[lbo-talk] Hey Mr. bitter expat

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Thu Sep 22 09:49:11 PDT 2005


Martin:
>
> Was 'n-word' the phrase that you were looking for? Race aside, is
> n-word an accurate translation for lumpen?

No, its is way to narrow (e.g. it does not cover Euro- or Asian lumpen) and has wrong connotations. A person who would use this term would apply it to, say, Bill Cosby or Kweisi Mfume (as in that old "how do they call a black nuclear physicist in the South?" joke) - who certainly are not lumpen.

Wojtek



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