A French court has ruled that the seaside city of Biarritz must rename its La Negresse historic district, possibly named after a black woman, after a case brought by activists who argued it was an outdated legacy of colonialism.
The ruling caps a long-running attempt by activists to force authorities in the resort on the Atlantic coast to drop what they say are “racist and sexist” placenames.
The activists want city officials to rename the La Negresse district as well as one of the city’s streets, rue de la Negresse.
La Negresse is the feminine version of the French word for negro (negre), translating into English as “negro woman”.
Of course, I live in a place called Sao Joao de Negrilhos. Which really does translate, directly, as St John of the Little Negroes. Even for the Portuguese this is a little close to the bone so if you press the locals for a translation then it, well, umm, OK, could sorta mean that. I guess. And online there’s a claim that in the Beja dialect – we are in the Beja region – “Negrilho” really means “elm tree”. Well, umm, OK, could sorta mean that. I guess.
And it really could too. The idea that a village out in the boonies of the Alentejo really had much to do with the slave trade would be odd, most odd.
The Grauniad, of course, not knowing that the English translation merely drops the final “-e”.
Ms Diallo may not be a native speaker of English.
La Negresse is the feminine version of the French word for negro (negre), translating into English as “negro woman”.
My French dictionaries tell me that its le nègre and la négresse (old fashioned, offensive). I don’t think I’ve seen an accent change as part of the spelling change from male to female versions of a word before.
A bit offensive of the pro Europe Guardian not to use accents surely that’s something Brexiteers would do?
I can’t remember now if it was Ronnie Barker or Benny Hill ( because they both did similar sketches ). Whoever it was, was dragged up as Nana Mouskouri and in singing Bye Bye Blackbird in ‘Greek’, the subtitles came out as “Bye Bye Negro Lady.”
The ruling caps a long-running attempt by activists to force authorities in the resort on the Atlantic coast to drop what they say are “racist and sexist” placenames.
Deport them all to Chinkycunt Island.
The local town council may remove the name from their maps, but how do they stop actual humans continuing to call something the same name they’ve used for centuries? It’s like “we must call them cancer sticks!”. Yeah, you can call them cancer sticks if you want to, nobody will uderstand what on earth you’re on. I’ll still call ’em fags as I’ve done all my life.
” First we gain entry, then we gain egress.”
“There’s a gay negress?”
Brass. Funny how it’s not shown in repeats any more.
BiND: is the pronunciation driven by the accents or vice versa? I suspect the pronunciation precedes the regularisation of the spelling.
At least it’s not Blackamoor.
Bloke in Dorset
“ My French dictionaries tell me that it’s le nègre and la négresse (old fashioned, offensive). I don’t think I’ve seen an accent change as part of the spelling change…”
(In English we have negro and negress – we don’t say “negro woman”.)
è is a short sound “eh” equivalent to “e” in English, é is longer, equivalent to “ee” in English. Check v cheek, for example.
It is not uncommon in French for the accent to change on a word derived from another, to alter which syllable is stressed: le chèque (sheck) = cheque, le chéquier (shaykiay) = chequebook. It avoids confusion when the words are spoken.
Négresse forces a stress on the last syllable, “nègresse forces the stress on the first so could perhaps when spoken be confused with the plural of nègre.
Sir Humphrey: [describing a mysterious new African president] All we know is that he’s an enigma.
Hacker: Humphrey, I don’t care for that word.
Yes, but Deep Purple got rid of him long enough ago that I don’t think they need worry about being cancelled.
@Steve, love that line from Yes Minister.
My mother has had two small, black, poodle type dogs who were named Ebony and Sooty (the second is getting on a bit but still around) . I once asked her “why don’t you just call the next one Nigger?” Cue aghast look from Mum.
I wonder how long it will be before someone comes for the Blackmoor Vale?
@John B,
Thanks, that was interesting and informative.
Who exactly would be offended, Tim? The descendant of Africans enslaved by the Portuguese I keep around the house is generally known as “La Negra”. Baianas often refer to each others as “Negra”. Even the pale skinned blondes. Nobody but nobody in Brasil has problems with the word negro.
“The Trump appointed judge told the activists they have no standing. Get out. And STFU.”
Cirrusly, why do people pay attention to ‘activists,’ and worse, actually take actions. ESPECIALLY in Sao Joao de Negrilhos. “Who are you people, and why are you here?”
jgh: They can’t. “Renaming” things is idiotic. (And yes, that does go for the “Gulf of America” too.) The Glasgow Cooncil tried to call the Subway “the Underground” for a hundred years, and nobody was buying it.
Ltw
Shirley, call it Sweep ,?
Ltw – mange-tout.
Is it still ok to say “pickaninnny”, or is that offensive now? I only have the 1911 edition of Britannica.
Sam – “Renaming” things is idiotic. (And yes, that does go for the “Gulf of America” too.)
Wrong. It was top tier trolling. I hope they change the name of Greenland to Americaland.
Sam: I’m not surprised, and the London equivalent has been known as the Tube since forever, despite the excellent typography over the decades displaying its proper name.
If you want to rename something make it easier and/or quicker to pronounce. We’re all lazy when it comes to everyday speech and nobody is going to waste time and energy changing their habits to say underground instead of tube or subway.
I find it bizarre that people who supposedly support diverity and inclusion end up erasing the very diversity that they supposedly stand for. Why remove references to black people? Whether it’s a street name, a pub called the Black Boy, or poor Uncle Ben whose name and picture has been dumped in the name of anti-racism, it’s always seems to me that what it’s really doing is the work of racists.
BiND,
No-one used to have a problem with negro 60 years ago. There are speeches from MLK where he used the term. It was never a term of insult like nigger.
The problem is that there’s a difference between what MLK was trying to deal with, which was serious, systemic racism and this sort of clownworld. It’s always the thing with activism and charity though, that someone does the hard, serious work, and then leaves behind a machinery that a load of twats and grifters take over. Look at the state of all the aid charities.
Outside of government and media, people are just not concerned about racism. Yes, there’s still the odd pensioner that cares but MLKs dream pretty much happened. Like I heard someone the other day saying how racism is as bad as ever. Right, when there’s an Asian prime minister and a black president.
‘but how do they stop actual humans continuing to call something the same name they’ve used for centuries’
jgh
We called Iran Persia for about 2000 odd years. But who does that nowadays??
Though we still call Deutschland Germany. Which has been what we’ve called it for 2000 odd years as well. Still the Germans are still (mainly) white.
It was never a term of insult like nigger.
Nor was nigger. Certainly not in my great-grandmother’s time. My grandmother had a coat she always referred to as nigger brown. The Vickies & Edwardians had a rather affectionate view of the Empire’s tinted subjects. I have inherited a brass inkwell in the form of an African servant’s head. I can remember similar items around the house, seem to have vanished over time. After all, the word’s just an Anglicization of common Spanish. There’s no reason it would have carried any freight in England. The word gets used in conjunction with a couple of survivors of a torpedoed ship being rescued from a lifeboat below a photo in the War Illustrated magazine published around ’43.
Maybe it was derogatory in the US. But so’s the English slang for a cigarette or what you sit on.