liberal PC brigade) that is used to refer to white people by those of spanish speaking backgrounds.

All those words are extremly derogatory and using the word spic amongst white people can have bad consequences as alot of "White" people are actually Hispanic and with the melting pot of America it is hard to tell who is who, whereas you can tell a black person rather easily. It is probably something picked up by J1'ers and they use it here in an attempt to seem modern and cultured. :rolleyes: *spontaneously vomits*

Latino people in America get alot of abuse and quite often it comes from blacks and Asians as the way it goes in America is, Whites either like or hate everybody, blacks blame everybody for their own self inflicted problems, Latinos dislike blacks and Asians consider themselves above everybody but really aspire to White Culture, obviously these are sweeping generalisations but it is how they are portrayed but there is an element of truth in it especially when you look at the voting records of the various ethnic groups.

Also I must add Latino women are gorgeous!!

are they the ones that just stole your car/sold you drugs/beat their women?

mumhaabu

longshanks wrote: »

are they the ones that just stole your car/sold you drugs/beat their women?

If I was overtly PC I might label you racist but I won't.

You can tell a black person or a mixed race person by their skin colour that they are definitely not White, it is harder to distinguish Latino's due to the similarities of the common European ancestry.

PurpleBerry

It's not the word that matters, it's the intent. If someone playfully called you a "sh!thead" you'd just return the insult. If someone angrily or sneerily shouted it at you, you'd want to go over and return the insult with your fist.

Overheal

Neesa wrote: »

It's not the word that matters, it's the intent. If someone playfully called you a "sh!thead" you'd just return the insult. If someone angrily or sneerily shouted it at you, you'd want to go over and return the insult with your fist.

I really don't think I would take a swing at someone for calling me a sh*thead. What a waste of an Assault charge that would be.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I was talking to a guy once, who referred to himself as a ******, he was black. I told him that was racist and against the rules of the forum, yet he thought it was ok to use the word because he was black? Still racist, right?

PurpleBerry

Overheal wrote: »

I really don't think I would take a swing at someone for calling me a sh*thead. What a waste of an Assault charge that would be.

Neesa wrote: »

you'd want to...

.

Reganio 2

Damn honkey's don't know whats racist

Matt Holck

Oaklyn Blue Jell-o wrote: »

I was talking to a guy once, who referred to himself as a ******, he was black. I told him that was racist and against the rules of the forum, yet he thought it was ok to use the word because he was black? Still racist, right?

yes
though there can be comradery among the oppressed
an understanding that they are all abused together under the label
__________________

AckwelFoley

javaboy wrote: »

but just as some black people don't mind the term ****** in some contexts, I'm sure there's plenty of Hispanic people who don't mind spic.

hmm, if you ever meet karoma.. Do call him nigg3r to his face.

id be interested to see if you would have your arms removed and used to beat you to death. :pac:

javaboy

snyper wrote: »

hmm, if you ever meet karoma.. Do call him nigg3r to his face.

id be interested to see if you would have your arms removed and used to beat you to death. :pac:

Like I said, some black people in some contexts.

AckwelFoley

Oaklyn Blue Jell-o wrote: »

I was talking to a guy once, who referred to himself as a ******, he was black. I told him that was racist and against the rules of the forum, yet he thought it was ok to use the word because he was black? Still racist, right?

90% likely it was some white kid that just wishes he was black. 'a wigger'

the internet..where white kids can be black

Dave!

On par with n*gger, kike, etc.

AckwelFoley

Irish are referred to as 'spud nigg3rs'

go google

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

snyper wrote: »

Irish are referred to as 'spud nigg3rs'

go google

Well that's one I haven't heard before... ha!!!

I was called a spud licker by a brit before... :P

AckwelFoley

Oaklyn Blue Jell-o wrote: »

I was called a spud licker by a brit before... :P

i hoped your retort was swift