[CR]Ghetto semantics

(Example: Bike Shops)

To: OROBOYZ@aol.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: <marcus.e.helman@gm.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:54:08 -0500
Subject: [CR]Ghetto semantics

Dale,

I beg to differ with you on this. This is not great stuff. To suggest that "geto" somehow means something different than "ghetto" is absurd. Joe wrote: "Has nothing to do with some historical ghettos from the past." Of course it does. And ghettoes of the present too. Does dropping the h and t somehow change the meaning of the word? This is like using the word "nazi" to refer to overbearing bureaucrats. You cannot ignore the historical meaning of some words.

Ghetto is a noun, that has developed a secondary usage as an adjective. Used as an adjective it means "of the ghetto." Now the subjectivity comes in. For some people that means referring to a bad place where people are forced to live because of circumstances racial, religious, economic, or some combination of those. For others it means pertaining to hip, rapping urban African-Americans, and thus, cool.

Joe uses it to mean not having the right tools to adjust a headset, and then doing a bad job of it. At the very least, I would suggest that there are better words available to describe that situation.

I know this is off topic, but your note went to the whole list, so I think it is fair to broadcast mine as well. Of course I am not the listmaster. . .

Marcus Helman Huntington Woods, MI

Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 11:51:03 -0500 From: oroboyz@aol.com To: Mark@bulgier.net, rotab@msn.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Was: Ghetto vs. Geto Life. Now: pearls of wisdom... Message-ID: <8C90B9378C16849-1060-F3C1@mblk-r13.sysops.aol.com> In-Reply-To: <9327C3B25BD3C34A8DBC26145D88A90706435E@hippy.home.here> References: <BAY114-DAV11208C0FC6677AD4E6A73AAFAF0@phx.gbl> <9327C3B25BD3C34A8DBC26145D88A90706435E@hippy.home.here> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Precedence: list Message: 11

Mark wrote:

<<...Another example of why you should not be so quick to school or correct

others; you can embarrass yourself. Lord knows I do it all the time! >>

Read, listmembers, and heed! Great stuff, Mark! Thanks.

Dale

Dale Brown Greensboro, North Carolina USA http://www.classicrendezvous.com -----Original Message----- From: Mark@bulgier.net To: rotab@msn.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:34 AM Subject: RE: [CR]Ghetto vs. Geto Life

Joe Hughes wrote:
> You guys have too much time.....
> Ghetto does not equal geto.
> Geto is correct tool deprivation
> in this case. Has nothing to do
> with some historical ghettos
> from the past.

Joe is right, geto is the correct spelling in this case, though it doesn't necessarily have a bad connotation; in some quarters it is a synonym for "cool". See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=geto

Another example of why you should not be so quick to school or correct others; you can embarrass yourself. Lord knows I do it all the time!

Mark Bulgier Seattle WA USA

Best regards,
Marcus Helman