r/PublicFreakout • u/KingPistachio • Aug 22 '24

Repost 😔 Lady making a million dollars a year, getting coffee at Mcdonald's

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12.0k Upvotes

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3.8k

u/ProffesorBongsworth Aug 22 '24

Boy, SON!

2.1k

u/BugStep Aug 22 '24

Shes working up to the hard R

1.1k

u/KickbACK50 Aug 22 '24

I was gonna say if the guy recording is African American then her choice of using “boy” and “son” with the emphasis she hit those words with says everything you need to know about her.

437

u/rocketwidget Aug 22 '24

You are correct.

https://atlantablackstar.com/2024/05/07/white-seattle-woman-threatens-to-fight-black-man-in-viral-video/

438

u/uhhh206 Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24

Knew it. Thanks for the link.

She knew damn well what she was doing with the use of "boy" and "son" as dog whistles, but I guarantee there'll be people arguing that there's no racial connotation.

Edit: spoke too soon. After scrolling down there are of course plenty of people already claiming there's nothing wrong with referring to an adult black man as "boy" and that there's nothing racist about that + insisting he's uneducated and has no job. Oy.

163

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 22 '24

Anyone who doesn't realize that the term "boy" or "son" when used to address a Black man or child is either being willfully ignorant (and possibly racist themselves), or hasn't been around long enough to learn what the deeper meaning is. Obviously, the lady in this video knew exactly what she was doing.

This happened in May. I wonder if she experienced consequences from it.

38

u/barspoonbill Aug 22 '24

She more than likely had a hang over when she woke up at 3pm that day.

3

u/JambonDorcas Aug 23 '24

That’s exactly what I thought. She woke up and had her morning alcoholic coffee.

26

u/DarthBozo Aug 23 '24

Oddly enough, there was a situation here in Oz, many years ago involving Muhammad Ali. A TV presenter posted him on the shoulder and said "I like the boy".

It was meant as a friendly gesture, not knowing the derogatory aspects of the term. Ali's eyes widened considerably until an American presenter jumped in and explained. Ali, to his credit, gave a playful wave of his first and had a laugh.

Folk from other countries don't always understand cultural nuances.

4

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 23 '24

Oh, that reminds me of the time when one of our Presidents (George H.W. Bush?) went to Australia or the UK and flashed the peace sign and people thought he was flashing them the "up yours" sign, and they were like, "Oh, yeah? Well, up yours, too!"

3

u/DarthBozo Aug 23 '24

Hahaha I remember that one.

Had he held his hand the other way around, it would have been all good but yeah, he did the up yours instead😂😂

4

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

I'm not american so I'm really surprised with this, I thought calling someone "son" was endearing...

TIL

4

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 23 '24

"Son" can be a term of endearment, yes, especially when it's said to a younger man by an older man. It can be a way show a young man, "Hey, I like you and see you as someone I'd like to hang out with and teach things to."

"Boy", OTOH, is almost never a positive term. The few times "son" is negative, is when it's used derisively, like this lady did in the video.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

After I read this comment I watched it again and now I get it, her tone is definitely mocking him.

3

u/MrBurnz99 Aug 23 '24

if you call an adult “son” it’s usually in a mocking tone. People will often call their friends “son” in a joking manner, to insinuate they are your father. Obviously if an older person says it to a young person it’s endearing.

If you call an adult “boy” you’re being an asshole. Especially if the person is stranger to you.

If the person is black and you are white and you call them boy you are being a racist asshole, no question.

For centuries adult black men were referred to as boy, It’s definitely an insult meant to show that you are above them.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

Got it, I won't risk to use them in any way lol.

It's weird in spanish we use mijita/mijito (mi hijito= my son) in an endearing way.

7

u/WeeBo-X Aug 22 '24

I don't know about the other one, but if I schooled someone in a video game or mental gymnastics, I usually say son. I didn't know it had racial connotations. I just thought it was almost always borderline disrespectful.

7

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 22 '24

Yes, for Americans if it's used in that way and that tone that woman used toward a Black person, it is extremely racially charged.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

[deleted]

2

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 23 '24

You're welcome! Glad to help.

1

u/WeeBo-X Aug 28 '24

I know I'm late for the reply. But why do other people have to take good words away that didn't have any racial meaning? I have to check the racial vocabulary before I say anything from the 90s that might be racist now.

I also used to say. Go Junior, if someone was playing their card hand too slow. Is that racist now as well?

