Is the word COON offensive?

[duranman]

I think it could be, but my dad says otherwise, saying it's a kind of respect. He also uses the cockney rhyming slang 'teaspoon' which he says is particularly acceptable. What do you think?...

 

[Conager]

Not to a coonhound.

 

[Aphro]

http://www.welcomewildlife.com/site/content/pages/IMAGES/Mammals/Raccoon Head.jpg

You talkin' to me?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmDCpDW16BY

EVERY RACE HAS A FLAG BUT THE COON

 

[phrodeau]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...crutiny-delaware-race-bidens-old-senate-seat/

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

I think it could be, but my dad says otherwise, saying it's a kind of respect. He also uses the cockney rhyming slang 'teaspoon' which he says is particularly acceptable. What do you think?...

So, you're a Shagly alt.

 

[Fierywhore]

Coon! that's a brand of Cheese

 

[ndoorfin]

I think it is how you use it, but in australia it is a cheese

 

[oggbashan]

When Og was very young, as part of the school's Christmas event he sang a Coon song in blackface.

The authorities at that school would have an inquiry if a pupil was to do that now.

 

[toubab]

I like coons.

 

[oggbashan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25vrq90d1eU

This is Ada Jones' 1907 version of the song. The sheet music is from a 1905 version by Emma Carus which is virtually the same. Here are the lyrics:

Say Jasper, 'taint no use
talking, even though you talk from now 'til noon
Don't try to tell me, Mr. Know-It-All, a coon is up in the moon!
Why, a nigger, with his brown figure
certainly darkens up the silvery moon
Wake up! You're dreaming with your eyes aglare
You great big foolish coon!
If the man in the moon were a
coon, coon, coon
What would you do?
He would fade with his shade
the silvery moon, moon, moon
away from you
No roaming 'round the park at night
No spooning in the bright moonlight
If the man in the moon were a coon, coon, coon
Most everyone has heard
stories that a chicken am a coon's delight
Just think the dangers to a hen roost
with that good old moon out of sight
Indeed chicken would be
soft pickin' if the man up in the moon were black
Oh my! The harvest for that darkey
with that great big sack on his back
If the man in the moon were a
coon, coon, coon
What would you do?
He would fade with his shade
the silvery moon, moon, moon
away from you
No roaming 'round the park at night
No spooning in the bright moonlight
If the man in the moon were a coon, coon, coon

 

[Everyday_Man]

I guess it's in how you say it.

"I'm going coon hunting." and you take a shotgun and some bloodhounds with the intent of bringing back some fur skins, no.

"I'm going coon hunting." and you take a shotgun, some nooses and a six back of Lone Star, that is probably pretty offensive.

 

[oggbashan]

O You Coon! 1908

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCdzeAtZ8h8

Which proves a couple of things:

1. oggbashan is ancient, and

2. Coon wasn't offensive pre-1914.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

well America has become the land of sissies and babies. course, the obama/jackson/sharpton kind are only looking to sue and take people to court for money.

 

[toubab]

Cajuns are called coons. Some call themselves that. Some blacks do also, jokingly. Cajuns aren't joking about it. Some add a little to it. Coonass. Coonasses.

 

[RawHumor]

I think it could be, but my dad says otherwise, saying it's a kind of respect. He also uses the cockney rhyming slang 'teaspoon' which he says is particularly acceptable. What do you think?...

He's taking it back!

 

[pollynova]

How can this be offensive?

http://i.imgur.com/jwsfAfh.jpg

 

[RawHumor]

Coon!

http://res.cloudinary.com/urbandictionary/image/upload/a_exif,c_fit,h_200,w_200/v1397237646/f8cmqlv2sefucx4frf8z.jpg

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=coon

 

[ChinaBandit]

Offensive? Compared to what, spearchukker?

 

[duranman]

Offensive? Compared to what, spearchukker?

Well the coons were always better at throwing a javelin at school....

 

[Sean Renaud]

It's honestly not particularly offensive to anybody probably under the age of I'd guess forty or fifty. It's just not a term that is used particularly often. It's up there with Smoked Irishman. It's hard to be offended when someone has to stop and take a moment out of insulting you to explain they are insulting you and then explain the insult. "Well you see in the late 1800's and early 1900's the worst thing you could possibly be was Irish. . .and well your black ergo smoked. Now be offended!" I think without Clerks 2 the vast majority of my generation either wouldn't know to be offended by Porch Monkey or would think it was some sort of generic term that could be applied equally to anybody.

Or to quote the Joker. Just replace joke with insult and funny with offensive.

http://cdn.meme.am/instances/61268956.jpg​

well America has become the land of sissies and babies. course, the obama/jackson/sharpton kind are only looking to sue and take people to court for money.

The word your looking for is "civilized" or "polite". I know these are things your parents never taught you growing up and as a result you get into a lot of trouble. I'm proud that my nation is moving in the right direction.

And none of those people are looking to take anybody to court over this. God you're dumb.

 

[phrodeau]

They have no respect for the law of the land.

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2012/11/CoonRapidsBaptistChurchSignOnElectionDay_01_DSC_6537.jpg

 

[toubab]

Just to top ogg:

George Johnson - The Whistling Coon - 1891 (The first recording by an African-American)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYHSlEssYY

 

[MrRandyWatson]

As I understand it, using it as an insult to a black person is offensive. Just as using the word "fag" is offensive as an insult but not as a descriptor for a cigarette, "tranny" is offensive as an insult but not as a slang term for a car part, and depending on whom you ask, "redskin" is offensive as an insult or a football team name but not as a descriptor of a potato or those really awesome peanuts they serve with Peanut Buster Parfaits at the DQ.

It's all about "context." And I'm instantly reminded of the South Park episode in which they said "shit" 162 times, and Mr. Garrison trying to explain to kindergarteners why it was wrong to use the word "shit" to refer to actual fecal matter but OK to use it for just about everything else.

 

[oggbashan]

Just to top ogg:

George Johnson - The Whistling Coon - 1891 (The first recording by an African-American)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYHSlEssYY

I had found it but rejected it because of the poor quality.

But it reinforces the point - coon songs were popular once.

On another tack: When B B King played his first concert in the UK in 1969 he was nervous because he was facing an all-white audience. Their response to his first guitar solo was so enthusiastic that he relaxed and enjoyed himself.