Talk:Negro

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Google blurb

Sources 8 and 9 are also dead. 98.234.94.99 (talk) 04:32, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

What comes up for this page when Googling "negro" is the following, which does seem to be in the article:

Negro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Negro is a term referring to people of nigga ancestry. Prior to the shift in the lexicon of American and worldwide classification of race and ethnicity in ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro - 50k - Cached - Similar pages -

I do not know how to address this. ^^^^

It must have been vandalism which was only recently reverted. It takes a while for edits to show up on google results. By the way, you don't sign post with four ^s, its tildes (~~~~). Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 10:04, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Negro in Spain

The word "Negro" in Spanish means black, and it is the normal word used to refer to Black people and it is not derogatory, but is a common misconception between English speakers to think that "negro" is derogatory because of its phonetical similarity to the word "nigger". So I don't understand why my edit was reverted, the article says that negro is derogatory and this is wrong, so I'll edit it. I'm a native Spanish speaker, I'm a spaniard and also I'll add as reference the definition of "negro" by the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary:

negro, gra.

(Del lat. niger, nigri).

1. adj. Se dice del aspecto de un cuerpo cuya superficie no refleja ninguna radiación visible.

2. adj. Se dice de la ausencia de todo color. U. m. c. s. m.

3. adj. Dicho de una persona: Cuya piel es de color negro. U. t. c. s.

word "negro" in Italy

"In Italy the word "negro" is an ethnic slur, but sometimes some uneducated people can use it without offensive meaning". The previous sentence is uncorrect: "negro" (along with "nero", which is very similar) is a term frequently used to describe black people without offensive meaning by the majority of italians, wheter they are uneducated or not. All the "the word "negro" is an ethnic slur, but sometimes some uneducated people can use it" is just an opinion, which is far from the truth: for example, if you watch to the italian version of films like "lethal weapon" you can clearly listen Danny Glover calling himself a "negro". I am italian and i can assure you about this.

--151.43.7.36 (talk) 19:22, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm Italian too and I'm wondering in which country do you live. "Negro" is not used at all by "the majority of Italians" to refer to black people. This is just plain ludicrous, just very uneducated people would do that. "Negro", although a neutral term until the 60s-70s, is today definitely perceived as an ethnic slur. --89.97.35.70 (talk) 17:36, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

I reinsert my comment, which was cancelled by an anonymous. --151.43.14.6 (talk) 22:05, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I partially agree with you. Furthermore "negro" still is an Italian word (although quite old, e.g. present in Petrarca's poems or local dialects) indicating the black color. See the definition of an online vocabulary. However more and more the term is thought to be offensive by many people, even if it was originally just a color adjective. The cited source states "il termine talvolta è avvertito o usato con valore spreg. e sostituito da nero" = the term (negro) sometimes is felt or used in an offesinsive manner, and substituted by nero". --Biopresto (talk) 10:13, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

In Italy the term today, september 2008, is with no doubt an offensive one and would not be used nor in politically speeches, nor in media, nor in any other colloquial situations. Debates are spreading about the correctness of the definition "coloured person" to define a black person, generally of african descent. I remove the comment, sorry for the anonimity but i have no time to register as i am a regular contributor on the italian wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.142.69.209 (talk) 21:18, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

I've just seen that the page is protected. That's fine for me, but the affirmation that the word in Italy has no offensive meaning is absolutely false. Thus i ask administrators to solve the problem. I must say also that an affirmation like //if you watch to the italian version of films like "lethal weapon" you can clearly listen Danny Glover calling himself a "negro"// is more than ridiculous: apart from the fact that the translator could be a fan of the KKK, or simply an ignorant, should we suppose that the italian translation of a movie like that is an encyclopedic source? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.142.69.209 (talk) 21:30, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

If somebody would want to talk about his skin color hironically or just making humor about himself would say "negro" and not "nero". As said, it really depends on contexts, it is not always offensive.--Biopresto (talk) 19:58, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

So if "negro" is italian for "black" what is the correct/polite term in Italian? 72.228.150.44 (talk) 16:06, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

"Nero" --Biopresto (talk) 17:42, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Use in the The Boondocks (TV series)

I'm surprised that a term described as an educated black man. If it is referenced so often in a pop culture TV show is it truly archaic? How to quantify this? Alatari (talk) 15:41, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Other languages

