August 9, 2012 8:00 pm
Which words will not cause someone somewhere high blood pressure, a heart attack… or at least a strong case of the vapors? Are there any words left in the English vocabulary which will not “offend”?
LuAnn de Lesseps… “woo-woo-woo-woo”
On the last episode of the Real Housewives of New York, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps described herself as an American “Indian” during a dinner at LeCirque. LuAnn’s description, served with a side dish of a discreet “woo-woo-woo-woo-woo”… after all, it’s dinner at LeCirque!… is, according to Princess Carole Radziwill, an insulting gesture which, “everyone over third grade” knows not to do.
Teresa Giudice… Offensive or Not Offensive?
Carole Radziwill was offended. How dare LuAnn label herself an “Indian!” That’s a derogatory term! How dare LuAnn call her own ancestral heritage that word! A word which LuAnn probably used all of her life; one which her parents and probably her grandparents used to describe themselves… INDIAN!
Yes, Ms. Radziwill, everyone older than a third-grader knows that the Indians were an oppressed people who suffered horribly when the US government drove them out of their own homes and forced them to settle in parts of the US which were not inhabitable at the time. Thank you very much for the history lesson. However, not EVERYONE is offended by LuAnn’s usage of “Indian” to proudly describe herself. NOTE: What would Carole’s reaction be to the photo of Tree Joodice in Indian Headdress? Offensive… or NOT offensive?
LuAnn has used the word “Indian” to describe herself for several seasons of the Real Housewives of New York. If Carole is offended by LuAnn’s description of herself, that’s Carole’s right to be offended. And, Carole has every right to be offended… if she chooses to be! However, there are many who are OFFENDED that Carole was OFFENDED!!
To further talk about offensive word usage… Brandi Glanville is the latest Housewife to be attacked for her word choices. Brandi tweeted that a facial left her looking like a burn victim…
Brandi used a descriptive term in which to say how she looked. Did Brandi say anything repugnant, revolting, repulsive or spiteful about burn victims? No, no, no… and NO!
However, many are reprimanding her for choosing those two words to describe herself. IMO, Brandi said nothing wrong by using the words “burn victim.” It’s surprising that the few remaining lepers in the world haven’t tweeted Brandi for her very OFFENSIVE description of herself… calling herself a leper! But, even MORE offensive is Brandi’s misspelling of “leprosy!”
IMO, neither LuAnn nor Brandi said or wrote anything offensive… will there be any words left in the English language which will not be offensive… to someone… anywhere?
The word that best suits the people who have taken offense at LuAnn and Brandi’s word choices is this: BORING.
Louis CK… WORDS…
Let’s not forget that there are so many more important things going on around us all… IMPORTANT things! Much more important than words used by these goofy Housewives!
As a reminder, here are the latest beautiful, incredible images…from a batch of photos sent back to Earth by the Mars Lander!
NOTE: LuAnn’s caricature by David Gilmore “Pretty on the Outside”…
I am afraid to call myself anything….lol….And sorry if offend anyone but with a mother like mine(and all of my family agree) all my siblings have questioned what any of us are…lol… Again sorry if offended….
“you is kind. You is smart. You is important”
Love the help.
Love it!
LMBO! 2 Cute…
I think it’s a confusing term because people from India are Indians. Carole is a writer and because of that her word choices are more exact.
“American” Indian doesnt confuse me
I live near an Indian Reservation and the signs say Indian Reservation. Great Martian pics!
LOVE the martian pic !
I live on a reservation. The signs here say you are entering Oneida Nation. I don’t think Indian is wrong or racist but a blanket term. It’s like saying your European instead of Italian, Irish or French.
Thanks for talking about this. It’s something that’s bothered me for a long time. People get offended at a lot of things nowadays and except apologies for everything and everyone. It gets old. People say dumb things all the time, it’s just how it is. I didn’t think what LuAnn said was offensive, at all.
What I find annoying, is their over-use of the words “evil”, “bullying”, etc. Someone calling you a name, is not evil, just an moron. Hitler was evil. Big diff.
Matty I couldnt’ agree with you more. It gets tedious to keep hearing the same stuff. And yes, I actually have personal experience with this….someone super close to me is ….. heck I’m not sure what term to use here, but his IQ puts him in the range of being educable. when I hear someone call someone a retard….heck…they’re insulting THATperson NOT ppl with lower iq’s…..i’m certainly not offended….okay….i opened myself up to criticism….its okay….I can take it
oh…and i forgot to say….even moreso are they insulting the personthey’re referring to since no one uses that term anymore to refer to ppl with a lower iq…..
