• milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      But neither is your skin colour expressed in Latin. It becomes a slur based on how and when it’s used.

      I agree with feeling ‘obese’ is a neutral, objective term for the physical/medical fact. But then, coming from a non-Anerican context, I used to have no sense of the N word being so offensive, any more than any other random insulting (or even affectionate!) term.

      In the wrong context, ‘obese’ can certainly be hurtful and inappropriate. I can imagine, for some people, it’s a trigger word of years of pain and mockery.

      • Etterra@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Look I’m a fat American and here at least nobody I’ve ever heard has used “obese” as a slur. You hear actual insults, “fatass” comes immediately to mind but there’s plenty of others; I’ve heard plenty of them personally. The OP in the pic is a fucking doctor according to her obscured user name and needs to be far more responsible. Obesity is party of a medical status - being called a land whale is an insult.

        Further, the N-word has centuries of racist cultural weight behind it. The word “obese” is far more recent and isn’t used as part of the systematic oppression of an entire ethnic to group - one that makes up an enormous amount of American population.

        This isn’t even apples and oranges. This is cantaloupes and blueberries. Not watermelons though, that has racist baggage too.

      • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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        3 months ago

        But neither is your skin colour expressed in Latin.

        Niger is Latin… Nigger is not.

        While I’m generally not sensitive to these things, claiming something that’s factually not true as a defense of the word is just not okay. Use the word if you really want to use it. If you use it in any other way other than academically (such as discussing the word in of itself)… don’t surprise pikachu when people shun you for it.

          • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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            3 months ago

            Not according to the etymology. https://www.etymonline.com/word/nigger

            1786, earlier neger (1568, Scottish and northern England dialect), negar, negur, from French nègre, from Spanish negro (see Negro).

            All of these languages are latin-based languages… So there must be a latin root. If you dig further you find

            from Latin nigrum (nominative niger) “black, dark, sable, dusky” (applied to the night sky, a storm, the complexion), figuratively “gloomy, unlucky, bad, wicked,”

            So yes negro exists in the middle but not as the source necessarily… It would have evolved (if I read the etymology correctly) as Nigrum -> Niger -> Negro/neger/negar/negur -> Nigger.

          • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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            3 months ago

            Jeez, you’re really out here word policing when it’s clear we’re simply talking about the word… You know… not actually attributing it.

            You act like just saying “Negro” with no context is any better.

            Just like your namesake, you’ve added nothing to the discussion except a bit of toxicity.

      • redisdead@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I never used or seen used ‘obese’ as a slur.

        Fatty, yes. Absolutely, all the time. Obese, no.

        If you’re ‘triggered’ by being called a fatty, stop being fat.

        • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          If you’re ‘triggered’ by being called a fatty, stop being fat.

          Now that’s a bad take.

          We shouldn’t mock people for things they struggle with, even if we think they could just stop.

          • redisdead@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Struggling with actual problems, sure.

            Struggling with being unable to stop shoving burgers in your mouth is not an actual problem.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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              3 months ago

              And saying things like that is exactly why obese people have so much trouble having the confidence to start losing weight. And no, it is not as easy as you are suggesting. We live in an era of processed foods and food deserts where people are so overworked and often with such long commutes that they don’t have the energy or the time to cook a healthy meal when they get home.

              Telling those people to stop shoving burgers in their mouth doesn’t help anything.

              Also, and I can’t believe this is the second time I’ve had to say this to someone today- have you ever been insulted into making a lifestyle change? I sure haven’t.