* * * This message was from Mac Breck to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
         * * * and has been forwarded to you by Lord Time * * *         
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{at}MSGID: 
{at}REPLY:
 >> On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:47:21 -0400, Jan wrote
> (in article ):
>
> > In article , Amy
Guskin
> > says...
> >>
> >>>> On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 10:48:04 -0400, phil wrote
> >> (in article ):
> >>
> >>> On 17 Sep 2006 18:14:34 -0700, "Joseph DeMartino"
> >>>  wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> phil wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> unless the last person to work on your kitchen
sink drain was an
idiot
> >>>>> who Africian American engineered ...
> >>>>
> >>>> Now *there's* a term that belongs on a civilized discussion
group.  Any
> >>>> other stupid ethnic stereotypes you'd like to get off
your chest,
phil?
> >>>>
> >>>> And before you deny that you're a bigot, let me
explain something
to
> >>>> you. If you USE that phrase, you ARE a bigot.  Casually
trafficking in
> >>>> degrading stereotypes if one of the symptoms of that particular
> >>>> disease.
> >>>>
> >>>> Joe
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> You don't _know_ me; you've never met me or spent any time in
> >>> conversation and yet _you_ can parse my comment to conclude that I
am
> >>> a bigot; well _I_ can just as easily parse your statement to
conclude
> >>> that you are a bloviating buffoon, but _I_ wont.
> >>> It was just such ad hominem assaults  combined with my illness
that
> >>> caused me to pull back from this group some 6 months ago.I see
_now_
> >>> that was the right decision.
> >>> you have _no_ idea of how badly that idiot butchered this house;
don't
> >>> know his name or race, don't really care>  <<
> >>
> >> Phil, to be fair to Joe, _you're_ the one who said "African
American
> >> engineered."  Now, I have no idea what that means, but I don't see
how it
> >> can
> >> be taken as anything _but_ a racist comment.  And if you don't know
his
> >> race,
> >> why would you call him that?
> >>
> >
> > It took me a minute but I can only assume that "Africian American
engineered"
>
> > is
> > a supposedly sanitized way of saying "n****r-rigged".  Blech.  I
need to go
> > wash
> > my hands now. <<
>
> Uh...
>
> Gosh.  It's no wonder I didn't know what he meant.  I have never heard
that
> term in my life.  After reading the initial post causing the furor, I
went
> and looked up the sanitized term on urbandictionary.com but couldn't
find it.
>  This one, I found.
>
> But again, I don't know how that can be taken as anything but racist.

Maybe you're just not old enough.  If you were, you might just instantly
translate it in your head to someone doing a substandard job that looks
awful and is prone to fail immediately, or in the near future, and you
wouldn't even dwell on it as an ethnic slur.  I personally don't use it,
but neither do lecture others that do use it.  In fact, I can think of
no other phrase that conveys that exact meaning in only two words.  To
me, it just means someone, ANYONE, doing a slipshod, substandard, ugly
job, usually using too many parts and/or parts not suited to EVER
perform that particular function, and/or cheap, junk parts.  Think
"shoemaker" (cobbled together) or "Rube Goldberg" or jury-rigged
(although the latter implies solely out of necessity, i.e.
MacGyver-ized, not out of being incompetent/stupid/shortsighted).

My cousin Jim (who's white.) does stuff like that all the time.
 He also takes shortcuts, including unsafe shortcuts because
he's also a tightwad (pennywise and pound foolish*) who overlooks lots
of stuff and doesn't think two seconds ahead.  Whenever he has me do
work for him (e.g. plumbing, electrical, etc.), it frustrates the hell
out of me.  This si why I HATE to ever do any work for him; it's an
exercise in FRUSTRATION.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger
To say that something is "nigger-rigged" (a synonym of jury-rigged)
suggests that it was hastily or carelessly improvised from any available
materials.

* He'll spend $2000 on a watch but wanted to run underground feed wiring
to his garage in an old, junk, bend it twice and it cracks, vinyl garden
hose instead of the proper electrical conduit.  I had to twist his arm
to part with $40 to get the right stuff.

-- 
Mac Breck (KoshN)
-------------------------------
"Babylon 5: Crusade" (1999)
Galen: "There is always hope, only because it's the one thing that no
one has figured out how to kill yet."
(Galen's obviously never met Warner Brothers, TNT-Atlanta or Sci-Fi.)

"Brimstone" (1998)
Angel: Oh, there's one more thing you should know. Your fate was never
determined until you killed Gilbert Jax. All in all, you've led a good
life, Ezekiel. Have faith. Your work's appreciated.
          
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