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Comment by fsckboy | Hacker News Reader

bigot (noun) : a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices

The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with "racist" is a modern change; traditionally it was just concerned with intolerance of conflicting ideas. I think it was over the political debate about segregation that the idea bigotry transferred to racial attitudes.

(obsolete) One who is overly pious in matters of religion, often hypocritically or else superstitiously so.

the eighteenth century probably dates back to the more obsolete sense of the word

1820 Charles Robert Maturin "Donna Clara was a woman of a cold and grave temper, with all the solemnity of a Spaniard, and all the austerity of a bigot."

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Weird takes down this thread. Personally I have never heard/seen bigot being used to describe as defined here. I have always heard it used in the context of intolerance to some group of people. Would never have guessed it’s history.

Frame challenge, I wouldn't say it's common to consider bigot synonymous or nearly synonymous with racist, or at least that has never been my experience. What makes you feel like this is the case?

Racist might be wrong but it's definitely now used for people who are intolerant of other people, usually for identity-politics reasons.

These days you can be bigoted against black or Muslim or gay or transgender people, but not really about Greek statuary or rap music or electric cars or PHP, no matter how strong your opinions on those.

Are your sure this is the case? I see the word used in the original meaning all the time.

Racist is used to describe someone who is intolerant of people based on their ethnicity ,skin color, national origin, and the like.

I only see it used that way in the US, where everyone is obsessed with race

Elsewhere, it's just used in its original meaning

Hrm, in which country? I'm Irish; in modern writing in Ireland and the UK, certainly anything from the last 50 years, it's generally used to mean racists, sexists et al. Wasn't aware there was any English-speaking country which had held onto the archaic meaning, at least as a primary meaning.

(India? Indian English has a few things still in common use which are obsolete in UK English).

Example UK usage from 50 years ago: the "Barry bigot" doll in S3E5 of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1972; it's a wind-up racist doll).

From my context: I’ve often heard it used to mean things other than racist, but it always carries a very strong, intentionally hurtful connotation.

An "intentionally hurtful connotation" or an intentional condemnation.

The difference from my point of view is that the intent of using the word bigot is not to hurt but instead to judge and condemn.

Yeah I hear you. Condemnation is so often realized by being hurtful, so I think in my context it’s usually both.

It's a difference of intent. Quite frankly, when I refer to someone as a bigot, I couldn't care less whether they find it hurtful or not; I do absolutely intend to condemn them, though.

Hmm. I have several times described myself as a "keyboard bigot". That is, I have very strong opinions about what is and is not a good keyboard, and a very strong dislike of bad ones.

I'm questioning whether I should say that now, based on your comment. Could you explain a bit more about what you mean by "intentionally hurtful"? Specifically, intentionally hurtful of whom?

I’m afraid to because I mean specifically in my context and I don’t want to inadvertently police how you communicate. You may not live where I do and the word can hold a different connotation as demonstrated by the original commenter pointing out that bigot was not originally about racism.

Well, did you mean that a bigot is someone who is intentionally hurtful? Or did you mean that calling someone a bigot is intentionally hurtful?

If you meant the second, then I'm condemning myself for being too opinionated, which is probably something I can get away with...

I mean that in my neck of the woods, when people say someone is bigoted or is a bigot, it isn’t always about racism, but it’s almost always aggressive.

If I said “oh he’s a keyboard bigot” in this context, I would be attempting to be insulting and harmful towards you.

If you said “oh I’m just a keyboard bigot” it comes off as lighter but my context has me tilting my head in curiosity. It wouldn’t have been a word I’d expect someone to call themselves.

I’d sooner expect “keyboardphile” “keyboard zealot” “keyboard maniac”

Again, language is weirdly varied like that. I’m not suggesting any of this is some universal rule.

I agree: 'racist bigot', 'racial bigotry' might be common uses, but also clearly show it's not specifically about racism on its own.

I couldn't have managed a definition, but on its own I'd take it to mean something like the supposedly 'obsolete' meaning above.

> The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with "racist" is a modern change;

And primarily a US-American one, it seems to me. I wasn’t aware of his change, and the definition marked as “obsolete” above is actually what I think of as the word’s literal, non-metaphorical meaning.

> The notion that bigot is primarily synonymous with "racist" is a modern change

Not to me. Bigot is a wider term that encompasses racism, but isn't just about it.

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