You mean the R word?
Personally, I believe LuAnn didn’t mean to cause any harm when she referred to herself as a “indian” instead of “native american”. Carole was just looking for something to complain about. As for Brandi, she probably did it on purpose because she will do anything for attention and likes to cause problems.
Grew up and went to school with a large percentage of classmates from the adjacent reservation (“the Res”). They called themselves by their tribal name or as “tribal members.”. “Native Americans” is a term concocted by apologetic white people. Who is Carole, or any other person who I suspect has never had a meaningful interaction with an aboriginal person, to dictate what is “correct”?
The people that I have known that are actually registered with the BIA and have real live tribal recognition, unlike the self proclaimed “Native Americans” Elizabeth Warren and Ward Churchill, have referred to themselves a “Indian”.
The pictures of Mars were great. Sort of reminds me of the Gobi desert in Northwest China. Really.
MP, my uncle is there right now working as a consultant for a company….am anxious to hear his thoughts of the place….he gave us a ick description of India (just like slumdog millionaire)….I told him he should write a blog of his travels.
Thanks for the video. That brought back a lot of memories since I actually did spend a lot of time there (about a year all total) and once slid down those towering sand dunes on something very similar to a taboggin. What fun, eh?
Miles
Glad you enjoyed it Miles. The taboggin does sound fun.. What was your favorite thing to eat there?
A hamburger when I got back to Beijing. Seriously, I tried to just not think about what I was eating, so I just picked around at whatever was on the table and could usually grab some noodles and vegetables. Once when I was eating with a bunch of Chinese, I spied on the huge lazy susan what I thought were crispy egg rolls. After I ate a few, my interpreter turned to me and said; Mister Miles, we are so happy you like baby sparrows. Yikes!!! But I passed on the frog heads and the turtle shells.
Oh yikes! I think I have seen someone eat one of those on tv once. bones and all right? laws a mercy. Now I can handle frog legs but not the heads.
Well, If you get hungry enough, you’ll dig into the pot just like the natives. Oops, I said natives. Is that allowed or did I hurt somebody’s tender feelings? Boo hoo hoo. By the way whatever happened to that old saying sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me? Maybe it time to just shut up, quit the name calling and beat on those people with sticks. Can you just imagine?? What jolly good fun.
I reckon you’re right about being hungry. You can say whatever you want to. I suppose you have enough travel time under your belt to have a pretty firm understanding of the various natives of this world.
I think I owe something, if you are still following this thread.; Can you pick me out? Hint…..I have long side burns.
Just wanted you to know.
Well this is thrilling. My son plays guitar!!!! But the sideburns dont really narrow it down. Lets see if i can guess…. Dont want to call out your in real life name on here but am I warm with this little hint:
You can pick your friends but you cant go pickering your friend’s noses and you certainly cant wipe them on your saddle.
If not, Ima gonna need more hint.
My dad did a lot of work in Xinjiang in the 90s. He would tell us stories about the banquets towns would put on that would usually consist of a boiled sheep & mustard greens. He would get handed the ‘good’ bits from the head.
I still think it’s AREA 51. lol
Oh shamey shamey Ms Sh you just offended the martians. p.s. political correct police suck. Princess Razwill is just parroting what she thinks is sensitivity but it really just comes off as out of touch elitist bullcrap.
The Mars is for Martians picture is great. lol
great post, well said. the end picture was really funny, too.
No doubt Brandi is very familiar with burns….rug burns.
ouch!
Zing!
And I’m a Brandi “fan” but sometimes I just gottta spread the snark around to all of em from time to time. Sorry Brandi you know I’m right.
Well, I’m part Native American Indian and grew up in Montana near the “Res”….not offended at all…More offended that people are not educated about life of an Indian on the Res….when my family moved to Missouri when my brother & I were in our teens, my brother’s teacher told the class they still shot Indians in Montana…that’s like saying a chocolate cow has chocolate milk? Well, its more offensive and I’m sure she was referring to the uprisings of the AIM in the 70′s. Ms SH, thank you for the post! I loved CK’s video…Matthew Shephard died in the same hospital my kids were born….the Westboro Church comes here every October to “celebrate Matthew’s entry into hell”…forgive me if I offend….this breaks my heart….he has a Mother and she loved him very much. Yes, we do have more in world to worry about than these stoopid women and whatever they think is P.C.
