Working as I have in racially-mixed environments, I coined the phrase “non-traditional engineering” as being both racially neutral and employment acceptable.

Jesse, the Confederate flag is just a symbol of southern pride and commitment to states’ rights.  It has nothing to do with racism.

Furthermore, the small metal object I’m blowing isn’t a whistle.  If it were a whistle, you’d hear a sound.  Oh, these dogs just showed up on their own.

One time, I was on World of Warcraft, and my guild was discussing that cartoon where the monkey had been shot by the police, and the police said something about “now who’s going to write the healthcare bill” or something.  The consensus was that the cartoon was not racist.  I chimed up and said that I thought it was, and I got soundly shouted down by most everyone who was online, and one person even brought up the old “it’s only hurtful if you allow it to hurt you so therefore black people invented racism”.  And of course, one of their biggest “arguments” was that it’s so easy to accuse people of racism and we have to bravely fight back against the vast majority of the country who will call you racist for doing anything other than worshiping black people.  And then I pointed out that if their position was so unusual, so brave, so difficult to stand up for that they are practically modern day heroes, then why was I the only person arguing the other side?  Why was I the one getting shouted down, if my position was so prevalent and accepted by the mainstream?

It’s like the Christians claiming they are being discriminated against.  Their opinion is so widely accepted, and yet as soon as anyone criticizes it they panic.  And then suddenly the news is flooded with stories about how no one will listen to the Christians anymore and isn’t it awful.

I had always heard the term as “jury-rigged,” and not until I was an adult did I hear the variants. Apparently (possibly this is an urban legend) the “jerry-rigged” variation is an anti-German slur. I have the impression that the third one is more prevalent in the south, but that may just be my own prejudices speaking.

Dana, if you weren’t mocking anti-racists you’d be content to say “jury-rigged” like a person.

To left wing fox, a good friend of mine used to have one of those hanging in his room during college. It was about drinking whiskey and had nothing to do with the south at all. I don’t think he had ever been anywhere southern at the time and I have yet to meet someone who was less interested in state’s rights. At some point the signifier and the signified separated.  Ok, not for everyone but for a large enough percentage of people who use the confederate flag that it might not immediately indicate racist shithead. Not sure how it connected to a particular drink but people are odd.

Ferox: heh.

Also, Dana, when I hear people use “comical” euphemisms like yours—-which I hear all the time—-it’s incredibly clear what they’re saying, which is, “I’d love to use a racial slur, but meanie liberals won’t let me.”  In other words, it’s just as racist, and more annoying to boot.

Jury-rigged, bodged, rube goldberg, hacked together, there’s a whole litany terms that don’t make it clear someone is trying to be cute while making a racist reference. Oh, and the original is old enough that it’s absolutely clear someone had to make up n****r-rig as a racist variant because they wanted a racist variant.

It’s too bad the IT/engineering term “kludge” (sounds like “huge” - does not rhyme with “fudge”) hasn’t become more popular. 

No racist etymology, no other social or political baggage…

Of course, racist rednecks from The South would probably still figure out a way to abuse it and turn it into a racist term.  They seem to be very talented in that way…

MikeEss:

You Nazi! How could you possibly think of using a word that came from those evil germans, most likely by way of those evil jews!

um.

Amanda wrote:

Also, Dana, when I hear people use “comical” euphemisms like yours—-which I hear all the time—-it’s incredibly clear what they’re saying, which is, “I’d love to use a racial slur, but meanie liberals won’t let me.” In other words, it’s just as racist, and more annoying to boot.

Not sure why, since I just “non-traditionally engineered” a broken dining room chair.  Around a concrete plant, “non-traditional engineering” usually refers to a quick, not-exactly-standard fix to get things working long enough to finish the day, or even just the load.  A safety inspector would be amazed/appalled at some of the things that we’ve—the plural meaning me, other white people and some black people—have had to do to get a plant running or a truck repaired.  Normally, a broken gate or a failed solenoid or a blown circuit doesn’t care what color the repairman is.

pharmakos - Jack Daniels uses the Confederate flag in all of their overseas advertising.  It’s really confusing and upsetting to see those things hanging up in bar in Europe and on the lapels of people who were dressed up for square dancing.  I bicycled through many a town in Belgium and Denmark where I couldn’t figure out if I should get out NOW (which is my reaction on seeing that flag in the US) or if people just didn’t know what that flag means.

And that’s a little story explaining why I don’t drink Jack Daniels anymore.

Jack Daniels is a racist company? I thought it was just a terrible drink for people who don’t know any better.

Jim Beam is better and cheaper anyway and datesvback to America’s first rebel movement that was fought against by federal troops, The Whiskey Rebellion.

But seriously, how could anyone think “nigger rigging” was an appropriate term?

