While Joey is all ramped up on losing his Pickle today, It got me thinking about all the words we use for each other that could be considered offensive. My non Italian friends used to call me “Guinea” all the time in our younger years. I never considered it offensive at the time. It all depends on how it’s said.
If say Kim Smith called me a dumb Guinea for some of my posts I make on GMG I would take offense. Because I know she’s not the type to use that kind of language. Now if Joey or Ed Collard (a non Italian) called me a Dumb Guinea I would not take offense because most likely it would be in a joking way. So what am I trying to say? Who the hell knows. Have a nice day.
Good Morning Gloucester 
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I think that your point is that context matters. If Joey uses (potentially) derisive language to talk about women, most people are going to get the joke. This is because women are about half the population and we know he has a mother, a sister, a wife, and daughters who can all take him to task if they see fit. Same thing if he is going to talk smack about fellow Italians or people he is really good friends with. However, if you are using derisive language to describe a group that you have no relation to and has less “power” that you, that is when you need to be more considerate. It is true that what is considered derisive changes and we should cut old people some slack if they are out of touch with language norms.
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Just curious Paul– what search words did you use to find that clip–you make LOL with nearly every post!
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Thanks Kim. I just searched “Dumb Guinea” on youtube. It’s funny I didn’t find one that included any Italian Reference.
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