Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
The Sordid, Grisly Details
re: #63: "It must be nice to believe that you're holier than thou. Something tells me SD doesn't think her s*** stinks either...." Not at all, Pete. I don't think I'm perfect or holy, or that my excrement smells like anything but what it is. I just don't have to be an insult-hurling racist (or constantly get personal, either) in order to be honest.— November 6, 2009 4:02 p.m.
The Sordid, Grisly Details
Geez, since you guys are dictionary-less, I'll throw you a bone. My ginormous 1966 Random House gives: Offensive and Disparaging. 1. A Negro. 2. a member of any dark-skinned race. 3. "ni***r in the woodpile," a dubious or improbable element in a situation. esp. when regarded as possibly harmful or undesirable. You can also add an -ish or an --ry to make adjective or noncount noun. The etymology is var. of neger, negre, negro--all ref. "black" Tip: To understand where words were born and what they've been doing since, it's smart to pay attention to the etymologies; they give the origin in Latin, Gk, Germanic languages, etc. If I sign on to the univ. pages later, I'll give you the OED lowdown, unless Pike gets to it sooner :)— November 6, 2009 3:59 p.m.
The Sordid, Grisly Details
Ohhhh, I 'see,' Pete. So, my usual denouncement of your use of the term "n****r" does not apply today, because of the teensy weensy persecution issue you are having? Sounds like this guy has gotten under your skin quite easily. Are you sure that wasn't his intent? Whatever he is doing, it sure brings out the (already habitual) racist in you--and that's all I meant to comment on.— November 6, 2009 3:47 p.m.
A Good Little Girl, Catholic Variety
re: #19: "Ratty (Pope) is one of them." I like "Ratzo," (a la Dustin Hoffman's character in "Midnight Cowboy).— November 6, 2009 3:43 p.m.
A Good Little Girl, Catholic Variety
re: #15: "It certainly wasn't a "watching over us" type of regard, it was more like "perving". You couldn't even lie in bed as a budding 12 year old and have a look or feel at what was budding. Dirty old man." This is perfect! Who has NOT thought this!— November 6, 2009 3:41 p.m.
The Sordid, Grisly Details
re: #57: I have not defended anyone, though as usual, you pull the trick of calling me "bleeding heart liberal" among other things. Yes, according to your philosophy, you should be referring to me and anyone else you feel to be ignorant as n****r, right? Thus far, it looks like you have reserved it as an epithet for a specific race, so if you want to start recirculating it as a general term for ignorance, knock yourself out. You feel that on this site, black men are being defended, and that you as a white man are not being defended? Sounds like a persecution issue. As for explaining your terms, yes, that is probably necessary, since you've decided on archaic usages no longer in circulation--or... not. It's actually not very clear what you are trying to prove about the idea of "PC," except that you feel persecuted and censored, when really, few of your posts are deleted. I'm not sure what you are saying in the ones that are deleted, but they are probably just common curse words, for which you could substitute--if you could tamp down your rage enough, and consult that dictionary a little more regularly. re: #58: Yes, I still consider that this was entirely useless, and am kind of embarrassed to have participated.— November 6, 2009 3:25 p.m.
A Paltrey Poem To Lift The Veil
Maybe you should lift the 'veil' from your heart, Pete. Then you might see a poem.— November 6, 2009 3:02 p.m.
The Sordid, Grisly Details
Right or wrong about what, Pete? As usual, this is useless. You are arguing a contradictory point. Words mean what YOU decide they mean, according to your philosophy, so why bother checking a dictionary? Because a word had some meaning in the past, and entered the dictionary via common usage, you are justified in intending an archaic usage no longer in circulation, or understood by anyone around you? So you are going to pick and choose among definitions, giving certain among them a power that you deny a current usage everyone knows and understands? That makes little to no sense. Further, I've never seen you refer to anyone but a person of African American heritage as a n****r, or outside the context of race. Again, what are you trying to prove?— November 6, 2009 2:58 p.m.
The Sordid, Grisly Details
oops, meant in "its" entirety--crossed wires.— November 6, 2009 2:35 p.m.
The Sordid, Grisly Details
Look, if I work myself enough out of my apathy here, I have access to the entire OED online. That's the Oxford English Dictionary--in it's entirety. I just don't feel like it--why? Because I think that Pete will be right about something? Nah. Because I don't feel well, and it means signing on to a bunch of pages, for one. More importantly, because this stuff depresses the hell out of me. Sure, there will be plenty of definitional scope on this word--off the top of my head, I recall that in the 19th century and previous, to be "n!ggardly" means to be "stingy." The thing is, what does any of it prove, in the face of a situation where someone (Pete) is using it, KNOWING FULL WELL its social history and stigma? Pragmatically, it does not matter a whit what it meant in 1865; it matters what this word indicates today, and how the majority of people understand it as a serious epithet of hatred. It is not some funny little dictionary game we are playing for a burrito, in my opinion, and it is only slightly obtuse to continue some debate over whether or not an archaic usage will somehow "vindicate" Pete's pitiful self-excuses for tossing it at folk. Ya think?— November 6, 2009 2:34 p.m.