JustinHammond wrote:I'd call Genny's Diner ghetto, is that ok since it's not an African American restaurant? It is ran by a white dude, in white neighborhood, but fits the definition when describing the apperance as ghetto. Calling a place ghetto in this context has nothing to do with race. I think we are comparing the noun and the adjective, and they are not the same. On the noun side of things, if I ask for directions and I'm told the place is in the ghetto, I'm not thinking it is in the (race) part of town. I think of it as a way to describe the bad, often poor and crime ridden, part of town.
Calling something ghetto always has to do with Eliza W said - "Not to be a stickler, but ghetto DOES have a very strong racial and/or ethnic meaning. A ghetto isn't simply a poor area; it's an area of a city that belongs to a specific racial or ethnic group. The term comes from medieval European term for the area of a city where Jews were required to live...like the Warsaw ghetto in more modern times. More recently, the term referred to almost all black areas of cities, not just to poor areas of cities."
Sure the noun and the adjective are not the same. They are different parts of speech. Here's what I think is important. I'm not sure the adjective existed until it was appropriated (by whom I don't know) from the noun form. I don't think you can separate the relationship between the adjective and noun forms because to do so would be to detach the adjective from from noun form's historical significance.
Sure you can use the adjective form to describe Genny's Diner. But I would consider this a misappropriation of the term. There's nothing racial or ethic about Genny's Diner. It's just run-down. Run-Down does not equal ghetto. While it's fair to say language changes (as someone did earlier) that does not mean language always changes in responsible ways. The term "ghetto" has always had a strong racial and/or ethnic meaning. To use the term outside this meaning demonstrates ignorance of the term's history (let me tell you all about it - I attended a university that had a student neighborhood called "The Ghetto.")
Something similar can be said for the term "white-trash." It's always had a condescending, political identity. While people who have been labeled or self-identify as white-trash have adopted the term as a form of celebration and self-identification, that doesn't mean that those who don't identify in this way can use the term in a non-pejorative way. If one self-identifying "white-trash" person wants to use the term, that's their prerogative.
Thinks the frosty mug is the low point in American history.