Jack Daniels is distilled in Lynchburg, according to all of the most prominent parts of their overseas advertising. Not saying it got its name for THOSE reasons but when you’ve never been to the South and you have a cliched picture of it already the connection is very easy to make.

It’s a shame the left has decided to make such reckless use of the word in an attempt to stifle opposition, because when real racism occurs, calling it out with the level of derision it deserves becomes that much more difficult.

Because calling someone a racist is far far worse than actually being racist.  No one is really racist anymore.

Being racist is bad.  That guy isn’t a bad guy.  He just hates niggers.

This disconnect is kinda funny—they’ve figured out being called a racist is nothing to be proud of, so they don’t want to be called racists.  They don’t want to stop being racist, of course, they just don’t want to be called “racist” for being racists.

And when they are called racists, well, that’s just not fair and you should use that term for BAD PEOPLE, not them, when they’re just over here being good people who actually have a black friend, or would if they ever met a black person.  They’d like ‘em.  Really.  Plus, they wave at the security guard at work, and that should count for something.

I would say that I’d boycott Jack Daniels, but I almost never drink anyway, so it wouldn’t make much difference.  If I were going to drink whiskey, I’d choose Maker’s Mark

The thing is that I never grew up ever hearing the term “n- rigged” to the point where I had to come up with a cute euphenism for it in a “racially mixed environment.” “Kludge” and “jury-rigged” have always been what I’ve used to describe the idea we’re talking about.

Also, Jack Daniels is definitely the worst of the big-name bourbons, though in general I prefer Irish whiskey.

Also, Dana, when I hear people use “comical” euphemisms like yours—-which I hear all the time—-it’s incredibly clear what they’re saying, which is, “I’d love to use a racial slur, but meanie liberals won’t let me.” In other words, it’s just as racist, and more annoying to boot.
Comment #9: Amanda Marcotte on 10/10 at 03:06 PM

I heard “Afro-Engineering” as a “clever” euphemism when I was in college.  It was used by the same people who thought that “Sanitary Engineer” was a stupid PC term for a janitor, not an actual engineering specialty.

The same hostile-polite behavior is observed when someone calls a politician they don’t like a “gentleman.”  The nicer the terms, the more teeth-clenching is involved.

how could anyone think “nigger rigging” was an appropriate term?

My (white, Midwest-born, middle-aged) neighbor surprised me with a variation on that a while back. I was doing some outdoor chore in a meticulous fashion when he urged me: “C’mon Hec, just Okie-rig it.” I’m going to say the association came from being too broke for proper tools or materials, but being ingenious enough to get the job done well enough with whatever’s available.

N.B.: that doesn’t excuse use of the N-word.

It’s too bad the IT/engineering term ”kludge” (sounds like “huge” - does not rhyme with “fudge”) hasn’t become more popular.

Maybe it would be more popular if you pronounced it like ‘fudge’?  (Which happens to be the way that the IT people in… I want to say the commonwealth, but how about we leave it at the Antipodes, for now, tend to say it).

With jerry-rigging, btw, it was a practice of using ‘jerry’ equipment to repair the failing equipment of the British soldiers… so while the use of the temr ‘jerry’ to refer to Germans was negative, the ‘jerry-rigging’ had positive connotations… they could at least make things that worked.

A few years ago, I heard someone use this expression in real life.  I think it was the first time I’d ever heard the n-word used - at 24 or so.  It was like the time when all of a sudden people in my very white, small, rural, high school started using the word “Jew” as a verb.  I’d never heard or even read such a thing.  And it made me realize that the term gyp (as in swindle) has got to be an ethnic slur.  I don’t really live in an area that’s known for progressive attitudes, but people were generally more into the dog-whistle Limbaugh-type racism, where it’s not polite to mention someone’s race, (ie whinging about reverse racism) than the overt, slur-tossing type.

I think a lot of expressions like this are just learned by rote.  Like how people say “jury-rigged.”  WTF is that supposed to mean?

The term jury-rigging is most likely not derived from the epithet Jerry, but rather from the Latin adjutare, “to aid.” The phrase dates back to the 17th century, and was first used to describe an improvised mast on a ship. It was eventually expanded to mean any hastily-thrown-together, ad hoc engineering feat. “Jerry-rigged” came out as a variant during World War I, but was almost certainly a play on words, or perhaps a crossing of “Jerry-built,” which referred to shoddy workmanship.

N——r-rig as a phrase dates all the way back to the 1960s. It was certainly created as an affirmatively racist spin on jury-rig.

This is a long way of saying that the phrase “jury-rigged” is a perfectly cromulent one, and one whose etymology nicely captures the essence of what’s being done. “N——r-rigged,” however, is a purely racist term, coined in response to the civil rights movement, and one that has no place in this world or any other.

Oh, and you’re the real racist for pointing this guy’s racism out. Also.

