   Eenie Meenie Minie, DOH! I'm a racist!
  Referring to this article:http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/15016407.htmI always used to use this rhyme when I was a kid, "Eenie meenie minie mo, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollars let him go, eenie meenie minie mo."  Didn't know until today how it started.What do you think about this beer ad?  I support the beer advertisers on this one, I think people are taking the racism thing a little overboard in this case.  Considering kids are being taught this rhyme in school, I don't see it as a racist remark anymore.   
  Wonderful.So we're going to take a rhyme which USED to have racist overtones, has been completely cleansed of them and not a single person except pedantic history buffs even knows about the origins, and freak out over them?I can't handle this anymore.   ;  There's a reason the courts ruled against the two guys who filed suit.That would be the first I've heard of it as being racist. Sortof like how nobody is actually worried about the bubonic plague when they sing Ring Around the Rosie.So, yeah. I support Southwest, the beer advertisers, and anyone else who uses the rhyme without being intentionally racist.   ;  Oh it gets even better:Quote:A controversial alternative version of this poem substitutes the word nigger for the word tiger, which in some eyes has tainted the entire rhyme. Some believe that the modern version is a politically correct version of the "nigger" version, but no versions of the rhyme are known to predate the oldest examples of "tiger" versions.So, guess what? The whole "nigger origin" of this poem isn't even the origin! GYAHHHH.   ;  Er, the original racist version of the rhyme isn't that obscure. Sure it's pretty much lost it's association, but given how trigger happy the US seems to be with lawsuits I think it's a little silly to use it on a big advert. Especially since it's not really fundamental to the ad and could easily have chosen an alternative.Silly ad. Silly article. How about some real news?   ;  I'm surprised there hasn't been a large-scale campaign against the phrase "works like a charm".   ;Quote:Original post by OrangyTangEr, the original racist version of the rhyme isn't that obscure. Sure it's pretty much lost it's association, but given how trigger happy the US seems to be with lawsuits I think it's a little silly to use it on a big advert. Especially since it's not really fundamental to the ad and could easily have chosen an alternative.Even still, the fact that it's such a common children's rhyme should probably make that point moot, unless you'd like to call them racist, too :)edit:I suppose my viewpoint is somewhat skewed. Considering my age it's no wonder I've never heard of it as being racist before, so I really don't know whether the advertising people should've known better.   ;Quote:Original post by Avatar GodSortof like how nobody is actually worried about the bubonic plague when they sing Ring Around the Rosie.Nobody is worried about the bubonic plague because the song is not about the bubonic plague. See here:Quote:from snopes:Claim: The nursery rhyme 'Ring Around the Rosie' is a coded reference to the Black Plague.Status: False. (...)Origin: If "few people realize" that "this seemingly happy little nursery rhyme actually refers" to the Black Plague, so much the better, because the explanation presented above is nonsense. "Ring Around the Rosie" is simply a nursery rhyme of indefinite origin and no specific meaning, and someone, long after the fact, concocted an inventive "explanation" for its creation.;  Something I would like to ask anyone that is offended by that is "Why are you offended by it?"There is nothing personal there that I can see, it is a ryhme that has been used by generation of kids, I would say likely 90% used it without meaning (or even knowing) any racial tones to it.Should I be allowed to sue when some American says "AbooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooT" to me because I'm Canadian? That is a hell of a lot more insulting than that ad is.   ;  I know we've discussed this on these boards before, probably back in 2004. I can't find a link to that discussion. Mith, where did you get that quote from? The op-ed in the OP states something different: Quote:...What also was disturbing about the offensive Boulevard billboard was that Sullivan said company officials knew the origin of the ad and used it anyway. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes traced the rhyme in America to the 1850s when slavery was at its zenith. Then the verse was “Eena, meena, mina, mo, Catch a nigger by his toe; If he squeals, let him go, Eena, meena, mina, moe.”The N-word in the mid-1970s was “replaced by tigger, tiger, spider, beggar, etc.” the book said. Sullivan thinks that time and the wording change in the rhyme have been enough to disassociate it from its racist past. He said it would be “a huge stretch” now to make the connection.I disagree. The history is too fresh. The rhyme still evokes the N-word, and no amount of beer will wash that down.I'm old enough to remember the time before the replacements were made. 