A white man must never refer to a black man as "boy".

Post Reply New Topic

A white man must never refer to a black man as a boy or address them as "boy". To do so is a serious crime. Or this is what I have heard.

What if a black man does the same to a white man? Is it nearly as offensive? Apparently not. Well, maybe if they say "white boy", but otherwise no.

Ignoring the racial aspect, calling an adult man boy is speaking to him the way one speaks to the help. It's inherently reducing him to a lower status.

Combined with the racial angle and the Anglosphere's long history of anti-black racism and it's easy to see why it's highly offensive within that context.

Son is another word that can be used in the same way.

It is one of the words associated with apartheid South Africa to reinforce the idea that blacks were inferior.

The only context it could be inoffensively used by adults might be in consensual role play e.g. when a guy willingly lets a Dom, male or female, call him that as part of the scenario.

Son is used here affectionately.
Boy should not be used, it’s rude.
At a bbq a drunk woman told my teenage son to get her a beer out of the cooler by yelling out, “Hey boy, get me a beer.”He ignored her, she had to get her own.If she had asked,“ Son, please get me a beer.” He would have .

^"Son" or even "Lad" are better. Lad has a whimsical, even affectionate sound to it.

Oh for goodness sake the world has become absolutely ridiculous.

When people call me "girl" do I give a s**t? No, because I have bigger problems to worry about.

Referring to a grown man as "boy" can be insulting or not depending on the context. "Boy" is commonly used in an affectionate way in many love songs much like the word "girl".

Wasn't it common back in the day in the U.S. for white people to refer to black men as "boys" to demean them, and deny their intelligence and maturity as adults? That was a very common experience that I saw in like, every single book or article I had to read about racism and segregation in school...

The whole world is just going insane with its political correctness. I'm still having trouble not saying "lame" when I think something is stupid because it's offensive to people who are physically lame.

Next we won't be allowed to use the following words in everyday conversation because they're sooo offensive:

"See" because it's offensive to blind people. Never say "I see" to mean that you understand something.
"Hear" because it's offensive to deaf people. Never say "I hear you" to mean you agree with someone.
"Walk" because it's offensive to people who can't walk. Never say "Walk a mile in one's shoes". It's also offensive to people who don't have shoes.
"Talk" because it's offensive to people who can't speak. Never say "Speak your mind"
"Eat" because it's offensive to people with eating disorders
"Breathe" because it's offensive to people with breathing disorders
"Heart" because it's offensive to people with heart disease. Never say "have a heart" or "big-hearted"
"Bee" because it's offensive to people allergic to bee stings.

But one thing I know for certain is that the word "right", positive phrases using the word right, and negative phrases using the world left will never be banned from the English language even though it's offensive to left handed people. So people will still forever continue saying "knowing right from wrong", or "two left feet"

These horrible <insert some word>-ists want us to be aware of how not to offend people. Horrible! /s

Really. If you have some minority friends, just respectfully listen to how they feel about various ways of speaking and behaving.
It's about respect.

I automatically treat a black person as I would a white person because we're all equally PEOPLE. That also means I don't change my vocabulary depending on the colour skin of a person. Because in my eyes they are just another person.

Sometimes political correctness can become overused, like it does on this site.

A driver not letting a person on the bus because of the colour of their skin is racist and disgusting, in my opinion. A driver not letting a person on the bus because they're being a threat to other passengers on the bus, regardless of their colour skin, is not racist, but if the trouble-maker happens to be black (not saying black people are more likely to be trouble-makers) then the whole world names and shames the driver for being racist.

Everyone should be treated equally. Nobody should be more privileged just because of the colour of their skin. That's the way I see it.

EDIT: And no, I don't agree with how black people were treated in the past. But they were being treated differently because of the colour of their skin. I'm talking about treating everyone the same.