What's In A Name Meaning

The old idiom, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” has been used for decades, and although a good sentiment, can be disproven by any person with an basic understanding of their feelings. The power of the words one hears can greatly affect their self esteem and confidence. The fact that words hurt is an issue everyone faces, but some words hold too much power, power that can be used in not so ideal ways. Slurs, or words that are used to oppress minority groups, are used too casually in the modern world, with grave consequences on the minorities they are used against. The word faggot, a term used to describe gay men, has become popular in modern America between school boys as a way to either mock their peers or intentionally hurt an actual queer person. This word in particular moves farther away from offensive and can be categorized as oppressive due to its both psychological and social ramifications. The use of the word faggot is an act of oppression when one looks at both the social and psychological effects the word has on both the user and the recipient of the slur.

At school, I hear various different racial and ethnic slurs about other students at the school. For example, I frequently hear groups of Hispanic kids referred to as the ESOL kids because they speak Spanish most of the time as opposed to English. Although some of these students actually are in the ESOL, or English for Speakers of Other Languages, program, this term is used in a derogatory manner to put these students under English speaking students. I have also heard groups of black students, or black people in general, referred to as gangs. This is an extremely offensive term especially since many blacks are not involved with criminal activities. People of various races and ethnicities also loosely use the N-word in a negative aspect at school.

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

From historical descriptions of the use of the terms “barbarians” and “Yankees” to descriptions of the modern usage of “Hadjis” in Iraq, she reveals that demeaning language has been used continually throughout history to address the enemy. Lakoff also references the Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz to enforce her statement that derogatory language allows humans to cope with the ruthless

In today’s society curse words and insults are used in many people’s regular vocabulary. Most of these insults, if not all, are being said without prior knowledge of the meaning behind the word. An example of an insult like this is porch monkey, a derogatory term for African Americans. The people that use derogatory terms like this are often ill-informed and unaccepting of other cultures.

What really is in a name? Apparently, there is a lot. In Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s story, "What's in a Name," there is a telling story about a young boy learning the powerful pain and humiliation in the racist practices of American society. Gates illustrates how racism can perpetuate prejudice that aims to take away individual identity and put entire groups of people down. Yet, the fact that Skip was willing to never look Mr. Wilson in the yes again shows that Gates himself was not going to just take the racism any longer, but was willing to fight it in his own unique way.

Why do people get made fun of for their names when they have no control over them? Firoozeh Dumas’ “The “F Word”” tells about how she gets made fun of for her name. It also is about how Dumas feels about her name. She uses many examples of times in her life when her name has caused problems and made situations difficult for her. Dumas is from Iran, but moved to America when she was young. Her name is “Firoozeh,” which is very different from American names, so many people couldn’t pronounce it. Many of the children in her classes made fun of her name and didn’t want to talk to her because it was so different.

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

Stereotyping and naming can be extremely terrible towards any individual. This is on account of other individuals may judge rapidly or accept something

Words such as “whore lady” (Lee 91) and “nigger-lover” (Lee 90) are also used which are

When the Atlantic Slave trade began the term nigger was used to describe black people. Throughout history, most minority groups were branded by degrading terms. Nigger was and still is a term of disrespect. Slavery contorted the term from the Spanish definition to its dark degrading hateful insult for African Americans. This slur

Words can have a huge emotional impact on people, and often affect their self-image and self-worth. It is words like "retard" or "retarded" for one, which can surely lead to such a result. People in today's society are not aware of the true and hurtful meaning of this word when they use it. No matter when it is used or how it is used, it will always have the negative connection with those who have such mental disabilities. Futhermore with such frequent use, those suffering from these disabilities, will feel different from others; as if they are labelled. In no way should the word "retarded" be acceptable in a society of today; for all will just become worse.

At birth everyone is given a name by their parents. Your name is part of your identity and how you are addressed and recognized by the world. The different verities among the population created other names given to different races. These names are offensive, demeaning and are only used to refer to a person in a disrespectful manner. They can also cause a segregation among a nations people, these names are forced upon people weather they are rich or poor, old or young, male or female and are used to describe the same race of people. In the class reading "What 's in a Name? “by Henry Louis Gates he reminisces about a personal experience of his that he had with his father. In the story he describes his father was a hard worker and, because of this he was in high financial standings and, he was well respected and given privileges that at the time was rare for people of his race but he was still black and his name, his individual identity was not important instead he was given a racial identity, this is the only thing he was known as, this type of negative recognition is something many black Americans can relate to. One’s race is a predominant part of our identity and is what causes discrimination.

This can lead you to accept anything and self-destruction. We can try to break the cycle by calling each other by our real names instead of nick names which doesn’t have anything to do with the real you.

Language influence can be witnessed in Haig Bosmajian book “The Language Of Oppression” where the essay shares  how language can be used to manipulate Names. Names can be used to bring value or degradation to people.  The degradation of human beings can lead to a loss of self -belief and devaluation of an individual. A most recognizable place where this event occurred was between the Nazis and the Jewish society.The Nazis were