Or maybe it will continue to be that place where you pray you don't run out of gas. Glenn Beck even defended him, citing the first lady's love of arugula. "Those comments he made on the radio about Chinese people are really an imaginary rural town where everything and everyone is backward, old fashioned, and inferior. Originally, the term started within the Black community, but the racists adopted it pretty quickly. Delivered to your inbox! circa 1503, in the meaning defined at sense 2. People could take a local train coming down the branch to Podunk and board the sleeper, which would be picked up by an overnight trainand taken to a larger town down the line. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. usually used in a blank part of a conversation, or where one cannot think of a come-back. "but the articles cemented Podunk in the American imagination as the go-to name for a rural hicksville. I did some Net research and found nothing relative to Railroads Anyone information about?Many Thanks!philippe, PRR N-Scaler in France. When you call someone a "bugger," you're accusing them of being a sodomite at least according to the original meaning. "Plantation shutters" are featured in a recently-purchased condominium in Arlington, Va., Sept. 17, 2006. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.. Podunks - definition of Podunks by The Free Dictionary . with humane men I will plead; Podunk. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Podunk. but to tyrants I will give no quarter, Last edited on Jun 16 2016. Perhaps context is key with it then? derogatory, depreciatory, depreciative, disparaging, slighting, pejorative mean designed or tending to belittle. It was first used in the early 1900s in the U.S. and means sitting cross-legged, but is rarely used in schools anymore, experts said. Podunk is not necessarily derogatory; there is an implication of insignificance but then 99.9% of all the inhabited communities in the U. S. of A. fill that bill. Until, one day, things change: The scenery turns gray; the people lose their charm. Both amplify a stereotypical view of Japanese culture. Podunk isn't the end of the world, but you can see the end of the world from there! Is this the correct usage of a vulgar and offensive phrase? Small, but menacing-looking rodents scurry across the road. It happens on every road trip you're driving from city to city, natural wonder to natural wonder. It is quite striking that Hayakawa and Merriam-Webster agree on four of the five members of the vulgar group that each identifies, but on none of the closest relatives to offensive. [1] These terms are often used in the upper case as a placeholder name, to indicate "insignificance" and "lack of importance". The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. I don't think "Podunk sleeper" is an actual railroadterm. As you might expect from their name, none of America's various Podunks are exactly booming. S.I. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, words and phrases and their origins are being reexamined, the Washington Redskins have decided to change their name. Vulgar suggests something that is offensive to good taste or decency, frequently with the added implication of boorishness or ill breeding [examples omitted], derogatory, depreciatory, depreciative, disparaging, slighting, pejorative mean designed or tending to belittle. nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost. Nglish: Translation of derogatory for Spanish Speakers, Britannica English: Translation of derogatory for Arabic Speakers. Send us feedback about these examples. So, why is "fuck" worse than "penis" for example? "There is racism embedded throughout our language system just like every other system," said Jeffrey Barg, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist known as The Angry Grammarian, told ABC News. The word podunk is of Algonquian origin. Today, the phrase is a way of talking about revealing corporate information. It sounds like there's hope for Podunk. Language can have a positive or negative influence on who we are, and how we see other people. Podunk, Wisconsin, a now defunct town containing a sizable Bradner, Charnley & Co. First of all, if you look up "derogatory" in dictionaries you'll get something like the following: adj. Podunk is an Algonquian word. thank you, you show me the good way! My phone's touchscreen is damaged. Similarly, people might not realize that the term "uppity," nowadays used generally to refer to a stuck-up or arrogant person, was commonly used to describe Black people that "didn't know their socioeconomic place.". A common implication of Podunk is that it's a place so dreary and remote that it's not even worth situating on a map. Either way, when we refer to an entire group of people by their perceived behaviors, we trivialize their existence and culture. More commonly known now as a "food coma," this phrase directly alludes to the stereotype of laziness associated with African Americans. n. Slang A small isolated town, region, or place that is regarded as unimportant. With reasonable men, I will reason; Akin to "flyover states," "nowheresville" and "hicksville," people use "Podunk" as a stand-in for anywhere they think doesn't have much going on. In this context it refers to something (such as a late payment, foreclosure, or bankruptcy) that will have a negative effect on a persons credit score. In the same vein, after decades of debate and court cases over its name and logo, the Washington Redskins have decided to change their name, which was an offensive term in reference to Native Americans. At the time, he was living in Buffalo, moving to Hartford, Connecticut in 1871, in a home within 4 miles (6.4km) of the Podunk River. "But if there's something about that expression that is reminiscent of a practice or culture that marginalized or oppressed people, then we're presented with an opportunity to revisit that expression and its utility in our language," she said. Or maybe just say you're