Used and Abused
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Sun Oct-09-05 08:15 PM
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should first letter of racial labels be capitalized (e.g. white, black) |
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Should the first letter in race descriptions be in uppercase and if so, is it offensive not to do so?
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SteppingRazor
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Sun Oct-09-05 08:16 PM
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:hi:
Speaking from a purely grammarian point of view.
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pattim
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Sun Oct-09-05 08:19 PM
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2. Personally, I believe so, |
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only so as to distinguish from imaginary humans who are actually the color 'white' and 'black.' ;)
But realistically, that tends to look a bit quaint, like when they used to Capitalize every Noun and many Verbs which the Author intended to Write. And I have no idea if it's offensive one way or the other.
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Inland
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Sun Oct-09-05 08:38 PM
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3. No, although the problem only appears because |
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nations and continents are capitalized, so you get black, African American, hispanic, Mexican.
There's no good reason, and do whatever Strunk and White tell you.
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shenmue
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Sun Oct-09-05 09:07 PM
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There are too many layers of meaning within each label. Also, if a person comes from a heritage of many different backgrounds, or if they don't know what their ancestry is, the terms can become very vague.
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Taxloss
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Sun Oct-09-05 09:19 PM
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5. I once worked for a black newspaper in the UK, and its style was "no". |
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Lowercase is better.
(PS the paper was The Voice.)
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Blue_In_AK
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Sun Oct-09-05 09:58 PM
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6. I don't capitalize black and white... |
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Edited on Sun Oct-09-05 09:58 PM by Blue_In_AK
...but for some reason I DO capitalize Native (as in Native Alaskans), maybe to distinguish them from white or black Alaskans who just happened to have been born here. My daughters are natives but not Natives.
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Tue May 07th 2024, 04:08 PM
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