MovieChat Forums > Ask the Dust (2006) Discussion > Is 'S p i c' considered A Racial Slur?

Is 'S p i c' considered A Racial Slur?

posted 17 years ago by off_to_neverneverland
12 replies | jump to latest

Is the word "s p i c" really considered a racial slur against hispanic americans? I live in Europe and I have never hear these terms used and I was just wondering is this common in the USA? After hearing the term used in this movie by the character "Sammy" when he was talking to Colin Farrell's supposed character "Arturo Bandini" about not having anything to do with Salma Hayek's character "Camilla" because of her ethnicity, I wondering what it meant.

[–] jmhind 17 years ago

s p i c :
derogatory for "Latino person," 1913, from cliche protestation, "No spick English." Earlier "spiggoty" as in "No speak (a) the English"(1910); the term is said to have originated in Panama during the canal construction. But it also was applied from an early date to Italians, and some have suggested an alteration of spaghetti.

-American Psychological Association (APA):
spic. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spic

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Yes, it is very offensive to Latinos here in the States.

[–] tronquito 17 years ago

I am a "spic" and don't find it offensive.
If you use it to insult me, then I figure YOU are the one with the problem.
Using "you" rhetorically.

[–] QuetZAL7 17 years ago

I personally think all of the words are silly (mostly because of their origins), but it's not the words themselves that are bad and / or racist.... it's the intent behind them.

[–] goldviper007 17 years ago

The way I understand it is that its shortened from Hispanic. Like in the way that H e e b is short for Hebrew. Or the N word came from negro originally.

And yes, all three are very offensive to people who are of that race, or religion.

[–] QuetZAL7 17 years ago

Is that really where the "n" word came from? I thought it came from another word that meant lazy?

[–] gg_uaw9669 17 years ago

The word you are more than likely refering too is "Niggardly" n.1. A stingy, grasping person; a miser. 2.Meanly small; scanty or meager. is a false cognate to the "N" word,meaning they sound the same, but, are not equal in meaning.
The origin of the "N" word is according to the American Heritage dictionary <French Negre and <Sp. Negro, and although offensive now, originally was meant to convey color, not quality of the person described.

I've....seen things you people wouldn't believe; Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

[–] bezgoubov 17 years ago

doesn't the N word mean outsider or something like that?

[–] Sparrowhawk 15 years ago

The word "negro" in Spanish is a neutral word, not a slur. It simply denotes the color black in any form. When used of a person, it is merely descriptive, not an epithet. There are words that are equivalent to the one that raises objections in English, but "negro" is not one of them.

[–] bertrambunter 17 years ago

A Puerto Rican friend of mine always used to say that *beep* was just a shorter version of its true meaning - hiSPanics In Charge!!!

[–] jpseacadets 16 years ago

It means ALL of the above.

- - SoundTrak

[–] Loomis_Orange 16 years ago

John Fante was Italian.. He was used to being referred to by racial slurs. If you've ever seen a picture of John Fante you would understand why. He did not look like Colin Ferrell! He had the look of a stereotypical Italian. He was a very intense and angry man. He was a great writer but had gone by the wayside without really being heard until Charles Bukowski proclaimed in a poem in one of his books that Fante was one of the greatest writers America had ever produced. This was many many years after Ask The Dust was written. Fante was in his sixties when Bukowski met him, Fante was living in a nursing home dying of diabetes. He had lost at least one leg to the disease and was blind. He wasn't destitute tho. He made money from sales of his books and had had a nice life with a good woman.

[–] 16 years ago

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