Uh... what did you just say? o___0

[Evannah]

*contains racism*

I work at a clothing/home decor store situated within a large garden centre. Customers are a lot nicer than they were at Poundland, but they're still customers and they evidently still do and say things that just make me go O________o

An elderly lady and her friend are browsing the rails so I go over to them and ask them if they are okay and if they're looking for anything in particular.

Woman: Yes, I was wondering if you have any cardigans in n***** brown?

Me: Um... sorry what? o___0

She was about to repeat herself but her friend cut her off by saying, "Maureen! You can't go around saying things like that!"

I tried to help the best I could though, because talking and assisting the customers is my main job description and we have to give them excellent customer service. So I just gritted my teeth and carried on with a smile.

[gerund]

*contains racism*

Woman: Yes, I was wondering if you have any cardigans in n***** brown?

Originally that was a colour that was used all the time. There was a shoe polish that colour.

Here in Australia we had a grandstand called The E S (“Nigger”) Brown Stand and at the time (when it was named) it was not seen as controversial. Not explained in the link was that anyone with the last name of "Brown" was called that name because of the shoe polish.

I'm not saying there is nothing wrong with using that word now, but if you are old you might not think before you say those words.

[South Texan]

I remember hearing that term as late as the mid-seventies for a very dark, chocolate brown color. I cannot believe anyone would still use it.

[crazylegs]

Originally that was a colour that was used all the time. There was a shoe polish that colour.

Here in Australia we had a

Black dogs were called it regularly too. The 1955 film The Dam Busters originally used the authentic name for the dog but whenever it's shown on the TV now it's edited out.

[emax4]

"No but we have them in cracker white..."

[OfficeSlug]

"No but we have them in cracker white..."

*spits out soda, wipes nose and chin*

Don't give Crayola any ideas!

[MoonCat]

Oh lord. I think my response would have been "GET. OUT."

But I love emax4's idea!!

[dalesys]

"No but we have them in cracker white..."

Which is pink & crusty with brown streaks...

[Marmalady]

I think it's just a different mindset from a different age - as the OP says, this was an elderly lady, and she would have grown up in a time when the word was often used to describe something black, or dark brown. My mother told me once that an ex-boyfriend of her aunt's was given the nickname "Nigger" simply because of his rather dark and swarthy colouring.

[fireheart]

Don't give Crayola any ideas!

Actually, Crayola have had to rename a couple of colours themselves.

They renamed "Indian Red" to "Chestnut" due to concerns that students might think that the colour was the actual colour of "Indian" skin (not sure if they meant Native American or not). Prussian Blue became "Midnight Blue" because Prussia no longer existed, "Flesh" became "Peach" for diversity's sake.

There are a few other colours that were renamed for trend reasons or kids couldn't pronounce them

[gerund]

There are a few other colours that were renamed for trend reasons or kids couldn't pronounce them

Actually I get what the OP was saying. Language changes. 50 years ago I was a little boy in an Australian school playground, and none of the current "bad words" were in use then. There are words that I would not have said to my Mother (then), but the language has changed. Now those words appear on TV. In shows that are broadcast in prime time. George Carlin showed this in 1972, and then the radio stations broadcast his comedy routine. Later he was reported to have said "Sadly there is only one word left now." After his death I heard that word on cable TV, so now there are none.

To give a non-racial, non-gender example - in the 1990's when I was heavily into computers and went to quite a few conferences. The word "paradigm" was very popular. It was used 2 or 3 times in every speech I went to. It appeared on powerpoint slides. After about 1998 it fell out of use. There it was on powerpoint slides from a few years before, but the speaker would not say it and they would skim over that point.

Now you never see it in writing about computing subjects; it has completely fallen out of fashion and no one uses it. It could almost be called the P-word in computing. A word that we used to say but now can only allude to it with an initial.

[Estil]

Actually, Crayola have had to rename a couple of colours themselves.

They renamed "Indian Red" to "Chestnut" due to concerns that students might think that the colour was the actual colour of "Indian" skin (not sure if they meant Native American or not). Prussian Blue became "Midnight Blue" because Prussia no longer existed, "Flesh" became "Peach" for diversity's sake.

There are a few other colours that were renamed for trend reasons or kids couldn't pronounce them

For further clarification...Midnight Blue and Peach got their name changes in 1958 and 1962 respectively. As for Indian Red to Chestnut (1999) teachers did in fact tell Crayola that students were getting the wrong idea about Indian Red being the skin color of Native Americans...even though it was actually a textile dye/pigment from India that inspired the color and its name. Oops.

[ADeMartino]

The 'Pink Cadillac' of song and legend was Titi Pink (properly pronounced teetee, I believe). Although the name has officially changed, you still hear the occasional 'mispronounced' reference.

[Automan Empire]

The 1955 film The Dam Busters originally used the authentic name for the dog

Aaah, so THAT is the movie playing on the TV set in Pink Floyd The Wall.

[mathnerd]

Elderly folks with no discernible ill intent generally get a pass from me in cases like this.

On the other hand, I want to bash some people's heads in for going too far in the other direction, like the school board that fired the Spanish teacher because she included the color black in her list of Spanish vocab words.