Nicole Telesky The origin of a words definition can often be traced back years, decades or even centuries, thus allowing enough time for manipulation of its meaning to occur to where eventually the word becomes a commonly used, often randomly with little regard to its primary meaning. Such is the word “ghetto”. This word can be traced back into sixteenth century and here the twenty-first century, this original word has become part of our culture, but its current definition is far from original. The word ghetto has always been used to acknowledge a particular section of an area. In Venice Italy, it was used to describe neighborhoods where the city markets were located. The meaning then signified where the Jews in …show more content…
Or if you are wearing something you feel is really cool, you call yourself ghetto and throw up a peace sign, even if you’re dressed like your going to Disney World. These multiple uses have nothing significant to do with the actual word, yet people still think they sound culturally correct. So how should ghetto be used? It should be used by its original meaning, an area with people who are not a s well off, people who struggle and work hard. Similar to some of its other uses, it should describe the particular culture that comes from modern ghettos, like the street smarts and tough emotions. This should not be used stereotypically, just as a description. The only time it should be used in a proud way is when someone is talking about their past and how much they worked to improve their lifestyle. Ghetto was never a positive word, so its meaning should rarely be positive. Often people from the ghetto mock being ghetto, not advise it. People continually use the word in a correct form or in a stupid fashion. With any word, people should take into context the words original meaning. No word should change to a complete opposite connotation. Chances are, people still consider the past definition and find new ones offensive. The word ghetto should be used in this manner, arguing against the popular pop
The n-word is considered one of the most vicious racial slurs in the English language today. True that the n-word is closely associated with slavery and the oppression of blacks. Even after the abolition of slavery the word still haunted African Americans, especially in more segregated areas; where blacks were viewed as inferior to whites. In recent years the n-word has become less of a malicious slur in parts of our country. Public figures who use the n-word run the risk of losing their jobs. However, since the 1960s African Americans have coined the term “nigga”, when addressing one another. The rise of hip hop culture also enhanced the use of the word-they felt as though they are using the word as a term of endearment. Critics of the
Life in the ghetto was subjected to death. Many took their own lives, and others tried to escape.
It may not be used as often or meant the same way it was in the past, but it still is considered a derogatory term. Many people still use this term without prior knowledge of its definition. This only contributes to the discrimination and disrespect that the word has. By simply saying a word that is hurtful, without knowing what it can cause of what it means, reveals the unfamiliarity of respect for others. The people that use these terms are often uneducated, racist, and stereotypical. In the midst of these people, however, there are other people, such as Randal Graves, in the movie “Clerks 2,” where he says the term, and is surprised to hear that is a racial slur. He believed that it was a commonly used insult that was universally accepted, however, it is not.
Mostly ghettos are places or sections of a city, that are a thickly populated slum area inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic, or other minority groups, as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures or hardships. Ghettos also are places that do not have career oriented jobs but in most cases, they only offer trade jobs like sewing, hairdressing and carpentry. We can tell from
The essay “The Meanings of a Word” by Gloria Naylor discusses the many definitions of a word and how its meaning can change according to context and delivery. She made this point by telling a story of her childhood and the first time she heard the n-word used by a white person in a derogatory, demeaning way. She described her this situation that took place when she was in third-grade and a boy in front of her in math class called her the n-word. She had no idea what it meant to be called that in a negative way because the people she grew up around only used it as positive and empowering. At the end of her essay, she once again emphasized how easy it is to change a word into something hateful simply depending on who says it and their
In the English language, the word "nigger" is an ethnic slur, usually directed at black people. The word originated as a neutral term referring to people with black skin, as a variation of the Spanish and Portuguese noun negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger . It was often used disparagingly, and by the mid-twentieth century, particularly in the United States, its usage became unambiguously pejorative, a racist insult. Accordingly, it began to disappear from popular culture, and its continued inclusion in classic works of literature has sparked controversy. In the contemporary United States and United Kingdom, using the word is taboo, and it is often replaced with the euphemism "the N-word". "Nigga" is sometimes used among African Americans in a non-derogatory sense or as a term of endearment. Etymology and history
Provided the unofficial definition, majority of the United States could easily guess the word: “The slums outside of Los Angeles. This area is very poor and revolves around gang violence, sex and drug dealing.” That’s correct, you guessed it right! It’s the infamous Compton. The city that everyone has heard in the news or in a song at one point or another. This definition was taken from Urban Dictionary, a site that allows anyone to define specific words and terms. It is easy to see that Compton is often related with drugs, crime and gangs, but the general public fails to realize the truth behind the suburb. The smaller Los Angeles district is filled with hard working people that have been disenfranchised and defined as numbers and statistics.
