Smaller is better when it's ME! Proud to be 4 feet 11 inches. Still shrinking...

I dare anyone to snigger!

claudia

we can't say "snigger" we have to say Safrican Samerican.

patrick - I apologize! We don't get sensitivity training in my crude, rude city...

A little black humor?

I should be so lucky, if that day came to pass. :-)

Peggy U - Totally unconscious!;-)

"I dare anyone to snigger!"

I'm sniggering.

That right there is 'dark humor' bwhahahaha

thatjerryguy - You're sniggering at my height?

I never used the term in connection with black people. It was supposed to be funny.

Snigger meant: mock...scoff...disparage...scorn...jeer...taunt...despise...condemn...
belittle.
As opposed to:
laud...applaud...praise...cheer...encourage...commend...approve...
esteem.

I was expecting someone to say: "Good for you, Claudia.Short is best!"

You're really obsessed with your black people. Like they're really obsessed with their "whitey". It's so incredibly sad!

Thank you for the fun and praise. I might be short but somehow I feel quite tall presently!

It is not the size of the wand but the Magic of the Magician! ;)

Claudia - Two of the reasons we're so obsessed with black people are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They won't STFU! They play on white guilt even though there isn't a single white person alive in this country who has ever owned slaves. Slavery ended almost 150 years ago and many white people died to end it but that's all we hear. Slavery. Slavery. 400 years of oppression. It's like a fucking franchise. And we won't hear the end of it until black people quit playing the race card and victimhood and start taking responsibility for their own actions. End the culture that doing well in school is "acting white". Is it whitey's fault that they drop out of school? Is it whitey's fault that black girls get preggers at 14? The blacks that do achieve like Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice are branded as Uncle Toms.

claudia- I knew what you meant. I just thought I'd have some politicaly correct fun. Denny said it best.

Denny -

You know that I know the stories. I understand the problems.I commented on them. But this time my comment did not have a racial inuendo. There was no reason to bring the black people in this context.

All my life I have been teased for being short. "Should I kneel down to speak to you?" "Next time, I'll bring you a little bench!" etc.etc. I always laughed it up. I've always been able to prove that short, in my case, means quality. When I saw that little car between those two big ones, it looked so much like me, between two tall persons, I couldn't help laughing. Can't we just talk once and not bring a sour taste in the conversation? Is your life so devoid of light moments that a small, innocent remark like mine has the power to awake your anger? Do you need to express it constantly? This was not a post on "Whiteys'done bad again." Where's your sense of humour? I could think of 15 funny things to say on big as opposed to small, or small as better than big...even sexy ones! Why did the word BLACK appeared in the comments?

You're making me afraid to speak again...

patrick - Well you had your fun! I'll let you decide if it's politically correct. I have some black friends, very decent people, who would never object to the word snigger, and would never think that it could be used as a joke about themselves.

Claudia: If you are a smartass, and I am, you can't resist an opportunity when it presents itself. It's not racism - it's a restraint issue, and I have none. Snigger is a funny word. And race has been a hot topic recently, thanks to Rev. Wright. It had to be done! You and Patrick had me laughing! (Have you ever heard the song "Short People" btw? It takes a slap at racism by making fun of short people.)

And why is it when you analyze something funny it takes all the funny out of it? My dad used to get a psychiatric publication among his other medical magazines. I wish I could remember what it was called. Anyway, there was a regular "joke" section, followed by a humor analysis. I think it was just a way to justify inserting dirty jokes and cartoons into a stuffy professional periodical. I'm sure they could have had a heyday dissecting "snigger".

Peggy U - That someone made a black joke out of a word I used without any racial connection wasn't funny. I call it racism. I condemn it in both sides. I'm deeply sorry that it was done because of one of my comments. While you were all laughing, I was crying...

Claudia - I was responding to this:

You're really obsessed with your black people. Like they're really obsessed with their "whitey". It's so incredibly sad!

Denny - There is a time and place for everything. When people cannot stop mentioning a subject, and keep coming back to it incessantly, no matter what else is being talked about, then it's an obsession.

You want to post on African-American problems, I'm all with you. Actually I understood much better about it when you pointed out the difference between the Black immigrants who choose to come to USA and the descendants of slaves who feel entitled to special privileges.

Unless I'm dumb and did not understand the picture, this particular post had nothing at all to do with this. Why bring black people in it? Unless it's an obsession and have to be included in everything. It's quite sad for both sides.

Claudia - It was an unusual(archaic) choice of words, "snigger". And it's funny sounding. Most people, I believe, in the US use "snicker" unless there are regional preferences I am unaware of. I admit, I thought Patrick's response was very funny. I attempted to follow it up with a pun in a similar vein, though mine was not as creative and obviously not funny as witnessed by the reaction!