Westboro Baptist people suuuuuck! Like grrrrrr. Not enough negative language in the world to describe my disdain for them! Here’s the Red State Update guys having a little fun at their expense.
Haha, are you dating anybody? I love it!! They tried to come to Jersey to protest a soldier’s funeral. Police took care of security and ALL THE VIDEO CAMERAS malfunctioned. LOL.
Yeah they sent a press release out saying they were coming to our town too to do same thing couple years ago. They never showed up. Reckon they wasnt in the mood to get they asses handed to them. We dont play.
Same here. My guy and number of guys on his department are Veterans, they weren’t having it. Most heard rant, “God told me to use Taser on Dumbasses.”
LOL. They are truly scum of the earth people. Using the very rights that our soldiers fight for to further their own disgusting filth. Not advocating anyone serve the westboro bunch a lead sandwich cause they aint worth the trouble it would take to write up a report on it. But a tazering would be looked on as a friendly lil reminder that they need to learn to mind their manners.
Awesome selection Madepiley. I don’t know how military families deal with the day to day uncertainty when soldiers are deployed. I don’t think I could have handled it if my BF was still active.
What was that broad saying about God hating McCain? Some jibberish about how God hates anyone that would run for office? So, who can run for office, nobody? So she wants anarchy? Huh?
God hates anarchy! They are total loons.
They got their tires slashed in Oklahoma last year when they were there to protest a soldier’s funeral and they couldn’t find a shop willing to repair their tires. AAA had to come and tow their @sses away on flatbeds. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch is all I have to say about that.
Louis Theroux has done two great documentaries about Westboro
I saw this also Panda and they are another vile example of faux Christians, hiding behind their so called faith to promote hate.
That was great !! LOL
So are you Cherokee or Blackfoot. We could be related.
Hi Cyn1!….I’m actually Metis. That would’ve been fun to be cousins though!
duffy: OMG… they go out of their way to celebrate that boy’s death? Every year? His death was cruel enough for his parents to endure. Didn’t know they went every year. Interesting the people who claim they are Christian. TFC!!! SH
Yes Ms SH, they do….it’s horrible! It’s usually during one of the football games in October at Colorado State University so there’s a big crowd. The funny part is that a$$hole used to be a civil rights attorney. I just cannot understand how anyone can say that about a child…yes, he was of legal age but he has a mom! He was her baby! I get so mad when they file lawsuits against the Vets to be able to protest and the WIN! I know they won some sort of monetary settlement inre to this and I believe there were people donating money to help the family of the Vet out. There are no words….where’s the respect for a family’s right to grieve? Yeah, I’m a Christian but the God I believe in tells me not to cast judgement on anyone. As it is said & written, he who is free of sin, cast the first stone.
The best reaction to their bullcrap that I have seen so far is the Patriot Guard. Perhaps other Christians like yourself that worship a loving God can help to organize a counter protest like this in order to shut down their hate on Mathew’s family. Surround them and drown them out. Love is stronger. It always will be.
Well, my dear MP….you post the best video clips ever and I do believe you have outdone yourself! What a great video! You’ve given me a point to ponder for this fall….I was always so busy traveling for work but now I’m at home & might be able to do something I always wished I could that day when matthew was in the hospital on life support and I drove to the hospital, being a new mom thinking….there’s got to be something we can do for him & his family. You ROCK!
Thank you Duffy. What better people to counter these wackaloons that a group of mothers. United in our common bond. Of all walks of life, all religions(doesn’t have to be just Christians) coming together to counter the evil that comes from these people. Just like these patriots do for the soldiers. Not a political statement just a love statement. Gods love. Could be some powerful stuff Duff.
Luanns’s other comments, like, “Be careful for your scalp baby”, and the word “savage”, were what was most offensive and ignorant. Not all Indian tribes scalped people, nor were they savage people. My grandfather was 1/2 Cherokee, and he used the word “Indian”, as does my mother. “Burn victim” is not offensive either, if Brandy had redness and a burning sensation on her face from a laser, she actually was kinda a burn victim.
Scalping was started by french trappers and the tribes, in retaliation, returned the favor and got blamed for it. Since LuAnn is part french Canadian, can she do the scalping joke?
Hmn, sd, I’d stil say it was distasteful. Even if she was speaking in reference to French Canadians, it would then be offensive to them, as I am sure not ALL French Canadians practiced scalping. Just as all Germans weren’t Nazis, and all white land owners weren’t slave owners/abusers. It was just very poor judgement on her part to say that, but I’m sure she was feeling the wine and regrets it now.
