We have a vocabulary problem in our house, and I'm not sure how to resolve it without getting into a lot of issues I don't want to address right now. The blond twin dubbed herself "blondie." She also dubbed her brunette sister "darkie" -- it's short for the dark-haired girl. I tried to change it to the blond and brunette girls, but it hasn't worked so far.
The other day the blond twin declared, "This is for the blondies only (aka me and my Daddy). No darkies allowed." I held my breath for a minute and tried to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind, so I said, "She's not the darkie, she's the brunette girl." The blond twin replied, "Right Mom, she has dark hair and I have blond hair."
So, you see my problem. We talked about why she shouldn't call her sister the darkie and she can only say it at home. In her innocent world, it's not a racial slur. She doesn't even know that people are mean to other people because of their skin color. In her world, it's all about hair color. She's so proud to be blond like her Daddy.
I'm bracing for the first time she calls her sister a darkie in public. Or worse, she comments on darkies at her racially-diverse school. I'm sure that will result in a meeting with the principal.
We'll keep working on it, but in the end the blond twin is right about one thing. Blondie and darkie do rhyme, whereas blondie and brunettie doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same way. I think we'll work on changing their self-descriptions to blue-eyed girl and green-eyed girl. I don't think bluies and greenies will offend anyone, intentionally or unintentionally.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
How about Brownie (for brown hair)? Otherwise it should be lighty and darkie for opposites. Blondie and Brownie don't sound so bad (and aren't blondie cookies ones with butterscotch chips?).
I was just going to suggest Brownie, too! But I see Julie K had the same great thought!
My little cousin was nicknamed Brownie because she loved the chocolate dessert! I think it would be cute!
LOL I was going to say Blondie and Brownie too... and I was even going to mention the "Blondie" type of brownie... But I see everyone else beat me too it!
By the way I tagged you on my blog for a meme... Hope you don't mind!
That is a tough one. My kids keep insisting on naming white or black animals (real and stuffed) Whitey or Blackey. We kind of just leave it with saying those are not good choices for names followed with a quick suggestion of other names to avoid questions that we are not sure how to answer. I can be all about the avoidance when it suits!
Post a Comment