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[Opinions] Re: Could you please not use this term?
I agree about not using the term "trailer trash", but I see it as very different from "working class", so is there maybe a better substitute than that? ("working class" for me doesn't indicate anti-social and "trailer trash" does, and "working class" doesn't have to be negative as well)
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And what evidence does Mrs Claire have that this family is "anti-social"? That's a pretty heavy judgment to make if you don't know all the circumstances of the family. And you certainly don't get that from one news report or appearance on a TV talk show. Plus any such label seems to be unfair to the children to me. They are not responsible for the behavior of their parents and don't deserve to be called "anti-social" no matter what their parents have done.
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Well there are names that are typically given in families that behave more anti-social than most families. We have those in Dutch as well, some names just have negative connotations because they are connected to those type of families. I find it important and interesting to know which names are connected to anti-social people. Especially in France, because I have no idea what those names are there. For me it is informative that she used the term; it gives me a clear idea of what those names are viewed as. The way I see it is that evidence that this family is anti-social isn't necessary, because it's the names that have that image attachted to it. I know at least that because a boy is named Patrick, and that name may be typically given by anti-social people, it doesn't mean that this particular boy is in fact anti-social. In short: I agree that "trailer trash" is a rather unfortunate word to use for people, and I'd prefer using something else, but I would like to know if the image of that type of people is connected to the name.
edit: I also misunderstood the original post, I thought she was talking about the names being trashy, not necessarily the people...

This message was edited 1/16/2008, 10:48 AM

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