• spujb@lemmy.cafe
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      1 day ago

      the wikipedia article on it cites two instances where it didn’t seem to be wayy back at the word’s inception. but yeah hardly matters in the grand scheme

    • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Naw, it was most commonly used as a term similar to “that chinese guy” which is easy to confuse with racism at a time period where people were generally racist towards the chinese, but the term itself is not racist. There were actual slurs back then they could use if they were about that.

      My Grandmother said they always bought they’re vegetables growing up from the chinaman who rolled his cart through the alleyway behind their homes. It’s not a term of hate, but it’s easy to say hateful things alongside it.

      • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
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        2 hours ago

        The people going around loudly policing other people’s language do more harm to leftist causes than good.

            • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
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              1 day ago

              I just disagree. We are equally dense at worst. I’ve already expressed people were racist and had slurs that they used. Im not ignoring that or unaware of it or trying to gloss over that. This just wasn’t one of them for a long stretch of time.

              You won’t believe it because you just don’t believe it. That’s you being dense. You refuse to accept the reality I’ve witnessed. Terms weren’t used with equal intent globally throughout history. How a term was used in Caldwell Idaho in 1930 is not how it was used in Pennsylvania at the same time, despite them both being America and the people involved all being American.