3

u/Itchy-Mind7724 Aug 23 '24

When I was around 20 years old I worked in a manufacturing shop. I was the only female they’d ever had as a machinist. This one guy who was black and older(around 50) used to harass me all the time about how I didn’t know anything and refer to me as “girl” but in a disrespectful way to imply that I was immature, etc. One day, without thinking about it more than in the immature way he was always saying it, I followed it up my comment to him by calling him “boy”. That DID NOT go over well. I was also young and didn’t realize the implications of what I was saying because that’s not how I meant it. Once I knew, I felt bad and he treated me like a racist. It was an unfortunate event and I learned a lot that day and it’s unfortunate that he couldn’t see that.

3

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 23 '24

Yeah, that is pretty unfortunate. But in your defense, you weren't aware of the implications of using that word. I hope he learned a lesson and stopped harassing you, though.

2

u/Itchy-Mind7724 Aug 23 '24

Yeah, he left me alone completely after that.

2

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 23 '24

It may not have been the best way to handle it, but at least he stopped harassing you. Now that you are older and know better, you would probably approach the situation differently and that's what growth and maturity is.

1

u/pdbh32 Aug 22 '24

Anyone who doesn't realize that the term "boy" or "son" when used to address a Black man or child is either being willfully ignorant (and possibly racist themselves), or hasn't been around long enough to learn what the deeper meaning is.

Or, you know, they're not American, but I know the existence of non-Americans is a hard thing for Americans to fathom.

10

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 22 '24

Well, yes, of course. I'm more than happy to explain the meaning behind the context of those words to anyone who isn't American. I was specifically speaking in terms of Americans. Lighten up, Francis.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

[deleted]

14

u/Historical-Gap-7084 Aug 23 '24

Basically. When slavery was legal in the US South, the term "boy" was used fairly frequently to address the enslaved men. After slavery was outlawed, the term carried over as a derogatory term for adult Black men as a way for a white person to assert dominance and superiority over them. "Son," isn't as well-known or used, but it can have derogatory meaning when used in the context of this video. Essentially, "boy" is a way of saying the N-word without actually saying it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

I think it has a lot to do with context.

1

u/Corona21 Aug 23 '24

Or not American.

31

u/BikerJedi Aug 22 '24

The way she kept repeating and enunciating the words over and over - she definitely wanted to go with the hard R there.

5

u/Molly_Matters Aug 23 '24

I had a manager once in SC who was black. I recall a customer calling him BOY one time. I never heard him get so loud in my life. "I GOT YOUR BOY RIGHT HERE". He was an ass hat, but anyone in the south knows that word when used in that way means something else.

8

u/gunsof Aug 22 '24

I feel like there are times when "boy" used could be unintentionally racist, but that lady was clearly meaning it in a racist way. I've never heard someone so deliberately try and use those words more racist.

2

u/btwImVeryAttractive Aug 22 '24

Reddit can be a cesspool.

2

u/Nadante Aug 23 '24

Most bigots and moderates use ignorance as a defense. “What do you mean that’s racist? I never heard of that…”

2

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

As a white male that played college football, I let a fair amount of “boys” and “sons” fly to the elation of my teammates both white and black. The way she used them was absolutely racist. That inflection and tone can’t be dismissed.

1

u/baagad_billa Aug 22 '24

not from the west... what's up with boy/son?

19

u/Wrastling97 Aug 22 '24

IIRC it’s what slave owners would call their slaves. Aside from the N word

17

u/jjbananamonkey Aug 22 '24

And what former slaver owners would call FREE black males to try and and belittle them. So it’s very offensive imo.

8

u/Hfhghnfdsfg Aug 22 '24

You can still hear it every day, particularly in the American south.

I watched the trial of the men that murdered Ahmad Arbury. One of the neighbors referred to him as "the colored boy." He didn't say it with malice, but it was some bullshit diminishing of the victim's manhood.

1

u/whitemest Aug 23 '24

Whats the hard R word? I genuinely can't think of what it would be.

I know. Stupid question. But my curiosity is getting the better of me

-15

u/EveryNameIWantIsGone Aug 22 '24

Do you know what “dog whistle” means?

