language issues

For decades, I have seen and heard this country/region referred to as "The Ukraine". Lately, I have noticed it being referred to as simply "Ukraine". Is this a result of the breakup of the former Soviet Union?

I notice this comes up a lot when people are doing a caricature of racist black people, or things like the 2008 Election when there were threats of Michelle Obama saying "whitey" on tape that never materialized. But I actually realized that amongst the thousands of black people I've known and...

I find it fascinating that the C word is still considered more unpleasant than other standard profanities such as the F word and the S word. It seems to me that the only word that carries the same shock and shame is the N word. It is frequently used as an insult, but so are other so-called...

3 times in the last 2 weeks, I've been called "Boss" by a black man (I'm white)... not the same man, a different person each time, ranging in age from maybe late 20s to early 40s. It's something you don't hear all that often anymore, but it's not so uncommon around here as to seem odd. Still...

I mentioned to my Politically Correct sister what I called "the catfight" between Nancy Pelosi and Jane Harmon who seem to share a rivalry dating back to high school. My sister told me that the term "catfight" was out of bounds, that it is about political differences, and "not about women." I...

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