I am with kell on this, LuLu really did go too far with the scalping comment. And NO LuLu does not get a pass for being part French Canadian. I think that LuLu goes too far quite often, she really is wrapped up with her own self importance, sadly she is just like any other human.
I also get where Carole is coming from. I believe that she is a very politically sensitive person. She has spent 10 years of her life in network news. She has covered events and human suffering in some of the darkest parts of our planet. It is therefore not surprising that she would tend to have strong feelings on these matters. And, yes, I do think that Carole sees straight through LuLu and all of her BS!
she went too far but I think she was trying to diffuse the situation with humor, she said it without thinking it through….and would never have even said if carole had not brought it up in social setting….if she was truly offended talk to her honestly and privately at another time
I belive that as well. When I said that about the french trappers I was really trying to lighten the mood. My mothers family is Cherokee and French and my father is a fresh of the boat German. I have always heard my mothers whole family refer to themselves as indian so to me when I hear people say it I don’t really have a problem, I usually say native American but mostly I say Cherokee but I just don’t feel it is offensive enough to lecture people about it when I know they mean no harm when they say it.
Hey der Sd, I responded to the French trappers comment just to follow it logically and banter with ya, I didn’t think you were defending Luann or arguing or anything. My mother is Cherokee from her dad’s side, and on her mom’s side her great-grandparents were off-the-boat Germans as well. I do think Carole went too far in preaching about the term “Indian”, I think her whole thing is to one-up the Countess lately.
Very impressive post. I actually agree with your arguments. Earlier in the week I read an article on Indian Country media about the Luann controversy and the author of the article clearly stated that the overwhelming Indian population prefers to refer to themselves as “Indians.” Although I don’t watch RHBH, I can’t imagine what would be offensive to a burn patient about the housewife’s statement. I interpret it to mean that her facial left her face a tad too raw. Ouch!
Carole is giving me a phony vibe. Sonja started the conversation when she initially asked Luann: “Is your mom the Indian side or your dad?” And Carole did not gasp, or admonish or correct Sonja, Carole said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to Sonja but she took offense 16 seconds after Sonja’s first comment when Luann said “American Indian”. Hmm. Phony, fake or has an agenda?
Last year I took a year of an Aboriginal-based college program, focusing on the history, culture, spirituality, & language of the First Nations people. I’m Canadian, white and not of any Aboriginal ancestry myself but the majority of my classmates were either Native or part-Native. Most of my classmates referred to themselves using their tribe name (Ojibwe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Mohawk etc) or Anishnabe/”Nish.” Everyone expressed different preferences & used different terms to describe themselves. First Nations, Aboriginal, Native Canadian are widely used, “Indian” is a little outdated but not offensive IMO. I can’t imagine anyone coming into my class is telling someone of Native/”Indian” ancestry that it is not appropriate to refer to themselves as whatever they choose, whether it is considered PC is today’s “oh so very delicate” rules of society, or not. Carole was just looking to pick at Luann.
People need to lighten up over word usage. As far as native americans, I couldn’t believe that Columbus Day is now controversial because certain groups think it serves to snub the Indians. Seriously? It’s a day off of school and a kick ass NY parade, stop ruining it with political correctness!!
Antonella I totally agree with you. People start out with a good cause and then go overboard with it and make it so outrageous it defeats the whole idea. It becomes a joke or people lose track of the reason it was started for in the first place. So, now you cant say anything without offending someone.It just happened here. Someone had a bright idea that any school that had been named with a Indians name or referred to Indians would have to be removed. Schools here that had names like Cheifs or Renagades had to be removed.If the schools had Indian anything in the name they were told it would have to be removed.That included the sports teams. I think the bigwigs had nothing better to do then come up with this stupid idea. When people of Indian decent were asked their opinions they said the whole thing was stupid! Here we had teachers getting laid off due to budget cuts and they do this so now the costs are exorbitant(sp) to change. Books,letterheads etc…all had to be changed. Sports uniforms and flags the list goes on….I have known alot of Indians(am little part also) here and in Arizona.As kids we woo woo all the time. And still do when happy or having fun. Guess maybe we Orgygonians are horrible Indian bigots like LULu…lol…spank me and call me Ruby….lollol Am sorry if offended anyone was not my intent. Just am tired of stupid people who have nothing better to do then nit pick other people…Did ya here me woo woo? lol
Everything LuAnn says offends me, even the way she moves her head around when she talks.
