Not even the language for this!

[gwendally]

Comments

[exvapi]

I was born late in life to my parents. They were born in 1906 in very small towns on the Va/WVa border. My father could remember when he saw the first auto to drive through town. And then, after retirment, they were fond of getting on jets and flying all over the US and Europe. I marvel at the changes he must have absorbed.

[gwendally]

It sure was something, that American Century. I've thought about this, too.

I sure like having indoor plumbing!

[ellisbell]

My 92 year old Gran refers to the Black nurses at her nursing home as "Negro". She means absolutely no ill will by it at all. I see it as normal for her, since in her mind she probably lives a great deal in another decade. She loves loves loves all the nurses and they all spoil her like she's an only child. She gets away with a lot, even using the term "Negro". lol

[ellisbell]

It's like any other word. It only has the power we give it. Once people start using something in a particular way, it's difficult to change it back. "Gay", for example.

I am sure MLK would be facepalming about a lot of shit these days.

[seidhr]

I work with a black girl who always frets when her (also black) grandmother refers to herself or other blacks as "Negroes" or as "Coloured." She tries to tell her grandmother to say "African American," and her grandmother says, "None of us are from Africa."

I love hearing her stress out about encounters people have with her grandmother.

[gwendally]

I'm half-way to 90. I reflect the century I was born into, as well. I certainly wouldn't be surprised to find that people having children were NOT married, but I'd still default to assuming they're married if all I know about them is that they are deliberately starting a family. (LOL, how weird is *that*, that's it's possible for the only thing I know about someone is the circumstances of the conception of their child without knowing *anything else* about them?)

[miss_manners]

I have to concur...in fact, at this point I don't assume anyone is married, especially if they're under 30. Our generation is probably the last one where marriage with kids will be normative behavior.

Hell, a high class restaurant in Atlanta advertising on conservative talk radio does a "times in life" add that goes:

1. A yellow rose and a first date
2. "You mean I'm going to be a father"
3. "Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet Linda"

There is a huge assumption buried in there and given the target market I'm surprised it hasn't changed, but in months of listening it hasn't.

[jsl32]

neh, it will return with my grandchildren's generation.