In the ghetto the Jewish created their small government within the ghetto to keep order within the premier of the ghetto. "A Jewish Council was appointed, as well as a Jewish police force, a welfare agency, a Labor community, a health agency-a whole governmental apparatus." (Page 12). The Jewish people have no fear of the situation of being put in a ghetto by the German soldiers. Around the town two ghettos were made for housing the Jewish population: one
According to dicitonaity.com, a ghetto is “a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships” (“Ghetto”). The five major ghettos were established in Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, and Lvov (“Holocaust Timeline: The Ghettos”). The Nazi Party used three different types of ghettos to isolate Jews from society. The three types were closed, open, and reconstruction ghettos (“Types of Ghettos”). Closed ghettos were the most common and often had high mortality rates as they were closed off with stone or brick walls, wooden fences, and barbed wire. The largest ghetto, Warsaw, was a closed ghetto and had over 400,000 people in an area of 1.3 squared miles (“Holocaust Timeline: The Ghettos”). Open ghettos had no physical barriers, but restrictions on entering and were often only in small towns used for temporary housing before relocating to a larger, often closed, ghetto. The majority of open ghettos were located in small towns, and in the countries of Poland, the occupied Soviet Union, and Transnistria. Lastly, deconstruction ghettos were tightly sealed off and only
The ghettos were streets where Jewish people lived. The three main ghettos were Lodz, Warsaw, and Theresienstadt. It had horrible living conditions. They were non-sanitary, bad electricity, extremely crowded, and there was not enough food. Contagious diseases spread rapidly due to all of these bad conditions. Everyday children became orphaned, and many had to take care of younger
So for instance, when Mark Twain uses the word in Huckleberry Finn , by the standards of his day he is not being especially offensive (although even then it was a term that would not be used in polite society), but is using the term as a marker of class and socio-economic status of the characters who utter it.
After reading the responses, I took note that for many people in the city, the word "nigger" is a regular saying. In the responses I've read from Data Collection 1, there were many narrators that resided in the big city area that claim the word is perfectly safe to use by any race. In passage eight a narrators writes "the word can be heard anywhere around New York City." "In New York City the word is used so much, but in a positive way" (Passage nine). This was a continuous pattern in the responses. But why do so many people of different races use the word so frequently in New York City? In Passage Seven, the narrator wrote "people in New York City along with myself has transformed the whole meaning." Once again, because it is not used destructively it is an acceptable term. New York City is a place where many different cultures come together. The usage of this word by people of different races is common. Age is also a component of the usage of the "n" word. Most of the people using the word "nigger" are young, mainly because older people are more accustomed to its former meaning which, as we know, was used to demean black people. "People in New York City, along with myself have transformed the whole meaning". This provides an explanation of why the word appears to be used so much and by so many people. Author Randal Kennedy explained in his book entitled nigger that young people
However, Wacquant brings the term “inner city” to light, breaking down its meaning: “black and poor.” Living in Chicago gives one an exemplary example of the term “inner city” meaning “poor, black ghettos.” The references to “inner city” schools being synonymous with “poor quality” and “mostly African American” are damaging to urban terminology and creating a predetermined perspective of those who call the “inner city” home. The “hypersegregation” of the city of Chicago is a topic within itself, but the institution of segregation is, without question, existent here. In addition, “inner city” is becoming a label which implies unavoidable incarceration.
live in the ghetto (Senghas). It is interesting to note that during an interview conducted in the
The theoretical conversation Ralph explores in the book is isolation. He draws ideas from Wacqaunt and Wilson’s The Cost of Racial and Class Exclusion in the Inner City. In the article, the central argument is there is an interrelated set of characteristics that corresponds to social-structural problems in the inner city and the process has triggered “hyper-ghettoization.” The evidences Wacquant and Wilson present are mainly statistical and anthropology data. The article explains many of the residents are isolated due to the social-structural, economic, and political issues that surround them. The residents being moved by