Yes, me too. In fact, I am offended when LuLu breaths. The way that she sucks in oxygen is offensive! Dahling! Yuck!
Indian burn!
Love the pic of those angry Martians! Can’t imagine what they’d do to LuMan if she said, “The sky is blue.” Probably the least offensive word there is “the,” so she should start inserting it more into her sentences to help water down the offensiveness of her words. If she used it enough nobody would be offended because it would sound like jibberish.
Hello, of course LuAnn was offensive. She talked about scalping and doing the woo-woo-woo was really sickening to watch. I can’t stand her, she is my least favorite out of all the housewives. She is ignorant, condescending and a see you next tuesday if there ever was one.
Exactly who in Luann’s ancestry was an Indian? Has she said? What small a percentage is she even talking about? Is it 1/8 or 1/16th? Less? What tribe was that person a member of? We can assume that Luann isn’t a tribal member or we wouldn’t be hearing the end of it – I’m guessing that she has no more Indian blood than millions of other Americans who don’t rely on that to define themselves or to make a social statement. Basically, I think she’s a fraud.
I was wondering that, too. A lot of people run around talking about Indian heritage and the real Indians I know get pissed off at those “Indian princess great-great-grandmother stories”. AHEM! (elizabeth warren).
Elizabeth Warren has the same amount of Indian blood as the current chief of the Cherokee Nation; granted that’s not much, but if he can be the chief of an Indian tribe, she gets to claim it.
I agree, Daisy. LuLu is a fraud. She married an older, wealthy man for a few bucks and a silly “Title”….when I hear her talk about how “it is Her Title” and how she is Not Giving It up etc. etc. I want to gag! On the other hand, she will pull out her “Indian” as well as her French Canadian background. It has gotten very old!
While the women were at the company dinner in London, one of the guests addressed Carole, in regards to being a princess…..before Carole could utter a word, LuLu said “I know “THE Family”. I have heard LuLu use this phrase many times before and thought it was very odd! But somehow, with Carole sitting right there and Carole being a family member, I found it totally rude and self sentered of LuLu to say this. Perhaps Carole does get a little pleasure out of pressing Lu’s buttons at times. But, I also believe that Carole was being very sincere in trying to get LuLu to be a little more sensitve to others.
Great pics from Mars; was waiting for someone to do something creative.
SIDE NOTE – SH sorry I tried to cut and past an artice from Hermis re Traylor and her fake bags; I need to take lessons from Madepiley. Again love this sight and enjoy blogging!
While I think that people are getting sensitive saying things in society, I do not think that “being PC” or whatever people call it is all bad. Being an actual second-generation Indian whose roots come from India, I think it’s good that people call people out on saying stupid shit about people. When I was a kid, people used to say the most terrible things to me about Native Americans/South Asians when I thought I was one or the other. I’m not particularly old, either.
Post 9/11 was tough at times when people think that you’re a terrorist, when A. you’re not a terrorist B. you’re not Muslim C. India wasn’t a sponsor of the terrorist attacks D. people think that such an attack is a good excuse to let out their racist opinions without being challenged on them. I don’t understand why people feel it’s their right to say whatever they want but not expect people to react to it.
I think that we are a part of a better society when people aren’t referred to as racial slurs; this I’ve seen occur when people aren’t challenged on their words. Small incidences of racism plus other factors leads to violence, look at what happened to the Sikh temple in Wisconsin. According to the news I’ve read about it, the guy was a white nationalist who either thought the Sikhs (who aren’t Hindu or Muslim) were terrorists and who deserved to be killed.
I think Carole doesn’t like Luann and is picking on her because she thinks the Countess is a buffoon. There is a limit to being overly sensitive and I think the bullying fiasco that was a part of Season 3 of RHONY was over the top. However, it is quite another thing if people don’t practice basic civility to each other.
One of my most embarrassing moment was when one of my children’s friends were at my home stating that the Indians were ruining our neighborhood because they were going to run down our home values by purchasing homes in our area! I don’t what came over me but I told her to go home and tell her parents that I not only was native American but owned a home valued 4 times what her parents did. I was so angry I could spit. People are Idiots !
Cyn, I never thought I’d read that you were mad enough to spit. HAHA, You’re usually the peace maker. I love the story. You should have pulled out a big ole tomahawk