Now you have to look at that word and recognize that the forbidden string of letters is embedded therein. And you need to know that what is showing in our comments is not general antipathy toward black people but toward society-imposed political correctness. It isn't about race - that just happened to be the context in which it was presented. It is about a rebellion against an establishment which pays lip service to free speech while deciding upon what the definition of "free speech" is - and applying it unevenly and unfairly.

I never used the word "nigger" in my life. That's why I didn't see it in "snigger" which is the British form of snicker. I didn't learn English in USA. If my language is archaic, maybe I should stop speaking with Americans.

I don't have much to say presently anyhow.

ummmmmmm.........you just said "nigger"......oh damn. now I said it. crap.

Claudia - Peggy is right in that I have never heard "snigger". it was a softball over the plate and I just hit it. My response was so over the top and silly/stupid that I think no one who frequents a blog known and loved for "pushing the boundries of bad taste and political incorrectness" would or should take offense. no one here cares that you are short. no one cares that I have 25 extra pounds. just havin fun. lighten up or find a sturart smalley blog that reaffirms all manifestations of insecurity. At the GOC, we don't do that.

Claudia-
I came into this one late, but I read your comment and those that followed and didn't see any seriousness to anyone's sentiment, nor did I see anyone trying to peg you as some kind of racist. It was off the cuff and it made me laugh. Like patrick said, it was over the plate and he knocked it out of the park for shits and giggles.

At the GOC, we don't do that.

patrick-
Cheers!

Claudia: I don't think anyone would believe you would use the "N" word. You are held in great respect here. I don't use the word either; most people don't, except for that element of US black culture associated with rap and such. It's not a pretty word. And if you're white and use it? Guaranteed ostracism. I think the term might be more loaded here than it is in Canada.

Oh, dear! I'm sorry if I called "snigger" archaic. Perhaps that was inaccurate. I don't believe it is common usage in the US, although I have seen it used in early to mid 20th-century books. That is what I based that label on. I took an informal poll here, and all agreed "snicker" was the word we use. I do not know why the difference.

Evidently "snigger" is used in Canada. Possibly it is used in some northern parts of the US as well. But, I'd never picked up on it before. There are certainly language differences between the US and Canada. For example, "wash room" as opposed to "bathroom" or "restroom". And you guys just do not pronounce "garage" right!;) You speak English so well I forget that French is your first language. So I suppose we will have some language disagreement from time to time. But believe me, Claudia, nobody ever thought you used that word as an invite to disrespectful discourse. It's just that the word itself provided the means for a clever twist that was hard to resist. Sometimes the urge to pun is just that.

My friends and I feel infinitely sorry for all of you. You're to be pitied. It's very sad that you're so frustrated about your country that you need to hit someone to relieve your anger. Get yourself a punching bag instead. It works. As for your sense of humour, let me call it very poor and boorish. Maybe you should learn to laugh at yourselves instead of using the colour of someone who might be a much better person than you are.

You're very limited if you speak only American. When I see a word that I've never used, I look in a dictionary. That's the way I became nearly perfectly bilingual. You don't even need a book. Go to Vikipedia.

CharlieDelta: One advice from a grandmother. You're quite nice most of the time. But don't cheer another fellow (Patrick) who already admitted he had been stupid. It brings you down to his level.

Denny - I'll see you on Saturday Music. Be merry and take care. If it's true that your blog takes its glory at upsetting people, it certainly succeeded. You can shake hands with your friends. They did a good job for you.

Claudia: You think we don't laugh at ourselves? Of course we do. Plenty of material there to laugh at!

OK. WTF happened here?

I was wondering the same thing...

Ditto. I decided to check out the comments after my own post and thought, darn...I should have worded it as "I'll be lucky if that day should come to pass". It's that second-guessing "editor" side of me.
Which is why I always dread NaDruWriNi :-)

Anyhoo, yah. I find it's always best to go through life not assuming negative intention from folks (until pretty obviously proven), and especially not within the confines of blog comments unless it's a direct insult.

As Sgt. Hulka (from "Stripes")would say: "Lighten up, Francis"

MoK-
BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHA! Great movie!

"If any one of you homos calls me Francis....I'll kill ya!"

Whoops! I mis-quoted that, but here it is...

Great movie!

if anyone needs me or CD we are way down here on level stupid.

That's ok, Patrick. I volunteered to be AOTW.

patrick-
I am a proud tenent on this level.

Round up PeggyU and the drinks are on me...

Huh? Wha happa? I was sniggering as well-sniggering has always been a suitable replacement for the word snickering. They both are cute and make me grin. Hopefully Claudia will come back and visit?