Just to add one - in Estonian word "neeger" has also been considered neutral and is in common usage. Alternate word "must" (lit. "black", in some context "dirty") is sensed more offencive. Although neutral in Estonian, many people often traveling abroad are using other words, including "must", in conversation, as "neeger" sounds similar to offencive "negro" and might rise unwanted attention from bystanders. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.159.213.182 (talk) 07:53, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Most words in themselves are not offensive. It is clear to the listener whether the word is offensive or not, based on who says it and in what way. Wallie (talk) 09:19, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Clean up

I undid a very contentious unsited revision that looked a lot like vandalism. Also removed the word "even" from the sentence in question as it's used as a weasel word.DrDoogle (talk) 11:00, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

The word negro

It is important that people know the history of this word. To me it is unfortunate that the word is changing its meaning. It used to be used as a term of respect. The word was used by famous people such as Jesse Owens and Martin Luther King. It was also used by "non negros" as a term of deep respect. Obviously, a few may have used the term insultingly, but these types will always plague us, and they are a minority. It is a pity a nice term has fallen into disuse or had its meaning changed. Wallie (talk) 09:15, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Words and their common use reflect attitudes, which are either deeply ingrained or change with the wind. It's revealing that the negros now get upset at a word they used to use as sign of respect. Maybe they don't like themselves. Think about it: even racial slurs fail to upset most Caucasoids. Do Germans mind being called Huns? Do Englishmen have a tantrum when they're called Limeys? Do New Zealanders pout when they're called Kiwis? Do Chinamen roil when called Orientals? Nah, of course not - just words, and they're all smart enough to ignore them. So I, for one, will always use the word 'negro' and I won't care who gets upset --- in 50 years they'll love the word again.--137.186.192.51 (talk) 21:13, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

I am English ( and therefore British ) of Germanic antecedents. And also Caucasian. I consider none of these terms offensive, nor do I consider the term Negro offensive. It is simply a classification of physical characteristics. African American, by contrast is a contradiction of terms. Either one is African, or one is American ( unless, of course, one has a parent from each continent. ) 82.13.143.58 (talk) 01:21, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Clarification of Intro

I'm having some trouble parsing this: "...the appellation was accepted as a normal neutral formal term both by those of Black African descent as well as non-African blacks."

Does "non-African blacks" refer to black people who aren't from Africa [i.e. (non-African) blacks] or to all people other than African blacks [i.e. non-(African blacks)]? This could use some clarification from someone familiar with the subject. 76.111.69.136 (talk) 00:13, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

It means blacks who are not from africa .Beccause if your born in amercia your not an african american your a black american .An amfrican america is someone who regardless of race transfers citizenship from africa to the usa. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.118.200.168 (talk) 17:42, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

That's not the commonly understood meaning of "African American". Non-African blacks would, to the best of my understanding, essentially mean Australoid Aboriginal peoples.--Ramdrake (talk) 19:21, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

User:208.118.200.168 please take care with your writing so that everyone can understand what you mean. You twicethree times typed "your" where you surely should have typed "you're" (or "you are"). You can easily check the spellings of the words Because and America too. (corrected)Cuddlyable3 (talk) 20:11, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Commons:Category:Negro

Would someone please weigh in at Commons:Categories for discussion/Current requests/2008/07/Category:Negro? There are really only two of us contributing to the conversation, we disagree with each other, and it would be useful to have someone else involved to move the discussion forward. - Jmabel | Talk 23:58, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

'Negro' vs 'Preto' in Portugal

"Interestingly, while in Brazil negro is the most respectful way to address the African ethnicity, with preto being considered a racial slur, the reverse is true in Portugal."

I'm Portuguese and I disagree with this claim. The situation is far more complex.

Like in Brazil, in Portugal, specially among white people, "preto" is usually considered somewhat or potentially offensive, as opposed to "negro"; this is true at least in recent years (decades), maybe by Brazilian influence (tv and immigrants) tempered with a hint of post-colonial regrets (avoiding to refer to black people the way we commonly did back when he had colonies in Africa).

(On the other hand, it is true that more recently a minority of black people feel offended by the use of "negro" instead of "preto". This is probably due to reverse psychology: they acknowledge the word "preto" as being more common than "negro" and consider the use of "negro" in racial contexts to be unnatural (self-censorship) and condescending...) Gazilion (talk) 17:20, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

I completely agree with Gazilion. I think the article should be edited to remove the statement that "preto" is the racial slur. Many Portuguese of African ascent prefer to call themselves as "preto", while others don't. But it is by no means a racial slur. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.78.219.216 (talk) 21:36, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

"Neger" used in Dutch

Having Dutch as my mother tongue, I would like to comment.

