Excuse Me Mr Smith On Numbers Never Lie

[afan]

Why is it that a white man can't say boy especially on National TV and a Black man can say boy to a white man. I have no problem with the term boy to a young teen who has yet to reach manhood but when a white man says boy about a black adult he usually gets fired or the fans go into an uproar over this usage of the term. Today on the show Numbers Never lie Mr Smith said to another debater that his "boy" Mr Stern the commissioner of basketball. Now not only did he say it so all could hear but he said it in a way to demean the comish. I know if a white guy giving this argument and with such gusto had said it, the white guy would be dismissed. Is this term boy only allowed to be used by a black man in his arguments?

[classea5]

Once we walk in another man's shoes we can understand or have an opinion. If you are not black than you can not understand how it has been, is, but hopefully not will be! I am white therefore I will never know although I will try that is all anyone can do.

[Baltimore Ravens Lets Go!]

Boy can be used as a derogatory term even when it is a white person talking to another white person. For example, I am a senior citizen and I might call some 20 year old a boy when he is being disrespectful. It has the connotation that you are not addressing a man but only a "boy."

[BankyConan1]

Really? In the context he used it, "boy" is like calling somebody "your friend". It's actually a term of endearment.

[elj1201]

Boy can be used as a derogatory term even when it is a white person talking to another white person. For example, I am a senior citizen and I might call some 20 year old a boy when he is being disrespectful. It has the connotation that you are not addressing a man but only a "boy."

as a white person, I concur

[Far from home]

1. Learn the context and how it affects slang.
2. In the not-to-distant future, that will cease to matter to all but a hyper-conservative minority to think that skin color actually matters.

[afan]

Really? In the context he used it, "boy" is like calling somebody "your friend". It's actually a term of endearment.

No he said boy as an insult. He stressed the term "BOY" as when he said "YOUR BOY". It was a demeaning usage of the word.

[afan]

I do want to say the show is very good though. It was just the way Mr Smith used the word that made me think ,If a white person had told a black man "Your BOY" he would probably have been removed, not because of the word but in the manner he said the word.