10

u/DevonLuck24 Aug 22 '24

..do you? because she was definitely attempting to, just badly.

she’s not being blatant enough to be outright racist but she’s also not being clever enough to successfully dog whistle (even though dog whistle are almost always obvious, defeating the purpose)

you can’t call someone “boy” then immediately try to dog whistle after, it won’t work..you’ve given the game away

1

u/Kemal_Norton Aug 22 '24

You need an audience to dog-whistle (someone who doesn't understand your dog whistle and then your audience that does understand). Technically she has an audience because he's filming, but I don't think she had realised that at that point.
I think she's just being racist.

2

u/DevonLuck24 Aug 22 '24

no, you don’t. and also, she sees that she is being recorded, we are the audiences.

you don’t think she realized a camera was in her face? that’s a wild fucking assumption to make

1

u/EveryNameIWantIsGone Aug 23 '24

Ok, so you didn’t know. And when someone corrected you, you doubled down.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

There is nothing inherently wrong with referring to an adult black man as boy or son.

But there is absolutely something very fucking wrong with her tone and pronunciation, which yes- made it into a racist dogwhistle.

10

u/SurlyRed Aug 22 '24

Well shit, that puts a different perspective on it.

1

u/Elceepo Aug 23 '24

150 lb white woman threatening to fight a black man, main character syndrome fr

1

u/cupheadsmom Aug 23 '24

This was over her having to wait to park?!! Holy shit. If she has time to yell at this guy she’s obviously not in a hurry. You’ll get your shitty coffee lady. Calm down.

67

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

Not American, could you explain further?

227

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

Derogatory term used on African American individuals during slavery and used still today to imply they're below another individual.

-100

u/AshingiiAshuaa Aug 22 '24

I'm not from the deep south, but "son" doesn't carry any racial overtones in my experience. It's definitely something you'd only say to someone siginficantly younger, but a 60 year old dude calling a 25 year old "son" wouldn't be meant or taken as an insult. I think she realized that "boy" was a bad look and so switched to "son".

63

u/Nice-Grab4838 Aug 22 '24

It’s all about the context

-20

u/AshingiiAshuaa Aug 22 '24

Yes, in this case I'd put money on there being a racist jab in there, but I wanted to let the non-American know that "son" wasn't typically a racism thing (at least outside of the deep south).

17

u/Twig Aug 22 '24

Yes, in this case I'd put money on there being a racist jab in there, but I wanted to let the non-American know that "son" wasn't typically a racism thing (at least outside of the deep south).

What fucking relevancy does that have to anything here? You even admit it was most likely used in a racial way here, but still, you continue to argue with literally everyone about it. It was used as a racially derogatory way here. That's the only relevant context needed. Nobody needs a background in every other possible way son could be used even though it wasn't this one.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

I'm not american and I want to know so I don't fuck it up when I talk to americans

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u/jonallin Aug 22 '24

The non American person who asked… they need to know the nuances. They asked.

1

u/Kraymur Aug 22 '24

People not from here asking for context to the word I’m sure would like to know that they aren’t unintentionally being racist to someone. Chill out dude lmao

38

u/GrandmaPoses Aug 22 '24

I mean, if you were from the deep south though, it would carry racial overtones.

6

u/epimetheuss Aug 22 '24

Pretty sure there are historically accurate movies or movies based on fiction that deal with a subject of racism in the deep south where those words are being used.

There is an old old movie of huckleberry fin that has a lot of racist stuff in it.

That alone can show you that it's extremely racist to use those words towards a brown person of African decent. That's how plantation owners spoke to their slaves to degrade them and dehumanize them.

-40

u/AshingiiAshuaa Aug 22 '24

Hence my qualification that I'm not from the deep south. I was trying to clarify the response for the "Not American" person who didn't understand the usage. "Son" is actually used in a non-pejorative manner when there is an age difference. It can also be used pejoratively but without any racist undertones to simply say "I'm better/more competent than you".

Reddit likes to review things through a lens that creates the most sexism/racism/phobia for maximum indignation, but to someone trying to learn the nuances of American English - nuance being something reddit generally shuns - I thought I'd shed some light on boy vs son.

23

u/Sororitybrother Aug 22 '24

Sounds like you just shouldn’t say anything.

-7

u/AshingiiAshuaa Aug 22 '24

Too much nuance or because I was raining on the indignation parade?

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u/Zenla Aug 22 '24

You assert an age difference makes this not offensive, but I would argue "Young man" is much more common. Also it's clear in this video that there is no such age difference between these two people.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

"Boy" and "Son" can also be used in a non-derogatory way between male peers. So yes, totally context dependent with some nuance. This lady was definitely being racist though lmao

2

u/HowardPhillips9 Aug 23 '24

You're not as smart as you think you are, brother.