The Dutch "neger" is generally (but not universally) considered as neutral. Negro *used to be* neutral but the meaning has shifted to mildly offensive and somehow neo-colonialist. It's used in informal speech but people are aware of it not being "politically correct". (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate-coated_marshmallow_treats#Negerzoenen )

Or at least less negative than "zwarte" (black one): this stating is completely wrong. "Zwarte" is used in the same way "a black person" is in English and it's the most polite contemporary word for a person of African descend. Note: "bruine" (brown one) IS offensive as is "bruin mannen" (brown persons). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.66.104.148 (talk) 17:16, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Misspelled word

Since this page is locked I cannot edit it. Someone who has the authority to edit this page, please make the following correction.

Near the end of this article it says:

In Finnish it is unclear wether the word...

Please correct the spelling to "whether"

71.244.245.163 (talk) 00:56, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Done. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:24, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Malcolm X connection?

The article currently reads, "Because the term was objected to by the African American leader Malcolm X, by the late 1960s, it came to be considered as being an ethnic slur." There are two footnotes that purport to support this, but neither mentions Malcolm X nor any other specific African American leader. Merriam-Webster Online (which, by the way, is not written by "Modern Language Association") merely states that the word negro is "sometimes offensive". Naples News comes a bit closer, suggesting that "the more offensive slur" (presumably nigger) was banned from US place names in 1963. It does not mention Malcolm X, either.

If no reference can be found to support this assertion, it must be removed or modified to accurately reflect the sources. Cnilep (talk) 15:44, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Smith (1992) cites Stokely Carmichel as an early-adopter of Black as an ethnic label in rejection of Negro, and associates the shift away from the latter term with the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. He does not, however, mention Malcolm X. Henderson (2003) and Baugh (1999) cite surveys showing that younger people (i.e. those who were more effected by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s) regard Negro as an ethnic slur. I will replace the current problematic news sources with these academic ones. Cnilep (talk) 15:55, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

British English

There should be some mention that in British English there is no negative/racist implications to using the word Negro. It is rather old fashioned (though probably not yet archaic) and anybody using it would probably be considered an old fashioned liberal from 50/60/70 when using the term Black would be considered somewhat pejorative. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.237.141 (talk) 15:20, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/pdf/2010_Questionnaire_Info_Copy.pdf —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.106.90.22 (talk) 22:29, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Negro (surname)

Someone with editing rights needs to create a Negro (surname) page, like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_(surname)and linking to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Negro —Preceding unsigned comment added by Steven noble (talk • contribs) 06:43, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

entities which still use the word

The article mentions the UNCF as an organization which still uses the word in their name. A while back I added the Journal of Negro Education in the short list, but it was removed. Should we list entities which still use the word in their name?--76.116.105.50 (talk) 01:40, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Finnish?

(Note 9)? Please tell me, what has this pdf, that's nowhere else to be found or findable?--Radh (talk) 11:54, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

U.S. Census adds Negro in 2010

I just read about this on UPI and knew it was worthy of an inclusion. I've made the updates with citations and a link to the Census Bureau's website, where they have an online interactive form with the "negro" option included. According to them, many older blacks wrote in negro or still self-identify as such; lots of people are clearly upset by the inclusion, however. I'm not claiming to know, you'd have to ask a demographer, but as it's newsworthy, I've added it to the article. And don't email me with complaints, I'm not taking a stand on this, I'm just adding something to the article that is relevant. It's just information people, do with it what you will. Morgaledh (talk) 18:21, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

The Census did not "add" Negro to the 2010 census; it's been on the census form for many decades. --71.104.18.240 ([[User talk:71.104.18.240|talk]]) 05:23, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

It must have been missing from at least the 2000 edition of the census, since it was reported that many people had written in "Negro", which would not have been necessary had that option been available. (Perhaps "U.S. Census adds back Negro in 2010" would be a slightly more precise description of what occurred.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.128.188.152 (talk) 06:16, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Racial Slur

The article states this term is "widely considered a racist slur", what basis is there for this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.202.138.186 ([[User talk:68.202.138.186|talk]]) 19:18, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Same question from here Vasilatos (talk) 17:41, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Considering the word Negro appears on the US Census as a choice for race I don't see how it can be 'widely' considered a racist slur.

