Writing physical descriptions

[lin robinson]

Nappy is what american black folks call natural negro hair. Since "kinky" was already taken. Nothing derogatory about it.

The garden tool he mentioned, making me chuckle, is a hoe. If you don't know why, best not axe.

 

[Lith]

Taking a stab at the meaning of nappy- I think it comes from "knap" like on fabric, because the word seems to imply something matted- which kinky hair does if you don't take immaculate care of it...

But that's just a guess. I've only seen the word used a couple of times.

 

[Giovanna Clairval]

My (old) edition of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1945) doesn't know "nappy"; but says: "nap: Surface of cloth consisting of fibre-ends raised, cut even & smoothed."
According to the same source, the word "nap" comes from Dutch.

My very new Harrap's Shorter (British and American words) only knows the British word nap for "baby napkin".

The relatively old Slang & Euphemism (A Dictionary of Oaths, Curses, Insults, Racial Slurls, Sexual Slang and Metaphor, Drug Talk, Homosexual Lingo and Related Matters ) by R. Spear (1981, Jonathan David Publishers Inc.) gives: nap: 3. a derogatory nickname for a negro (sic) [U.S. slang, mid 1900s]
and (same source) naps: kinky hair; Negroid (sic) hair [U.S. black use, 1900s]

So, it would seem that British nap for a kind of woolly cloth came first, then appeared naps, non-derogatory because used in Black communities, and later, nap, picked up by Whites as an insult.
And nappy is not derogatory, if used in Black communities.

Also: the Webster's online Dictionary says:

Nap
Adjective
1. In small tight curls.

Noun
1. Garment consisting of a folded cloth drawn up between the legs and fastened at the waist; worn by infants to catch excrement.
Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

 

[lin robinson]

nap: 3. a derogatory nickname for a negro (sic)

I very much doubt the validity of that one.

(I LOVE the "sic"... we have attained the point where there is NO word that is "safe" to describe Negroes.)

 

[Giovanna Clairval]

(I LOVE the "sic"... we have attained the point where there is NO word that is "safe" to describe Negroes.)

What to say? Censorship is a tool for totalitarian societies, and I fight as I can for freedom in the world.

I find this word offensive though, and I don't know (in person) one single black who would love being dubbed a negro by a white person. A great number of Antilleans and Africans live in France. They are very prickly about epithets. I will tell them they should not.

I also have homosexual friends who call themselves names that are usually meant as insults. I understand why they do it: defiance, humour and the like. But I don’t imitate their language, unless I know that I will not be misunderstood. Surely, I would never make use of those terms in a public address, when there are chances that I might offend someone. I ban “negro” or “fag” from my written texts, unless, of course, there are reasons to use these words, because the characters would use them.


And why oh why should we describe someone as a negro or a white or a redskin as nouns? Isn't this a bit old?
Couldn't we just say that the character has brown, reddish, black, bluish, greenish, pinkish or violet skin?

 

[lin robinson]

Negro is NOT an epithet. So I guess the question I would put, if you think it's being "dubbed" would be


what is the proper word to use?

 

[Giovanna Clairval]

what is the proper word to use?

It is true that the politically-correct way of speaking leads to the use of euphemisms. Ancient “coloured people” was one of the worst. You have a point there. But some appellations were coined by the blacks themselves: “Afro-Americans” is one of those.
I hate “Caucasian” as well.
Wikipedia says: “The concept's existence is based on the now disputed typological method of racial classification” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race

In France, the blacks call themselves “blacks”, using the English word, because “noirs” means “fascists” here, from the black shirts Mussolini’s fans wore.

It used to be slang, but now everyone in France says, in spoken language, “black”.
Is it bad?

In Italy we can say “neri”, because the fascists are known as the “camice nere”, the black shirts, not the neri…

I don’t remember in which TV series, there was this character, a detective, I think, that was described by his age, portliness, etc, until you saw him later on, and he had dark brown skin. His colour was much of an afterthought.
I dream of a world where colour does not define a person on top of everything else.
It is the world I’d like to live in.

 

[The_Warrior]

What about He almost mistook his black hair for a small top of a tree. Or His hair looked like a small in size, but big black ball on top of his head. ? Those might help.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'm with dustinzgirl. Unless the exact height of his hair is important to the story in some way, leave it at tight black curls.

There will be other places where you can tie yourself up into knots looking for just the right words (I find such opportunities all of the time), but if there's no compelling reason to over-complicate things in this particular instance, don't.

 

[lin robinson]

“Afro-Americans”

Is this a term your Antillean and African friends in France find helpful?

This stuff is like trying to keep up with what name a teenaged girl wants to be called this week.

What is really obnoxious is when people give you a hard time because they "know" that the term you are using is like so "last year" and therefore evil and racist.

If you try "black" in a lot of American forums people will criticize you for it.

It's well to keep a perspective on these things.

(By the way, several black American poets have been known to use the term "people of color" yet say that "colored people" is racist and wrong. This is not a game that lends itself to feeling superior or informed.)

 

[Giovanna Clairval]

Hi again, TC4816,


Dustinzgirl and Teresa are right.

Keep it simple.

In a story, there are plenty of places where looking for a perfect word is pertinent and necessary.

Good luck!