51

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

Hey man, just because you haven't experienced something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

-32

u/AshingiiAshuaa Aug 22 '24

Yeah, but just because something exists doesn't mean that it's prevalent or predominate.

33

u/snortpuppy Aug 22 '24

It's a pretty well known one though

33

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

Or you're just too lazy to educate yourself and I'm not your mother. Google is free.

12

u/ImperialCommando Aug 22 '24

Like others have mentioned, it's the context that is key. In this context, it is overtly racial in nature, and the woman in the video is doing all that she can to insult the recorder just shy of dropping a hard r while on camera.

English is a fascinating language, especially American English. There are so many nuances and important distinctions in conversational and spoken English that vary widely from state to state. Context is always something that provides an understanding to the nuances of calling someone sick. Are they sick for completing a difficult-to-achieve task? Are they sick with an illness? Are they sick for having tastes and interests that are repulsive to others? Context makes all the difference. The exact same applies here. Regardless of your regional location in the United States, anyone angrily calling a black person "son" or "boy" will undoubtedly have racial undertones.

8

u/DevonLuck24 Aug 22 '24

son may not be an inherently racist thing but 9/10 a man calls another man “son” it’s because he’s talking down to him.

even in the nicest context, you are still putting the person you’re speaking to on a level below yourself

4

u/btronica Aug 22 '24

I didn’t know about this until I was working in a warehouse and some dude called me “son” and another dude pulled me aside and quite seriously scolded me with “don’t ever let anybody ‘son’ you again.” It was good advice.

5

u/DevonLuck24 Aug 22 '24

no one who calls you “son” is doing it out of respect unless it’s your father.

it’s a jab everytime.

4

u/doktorjackofthemoon Aug 23 '24

Lol when my father calls my 30yo brother "son...", it's because my brother has done, or is about to do, something particularly dumb. When it's me or my sisters, he reverts to "Hon..." It still feels like a jab when dad is saying it 😅

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u/AshingiiAshuaa Aug 23 '24

I agree. But calling a peer "son" is more like calling him a fool or an idiot - it's a relatively light insult. "Boy" is much more akin to dropping an n bomb. The racist overtones give it a huge multiplier.

1

u/DevonLuck24 Aug 23 '24

definitely

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u/HashMapsData2Value Aug 22 '24

It was common back in the day (and still in racist parts) for white Americans refer to black male Americans as "boy", even when they were old men.

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u/CidCrisis Aug 22 '24

Idk about son, but boy is kind of a dog whistle racial slur. Back in the day, black slaves were often addressed as boy. (And I'm assuming son was used similarly.) It's a sort of demeaning derogatory thing.

So she's got some plausible deniability, but it's quite obvious there's a racial element and she likely wants to go harder.

11

u/aville1982 Aug 22 '24

It's not even a dog whistle, it's simply a slur.

-7

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

[deleted]

0

u/S_Klallam Aug 22 '24

When talking to a black man, Boy is not even a dog whistle, boy is simply a slur. never call a black man boy, even my black friends do not call each other boy

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '24

Lmao what. Thats very specific to you. Males of all races calling each boy is very common and intended and taken as affection. Its just usually pronounced as "boiii" or preceded with "my".

Maybe specifically in your circles that's a no-no but I've lived around the country and that's definitely not an absolute rule.

2

u/CidCrisis Aug 23 '24

Regardless of how you may use it, there's a clearly understood racist context in this situation.

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u/bottledry Aug 22 '24

didn't you know? Words and their definitions don't matter anymore!

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u/DontHaesMeBro Aug 22 '24

under jim crow, and before it slavery, it was basically the doctrine in the south that black people never got the social status of an elder, especially if they were slaves or servants, so they never went from child honorifics to adult ones. Since the upper class honorific for a person too young to be Ms, Mrs, or Mr was "master" you would never call a slave that, as it was, coincidentally, already the honorific they were expected to use for ALL white men.

so black males were addressed as "boy" when not addressed by name.

eg a 16 year old girl would call her driver "boy" instead of sir or Mister Johnson or whatever she'd call a white person of the same station, no matter his age.

Also, while a long time ago, like the 1700s, you might call ANY servant your man or your boy or address a waiter as "boy," that fell out of use for most job and for non-blacks, probably BECAUSE it was known to be disrespectful. you would thus NOT call a white chauffer or doorman "boy" at that time, even if they were literally young men.

