Is it rude to call people "black" or "coloured"?

Question

I work within a recruitment company, and 90% are eastern/ polish/ french etc etc.

I was talkin to a client this morning and they informed me that i shouldnt say black as it would be offensive.

but surely calling someone who is black is black, then to call them coloured.....

im unsure

Answer 1

wouldn't it be better to call that person by their name?

Answer 2

Coloured is a term that stems back to the slave trade and was used by the traders. Don't use this word, its highly offensive. Black is a more acceptable term, people use it the same way as people say "white people" which is acceptable. However, if you are in the recruitment business, you need to be sensitive to people rights - if you are describing candidates and are going to say "the black Polish guy", then you should be prepare to say "the white Polish guy" when describing someone else. Otherwise leave colour out of it altogether.

Answer 3

It's political correctness gone awry.

It's now wrong to call a Blackboard by it's name. It's a chalkboard.

The PC police need to step down now. They've ruined too much already! I'm not racist in the slightest, We're all equal underneath it all. It's just that we don't need to be as delicate and sensitive as we are. I have many black friends, and they're ok with being called black. I'm white, it's what I am, but we're all the same underneath. There's no issue.

Political correctness was created by the ethnic majority out of fear of insulting the minorities, thing is, the minorities aren't as bothered as the majority think they are. That's where the problem starts!

Answer 4

There are Black people and there are Asian people. If a person is black they are offended at the term coloured. Because they are not coloured they are black. The Asians are a race of people where as the Black people come from many many different countries. In South Africa during the Apartheid there were White classed as the superior, Black that were at the bottom of the heap and coloured that were out classed by the Black people and the white people. Other white nationalities are called by their country of origin. Poland, Croatia, France, Germany etc.
Happy Christmas.

Answer 5

Okay lets break this down, one cannot categorize a person because of their colour, take this for example this Asian man was at my work the other day, and he got caught trying to nick clothes on the sly, he didnt get away with it, moving on...someone said the next day, oh this Asian guy tried to theif some of our stock, i was like? ok so it is wrong what he did, but why try to classify him by labelling him as Asian, im sorry but if it were a white thief, no one would say oh this White lad tried to nick some stock, wheres the logic in that?

Oh and when Leona was on the x factor people were like oh yeah that coloured girl is really good!! No one said oh that white lad Ray is really good!! do you understand what i mean? when people label people.?

And for good measure black people arent black, black is the colour of black paint, dark skinned people are very dark Brown, so this term of Black to me is rather derogatory.

I am mixed race myself and cant stand when people refer to me as half cast, coloured, i am what i am, i dont see myself as a colour but as an individual. i guess people use these terms because within society it has grown to be acceptable, and it isnt!

Answer 6

I had a white female friend who had 5 children by three (none - white) men, and as a result they were each a different shade / hue with different hair too.

The interesting thing was that even they could not agree between them how they should refer to themselves ~ in relation to their colour or racial heritage and so on.

Any consensus of opinion that was achieved invariable lasted for usually less than 5 days, and then off they went again on their search.

Incidentally, the youngest of them was then about 17 years old, and the oldest was about 24.

In my opinion, 'Offence' is sometimes taken because the person chooses to be seen as exercising their offence muscles.

Sash.

Answer 7

Its only offensive if you mean it in an offensive way (which becomes clear from the tone and context)

As a rule though, try not to call them coloured as that is very politically incorrect and reminiscent of the old times when it was a racist connotation.

I dont think Black/Brown/Pole etc are offensive

Answer 8

It depends on what context. If you're in a professional environment, go with "African American" just like you would say "Caucasian" while talking about a white person.
As for most black people, or at least my black friends, they don't care. It's not an insult, they are black. And they all call white people white. No reasonable person I've ever known got offended by that. It's like getting offended if someone goes "Your hair is blonde." Stupid.
Oh, but one thing that is bad is when you say "the blacks", just like if you said "the gays". Phrasing it like that is rude and tacky.

Answer 9

People are being overly-sensitive these days. There are
all those "trigger" words! A white can't even say black. Or a man, say woman, without somebody having a problem with it. Best to not even make these
distinctions where possible. Define them by thier job
rather than race or gender maybe?

Answer 10

Its mad isnt it? I suspect that most black people would be proud to be called black, and call themselves as such. I think its racism to avoid such a term, as if we are all trying to hide the fact some people have different colour skin, why? is it bad? It also treats us like children and assumes we cant cope with people being different..

Expect this kind of crap of an institution that dosent want to be sued!

Answer 11

Honestly, I'd really like to know that too but I think that the only people that can really answer you would be the blacks,or Afro-Americans. My mom also taught me to call them Afro Americans but she doesn't really know either.I remember years ago I got in trouble with my 2nd grade teacher because she was asking me who did something & I wouldn't say the black girl I just described what she was wearing & the teacher said "damn why didn't you just say the black girl" & I told her that my mom taught me that wasn't right so she called my mom an idiot