" @EpochError said:I am just going to add my voice to this. I am seriously surprised at the lack of knowledge of the word. I have a feeling that it is more used in England than elsewhere. It really was used as a stereotype and condescending word. I am not surprised it is upsetting some people." Does anyone really believe they put in the term sambo thinking of the Ecuadorian word for "fig leaf gourd"? I'd like to see a list of the other Ecuadorian words in the game. I'm sure it's very comprehensive. Their explanation insults the intelligence of anyone who isn't being willfully blind. "This poster is entirely correct.
The argument that 'Sambo' is even remotely well known as anything other than a racial slur is ludicrous. The suggestion that watermelon doesn't fit in with that racist slur is equally ludicrous. Just image search google for 'Sambo'. What's that, coincidence? The 'cracker' analogy falls down because there is no connection between a 'cracker' which you eat and white slave owners. If 'cracker' spawned a whip then you would have a valid analogy. (For the record, I don't particularly care about either term, but the defences offered so far seem laughably naive.) "
I remember the word still being used on English television in the 1970s. I distinctly remember it as part of The Black & White Minstrel Show and The Goodies. I for one would not appreciate the return of the word. The obscurity of the Ecuadorian fig leaf gourd is well made. I could ask 1,000,000 from any country (outside of Ecuador) and I would not find a single person who name that as the meaning of the word sambo.
No-one who has not walked a mile in another's shoes has the right to dismiss these types of racial slurs. Just because it doesn't bother you, doesn't negate the fact that it bothers them, especially those who are perhaps a little older and experienced these things first hand.
Sambo is a racial term for a person with mixed Amerindian and African heritage in the Caribbean (see zambo) and can also be used less specifically for black people person in the United States and the United Kingdom. It is considered a racial slur.
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