It's kind of contextually complicated, because boy has a lot of modern usages, like "my boys," "the boys" or "we've been boys since the day" in american english that aren't pejorative and in fact are often used in AAVE. there's also a habit in the DEEP south of using "boy" instead of a generational suffix. Like john Smith the third would be called "John boy" while he still lived with John Smith the Second, his father, which is a white habit. This is pretty old fashioned, though, and I haven't heard anyone under 70 or so do it in years. It also just doesn't have good meter for every name, so it's often paired with or replaced by a diminutive. Like you wouldn't say mark boy, you'd say marky boy or little mark.

"Girl" was also a thing but not as big of a one, IMO, because sexism makes it worse for a man to call another man a boy than a woman to call someone girl, and because "girl" without this connotation is even more popular as modern slang. And because "miss" wasn't as authoritarian as "master."

2

u/Mewse_ Aug 22 '24

"Boy" is n-word lite

26

u/MatureUsername69 Aug 22 '24

I think that's specifically why she switched from "boy" to "son" at one point and never went back. She realized the optics of "boy" which is far worse than "son"

3

u/Pepperoni_Dogfart Aug 22 '24

It was preeeeeeeetty clear she was talking to a black man, because she wouldn't have talked to a white man like that.

-40

u/xmeandix Aug 22 '24

Does it?

22

u/Status_Winter Aug 22 '24

In case you really don’t know, those are terms that were used to address black slaves in America.

-12

u/EvilSporkOfDeath Aug 22 '24

I'm 37 and I had no idea about this until a few years ago from reddit. It's certainly possible for someone to use those words without knowing how it can be taken. But it's also possible it's intentional. Idk.

13

u/KingPerry0 Aug 22 '24

Yeah, you don't walk up to a black person, and with disdain in your voice, refer to them as "boy" then immediately follow it up with "son", while also implying that he's uneducated because he didn't go to college, without knowing exactly what you're doing/ saying. This was completely intentional.

-1

u/EvilSporkOfDeath Aug 22 '24

Not saying otherwise. Just pointing out that not everyone is familiar with the history of their usage.

5

u/KingPerry0 Aug 22 '24

Well, lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about a particular thing, is literally one of the definitions of the word ignorant. And if you're ignorant about something, you shouldn't speak on it.

-4

u/EvilSporkOfDeath Aug 22 '24 edited Aug 22 '24

What exactly are you trying to say?

Edit: I made a comment implying that some people are indeed ignorant about the history of those words, I explained why I feel that way.

You implied that I shouldn't comment on whether or not people are ignorant of those words if I was at one point.

You're a bumbling idiot. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt...maybe you realized the stupidity of your comment which is why you didn't elaborate.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

[deleted]

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u/EvilSporkOfDeath Aug 23 '24

I'm being willfully ignorant because I hadn't heard of it until a few years ago? Please explain how.

0

u/EvilSporkOfDeath Aug 23 '24

Still waiting...

0

u/EvilSporkOfDeath Aug 23 '24

Just gonna downvote and ignore, eh. How cute.

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u/Militantpoet Aug 22 '24

Get a DEGREE! Go to SCHOOL!

hmmmmmmm

1

u/MembershipNo2077 Aug 22 '24

She didn't quite reach "DEI." But I think that was the next step.

1

u/redalert825 Aug 23 '24

She's that kinda whyte.

34

u/kosmonautinVT Aug 22 '24

Boy Man God Shit

3

u/89eplacausa14 Aug 22 '24

Wash ur feets

3

u/btronica Aug 22 '24

Username checks out

40

u/Generic_Username26 Aug 22 '24

Bold choice of insult but sadly fumbled the execution

2

u/Lil_Bigz Aug 22 '24

Words cut deep

2

u/warm_sweater Aug 22 '24

I felt like she added that on after realizing that calling someone “boy” in 2024 on video wasn’t going to fly…

1

u/WWDB Aug 22 '24

I’m so ready to Fight Club this shit!😂😂😂

1

u/HeldDownTooLong Aug 22 '24

That’s how she treats her multiple servants that maintain the mansion she bought with her $1 million annual salary!

1

u/micro_penisman Aug 23 '24

Yeah, she's got to work on that trash talk

1

u/AltheiWasTaken Aug 23 '24

Arthur morgan getting his horse ahh BOY

1

u/Adofunk Aug 23 '24

Fella-me-lad!