Is "ghetto" a firable word?

[Boston Tea Party]

A Houston cop was fired after he distributed a pamphlet to other officers called "Ghetto Handbook: Ebonics 101."

If I may, it was not an officer from the Houston Police Department but rather one from the Houston ISD Police Department.

 

[My2Cinderellas]

I know of someone who was fired for using the word "ghetto". Used it in the context of a very poor, mostly minority neighborhood. My understanding of the situation is that she was at lunch, off work premises, but overheard using the word. She was promptly fired.

Iowa is an at-will state, so you can be fired at any time for any reason, but she was able to get unemployment - the state did not consider it to be just cause to deny unemployment.

This particular workplace is very sensitive about being politically correct, but took it a bit too far on this one IMO. Had she been on the clock or talking with a client, OK. But at lunch offsite? To go straight to firing without offering a class of some kind was a bit harsh.

 

[KristaTX]

I still have "In the Ghetto" stuck in my head, but this thread is actually an eye opener for me. I knew that people in general don't want to live in a ghetto, but I never knew it was a "bad" word. I always just thought it basically was a noun, meaning the same as "the other side of the tracks". I just thought it was the word for an area that had gone way downhill from its heyday, and that poor people lived there because it was cheap.

I never knew that it was a place where people were forced to live in seclusion, or that it might have anti-Semitic overtones. So Jewish people find the term offensive?

 

[ChrisFL]

I think it's a bogus issue. It's like saying something is "Trashy"...that doesn't necessarily mean "White trash", it doesn't have a specific racial meaning, it's referring to a state of being similar to a neighborhood that's unkempt IMO

 

[bananda]

if someone takes offence then it can be considered discriminatory. everyone really has to be careful with what they say these days with all the political correct-ness. i think its stupid though

 

[Stacerita]

Am I the only person with "In the Ghetto" by Elvis stuck in my head now? Just curious.

And his mama cries. . . .

Nope, not the only one.

 

[ChrisFL]

if someone takes offence then it can be considered discriminatory. everyone really has to be careful with what they say these days with all the political correct-ness. i think its stupid though

I disagree, if everyone has to be worried about their employment because one person, somewhere might take offense to something, then that is not a place I would want to be in.

That's the problem these days, so many people are so quick to act offended by something, they need to grow up.

 

[KristaTX]

I think it's a bogus issue. It's like saying something is "Trashy"...that doesn't necessarily mean "White trash", it doesn't have a specific racial meaning, it's referring to a state of being similar to a neighborhood that's unkempt IMO

That's what I always thought it meant. And, well, if you live in an unkempt neighborhood, then you do and it's no one else's fault these days unless you are a child. And a term for that seems to be "ghetto". If it's truly a no-no word, I've never heard it until this thread. To me, it just sounds like someone might take offense to it because they assume you are calling them poor, or possibly just living in scary area. I have lots of friends who live in an old but up-and-coming part of Fort Worth, and I have heard them say themselves that they live "in the ghetto."

I think it could be used in a derogatory way, such as if someone referred to any predominantly "minority" but middle/upper class neighborhood as "the ghetto" simply because of what group lives there. However, we all know there are parts of town that are truly unkempt and that you wouldn't want to walk through alone at night. Calling that "the ghetto" just seems like calling it what it is (according to the more modern meaning of the word).

 

[Wishing on a star]

I think it's a bogus issue. It's like saying something is "Trashy"...that doesn't necessarily mean "White trash", it doesn't have a specific racial meaning, it's referring to a state of being similar to a neighborhood that's unkempt IMO

Still, if I went around, on record, in a professional setting, talking about how 'trashy' my boss, or my company was.... I would not expect to have my job for long.

IMHO, one should not use negative and potentially (note the 'potentially') politically incorrect words in any professional capacity.

I think that trying to excuse most of the examples here by crying 'political correctness run amok' is just looking for a scapegoat or excuse for bad professional behavior.

And, I note, I am one who really can't stand the whole PC gone amok thing!
It is sometimes so out of control that it is a form of censurship!