The same hostile-polite behavior is observed when someone calls a politician they don’t like a “gentleman.” The nicer the terms, the more teeth-clenching is involved.
Comment #22: oldfeminist on 10/10 at 08:15 PM

True that two politicians fighting to out politesse each other hides hostility, but that’s hostility between two who accept each other as equals, because generally they’re saying it to each other’s faces, right?.  (The early twentieth century humorist, Will Rogers had examined just this example with two Congressman.)  So, I think there’s a difference here.  Most peoplewho use the derogatory term aren’t using it to the victims face, but to his/her own choir.

Jeff - cromulent?  and I thought I was a pretty good wordsmith - but then again, I’m not a Simpson’s fan. Thanks

“jury rig” surprised me:
“... the sense of makeshift or temporary dates from at least 1616, when it appeared in John Smith’s A Description of New England. It appeared again, in a similar passage, in Smith’s more extensive The General History of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles published in 1624.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_rig
Regardless, liberals are the real racists because, Look! See Dan’s choo choo train!

“The thing is that I never grew up ever hearing the term “n- rigged” to the point where I had to come up with a cute euphenism for it in a “racially mixed environment.”

I never heard the term “n- rigged” until today, not that racial slurs are/were unknown here, but that’s a new one on me
I didn’t even realize it was a replacement for “Jury-Rig” until I read the comments

” It’s too bad the IT/engineering term ”kludge”
I use that one a lot, didn’t know that it was because I’m an IT type, thought it was WW2 army slang like snafu

“Jury-Rig” instead of “Jerry-Rig” is also common here, maybe because I’m on the cost and the nautical terminology sticks more?

Jerkwads like that come in all gradations and locations. There’s this greasy stump of a bigoted columnist at the Chicago Tribune who thinks you’re the racist for not laughing at his “Obama Chia Pet Head” jokes.

With jerry-rigging, btw, it was a practice of using ‘jerry’ equipment to repair the failing equipment of the British soldiers… so while the use of the temr ‘jerry’ to refer to Germans was negative, the ‘jerry-rigging’ had positive connotations… they could at least make things that worked.

Surprisingly, no.

“Jerry-built” meaning shoddily constructed, England, 1869, possibly in relation to one person.
“Jury-rigged” meaning a temporary and expedient naval repair, dating back to 1788.
And the Miriam Webster dates “Jerry-rigged” back to 1959, probably as a confusion of the two.

I suspect your story was a “just so” explanation invented after the event.

I’m AA native Arizonan; it’s laughable to notice have felt out of place when in an urban area.  I want to ask “where are the white people?” Growing up African American in Arizona from the 50’s makes me adapted to being with whites Mexicans Indians and Asians. 

Language is a vehicle of expression full of both over and hidden meaning,  with code words and euphemisms existing on several levels.  What I’ve noticed is racial overtures used by whites are not displayed (in my experience) by minority group, i.e.  I’ve not observed signs outside of minority businesses saying “Ofays” (or ofay-rigged), “Mes-cans (or mescan-rigged)” “Chinks (or chink-rigged)” “Sand Niggers (or snigger-rigged) et al” 

What is racism?  The unprovoked and exposed hatred of other ethnicities

4. Rockabilly listeners in Finland were hanging the Confederate flag in their walls long before there were any (well, more than a handful) of black people in Finland. To them, it just symbolized America and beer-drinking and rebellion in some undefinable way.

all of a sudden people in my very white, small, rural, high school started using the word “Jew” as a verb.

Where friends live in whitest exurbia, I heard a kid say “‘chew’ you down.” I guess “chew” is more genteel than “Jew.”

[Confederate flag] symbolizes rebellion

Often far more than slavery, I think. My little brother, a lifelong rebel, demanded a Confederate uniform when he was seven or so. My father got him one, along with a toy rifle that shot cork balls.

“What is racism?  The unprovoked and exposed hatred of other ethnicities”

Nicely put.

Dana (14):

Normally, a broken gate or a failed solenoid or a blown circuit doesn’t care what color the repairman is

Then there’s really no reason for you not to say “jury-rigged” or any of the other longstanding non-racist expressions Paul helpfully listed.

Incidentally, does anyone know a good mnemonic for resistor bands?

The stars and bars here in Germany is mostly a vague symbol of country and western fans or bikers or a symbol of the old west. We don’t need to use to be complicated codes to be racist against blacks.

Dana (1)

Working as I have in racially-mixed environments, I coined the phrase “non-traditional engineering” as being both racially neutral and employment acceptable.

What’s wrong with “temporary fix” or “quick fix”? I just don’t get the need to create cutesy phrases and jargon. I used to deal w/ that allllll the time. Just say what you mean.

Also, Dana (14)

Normally, a broken gate or a failed solenoid or a blown circuit doesn’t care what color the repairman is.