stuffed. My hunch is that a Podunk sleeper is not a sleeper at all but an accomodation car of marginal comfort, so the word "sleeper" was sarcasm due to the lack of good sleep one was likely to get in it. Brunch Query: What Does It Really Mean To 'Go Dutch'? The fact that this is a Native American name to begin with is irrelevant. All rights reserved. Take for example: "I found his behaviour toward his mother to be really offensive." Rudyard Kipling mentions it as a "counting-out song" (basically a way for kids to eliminate candidates for being "It" in hide-and-seek) in "Land And Sea Tales For Scouts And Guides.". I don't think anybody knows that," he said. Something offensive subjects one to painful or highly disagreeable sensations. And folks who live in the various Podunks are pretty well-practiced at pushing back against its common usage. "Those comments he made on the radio about Chinese Mumbo jumbo was first used in the 1700s in West Africa by travel writer Francis Moore in his book "Travels In The Interior Districts of Africa," who described Mumbo Jumbo as a masked dancer who was involved in certain religious ceremonies. They can deteriorate and they can sometimes become much stronger than they were in the first place.". hmm welll.. zuppameep to u too u jerk!!! Through various languages, the term morphed into "bugger. "This simply seems to have attached a particular name and again, unless someone from a place named Podunk is particularly offended by it, it doesn't sound like it was done with any malicious intent towards any particular people. The people there are probably a little creepy. However generally speaking I think there's enough difference between these to straightforwardly state some differences. My answer focuses on the particular question, "What are the differences between them [the words vulgar, offensive, and derogatory]?". There are a bunch of words in English that have Algonquian roots: skunk, moose, caribou. The popular term "peanut gallery," for example, was once used to refer to people mostly Black people who were sitting in the "cheap" seats in Vaudeville theaters. ry di-rg--tr- -tr- 1 : intended to lower the reputation of a person or thing 2 : expressing a low opinion derogatory remarks derogatorily -rg--tr--l -tr- adverb More from Merriam-Webster on derogatory Nglish: Translation of derogatory for Spanish Speakers Alternatively, others believe that the term didn't originate as a racist phrase, but instead evolved to have racist usage. "The itis". The word podunk is of Algonquian origin.It denoted both the Podunk people and marshy locations, particularly the people's winter village site on the border of present-day East Hartford and South Windsor, Connecticut. The 1940s and 1950s-era children's program "Howdy Doody" used the term to refer to the groups of kids who participated in its audience. Maybe Webster's was right. Railroad slanghas many such examples. Offensive is the mildest word in this list. To say these phrases and words are "just expressions" or to say the intent of using the word is "not meant to be racist" is not good enough, Barg explained. My opinion is in some cases those three might mean exactly the same thing. Every hour is a magical combination of rustic beauty and historic landmarks and fascinating people. As this answer is long enough, I'll just try to illustrate an obvious difference with an example. ", the term didn't originate as a racist phrase. When a gnoll vampire assumes its hyena form, do its HP change? "What's striking about 'open the kimono' is how clearly rude it is," Alan Conor, author of "The Crossword Century" and "The Joy of Quiz," told ABC News. rev2023.4.21.43403. European colonizers used the term broadly, lumping all Native Americans in that region into one ethnic group. Lacy, John. But the Podunk called their homeplace Nowashe, 'between' rivers. An 1875 description said: Sometimes the newest State, or the youngest county or town of a State is nicknamed "Old Podunk," or whatever it may be, by its affectionate inhabitants, as though their home was an ancient figure in national history.[6]. The film was about a drug smuggling operation that had french connections in mid-state New York. Accessed 1 May. There's a Podunk in Connecticut, one in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts. In American discourse, the term podunk came into general colloquial use through the wide national readership of the "Letters from Podunk" of 1846, in the Daily National Pilot of Buffalo, New York. If you don't get that, a little selfrefection is in order." It was not until the 1600's that the word was defined as estates where the enslaved labored in bondage and were forced to grow such crops as cotton and tobacco. I think this is the answer that's quite good. ", The other thing people likely don't know? A website for the property says, "Oak Alley as a sugar plantation was built by and relied on enslaved men, women and children.". The book portrays Waxtend as being drawn by his interest in public affairs into becoming a representative in the General Assembly, finding himself unsuited to the role, and returning to his trade. Another difference I can see is that people can take offence to things that aren't directed at them, but to things that may just be a breach of civility or custom. For instance, in 1869, Mark Twain wrote the article "Mr. Beecher and the Clergy," defending his friend Thomas K. Beecher, whose preaching had come under criticism. Copyright 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. See, the mega-popular entertainer George M. Cohan had spent his childhood summers in Podunk, Massachusetts (part of what is today North Brookfield) and used the name in his act. Submitted by melissa from Gulf Breeze, FL, USA on Mar 14 2000 . "It's used without a lot of thought about its literal meaning, and I'm sure that there are people who, if reminded how predatory it sounds, would tee-hee rather than blush," Conor continued.
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