The claim has no references and is therefore misleading as to it being "widely" considered as a racial slur. It is used on the US Census, and although there have been a few complaints from younger african-americans, the term is not "widely" considered a slur. 80.77.132.239 ([[User talk:80.77.132.239|talk]]) 19:31, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

I agree and have removed the claim from the article.--Jersey Devil (talk) 20:15, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

The term is more archaic than a "slur.' 69.171.160.71 (talk)

100% agreed.71.112.41.87 (talk)

—Preceding undated comment added 02:46, 31 July 2010 (UTC).

Article is a dicdef

The article covers the usage of the term, whereas the idea behind it is at Black people. Encyclopedia articles only have one article per concept; and not per word or term. It's really a dictionary entry in the wrong place. :( - Wolfkeeper 17:39, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

The policy is at Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary.- Wolfkeeper 17:39, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

It might be a case for WP:IAR if people want to do that.- Wolfkeeper 17:39, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

This article covers far more than a dictionary definition, and Wiktionary already has a detailed entry on this word. Please stop adding the transwiki template, as it's not needed. Hersfold ^(t/a/c) 03:03, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a dictionary, but that there are words that have complex enough histories to merit encyclopedia articles. - Jmabel | Talk 03:50, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

I think the article "black people" should be renamed "Negro" and this article should be removed. I was searching for info on the Negro race, but instead got a dictionary definition. "black people" is not a scientific racial classification, but "Negro" or "Negroid" is. P.S. on an unrelated note, where is the article for the "Irish Iberian" race? I can't find it on Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.47.18.52 (talk) 20:41, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Add to bibliography/footnote 1.

What's in a Name? Preference for "Black" versus "African-American" among Americans of African Descent Lee Sigelman, Steven A. Tuch and Jack K. Martin The Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 69, No. 3 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 429-438 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.248.93.157 (talk) 18:53, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Negro In argentina.

I HAVE no idea where you have found that information, but in latin america "negro" y for both: the color and people. In argentina, negro is a peyorative word to name bolivians, peruvians and paraguayians.... The use of "negro" as a friendly nick name is true,., — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thaiel (talk • contribs) 03:16, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

Dead Links

http://www.spartandaily.com/2.14829/origins-of-black-history-month-discussed-1.1945687.shtml

is a dead link. Agent Cooper (talk) 00:14, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

When did "Negress" fall out of use?

I note that the "In English" section has the word "Negro" falling out of polite use in the 1960s, but the timeframe for "Negress" falling out of use is not documented. Are there any references that can show if this happened during the same time period? A close relative who lived in the USA during only the mid 1950s surprised me by recently using "Negress" in what she believed was polite usage - so it may seem probable that the usage decline was in the same period, but I would like to see some high quality sources so that a time reference can be added to the article.Savlonn (talk) 16:05, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

People not of African descent

The first sentence of this article says that Negro is used to "refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not" (emphasis mine). As a native speaker in the U.S. in my late 50s, I can't think of ever having heard of someone not of at least partial African descent called a Negro, except metaphorically (Norman Mailer's "White Negro" for example). Is there any citation or example for this? - Jmabel | Talk 07:26, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

I would presume that Australian aboriginals are/were sometimes called Negro, especially outside of Australia. D O N D E groovily Talk to me 07:52, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Then we should probably be specific about that, rather than this rather confusing statement which would suggest (for example) that the term might be applied to some of the darker-skinned peoples of Asia. - Jmabel | Talk 18:04, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

German

Political correctness has caused all manufacturers of "Negerkuss" (negro kiss) to rename the sweet to "Schokokuss" (chocolate kiss) many years ago. No idea how that helps prevent racism... next thing they will have to use white chocolate, because someone might take offence in the brown icing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.53.225.124 (talk) 07:14, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Swedish pastry

The part "negerboll" shuold be changed into "negerboll (or negerbulle in southern part of the country)". The translation of "negerbulle" is "negro bun" or "negro bisquit". The word has never been used as an offence toward black people, and since it's a "put-together word" or "composite word" the "neger-" part becomes far less unsuitable then the translation may suggest. Both words are still in use, thow "south version" might be more common to use in the south then the "northern version" in mid and north of the country 83.249.39.249 (talk) 16:42, 31 January 2012 (UTC)