I guess they do care about gender, though, or you’d've said “repair tech.” Right?

Around a concrete plant, “non-traditional engineering” usually refers to a quick, not-exactly-standard fix to get things working long enough to finish the day, or even just the load.

Dana, you said that you specificially coined the phrase because you were in a mixed work environment and needed to give an opportunity for people to complain without saying “n——- rig.” The implication being that if you weren’t in a mixed work environment, you and your coworkers would feel better about letting the slur-laden figures of speech fly.

Seriously, man, what’s wrong with you?

“I guess they do care about gender, though, or you’d’ve said “repair tech.” Right?”

Well, it’s not like Dana has daughters… oh wait, he does!

But they certainly wouldn’t be found in any traditionally male area of work… oh wait, he has one daughter in the military, a pretty hardcore bastion of maleness…

Okay, so Dana’s a work in progress (if the word “progress” can be temporarily used to describe his painfully slow journey toward a better understanding of the world and his - minor - part in it)...

Well, it’s not like Dana has daughters… oh wait, he does!

But they certainly wouldn’t be found in any traditionally male area of work… oh wait, he has one daughter in the military, a pretty hardcore bastion of maleness…

Okay, so Dana’s a work in progress

Dana may well be the opposite of the person who cheats on his wife but says that “deep inside” he really loves her: whereas the latter person is one whose immoral actions belie his “good” words about what he “really” believes, Dana’s words are reflective of an ignorant ass, but his actual life as he lives it is one in which he rejects the stupidity that he actually advocates.

It kind of starts with saying that his daughters and the women he personally knows are “the exception” and that one should not use racial slurs in front of actual ethnic minorities and discourage doing so among the people you know and work with, but then it hopefully results in the realization that the “exceptions” to your belief system/philosophy are actually universal values that should be encourage and advocated for. If they actually lived somewhere in which the good of their families and communities involved the need to help poor people and register them to vote, they’d do that, too, but they don’t.

You do kind of see this in a lot of middle aged professional men: for social/professional reasons, they start to cultivate the mannerisms and talking points of right-wing assholes, but in their own lives, they’re actually encouraging of equal rights and opportunities for women, have respect for learning and science, etc. In a certain sense, they’re somewhere between “useful idiots” of the right-wing and straitjacketed captives of the culture where social and professional success depend upon their ability to act out these cultural behaviors. The best one can hope for is that their children will have better social and professional opportunities where they do not adopt the cultural trappings and immoral beliefs of the lunatic right-wing.

Yeah, in Vegas theater (not a bastion of progressivism) I was a technician and an operator. My gender never entered the equation.

“Seamstress” is gone, gone in favor of “stitcher” - cuz, you know, men sew, too.

I wonder if his daughter is “point man” on patrol. Or “repairman” if she’s in a mechanized unit.

In all honesty, I’m surprised that the dumb bastard who set up that sign spelled Obama’s name correctly.

Maybe he had help from a kid down the street.

BTW, Dana has a whole bunch of posts about his daughters on his site, including this one which in comments has a picture of the man himself standing proudly by his Army PFC daughter.

Apparently his other daughter (just two, right Dana?) is also looking into a military career. 

In today’s world, having your kids in the US military is a pretty frightening thought.  I certainly hope that no ill comes to either of them, whether I fully agree with their career choices or not.

I do hope they both learn a lot, and bring much of it back to help re-educate their old man.  If we can get him to understand that women are really human beings too, then maybe we can start getting him to understand that LGBT Americans are human beings, and they aren’t bent on destroying America, but merely wish to live their lives like anyone else.  By that point, getting to accept the existence of atheists should be a piece of cake.

Perhaps we might even make a progressive out of him… in another 20-years or so…

does anyone know a good mnemonic for resistor bands?

I always start by remembering the color sequence Roy G. Biv, and toss out indigo. Then I preface it with Black Brown, and follow it with Grey White.

To all those posting about how in (X European Country) assorted Confederate flags posted on your wall don’t represent racism: the fact that you didn’t know any better doesn’t change the flag’s true meaning.  Now that you know, what shall you do?

    The same hostile-polite behavior is observed when someone calls a politician they don’t like a “gentleman.” The nicer the terms, the more teeth-clenching is involved.
  Comment #22: oldfeminist on 10/10 at 08:15 PM

True that two politicians fighting to out politesse each other hides hostility, but that’s hostility between two who accept each other as equals, because generally they’re saying it to each other’s faces, right?.  (The early twentieth century humorist, Will Rogers had examined just this example with two Congressman.) So, I think there’s a difference here.  Most people who use the derogatory term aren’t using it to the victims face, but to his/her own choir.
Comment #28: phylosopher on 10/10 at 10:28 PM

Gentleman isn’t used only in politics.  Cops and lawyers use it, too.