I'm testing the waters and trying to see if people can decode the acronym quickly enough to actually make it relevant to something I'm working on. I expect I'll hear lots of "duh, that's easy." But you never know.
I think what I'm really looking for is to see if people are familiar enough with the acronym "HBIC" to get the twist, here. No shame if you're not, haha. I'll explain it soon enough. :)
H.B.I.C. = "Head Bitch In Charge" for the non-English speakers :) I just had to Google it myself. I'm pretty sure I know what the other version is and 'G' does NOT stand for "Guy" or "Gal" ;p
@Cerulean What AMU is on about/referencing is that the original acronym contained a particularly unsavory racial epithet. Seeing as you seem to be sensitive about labeling (judging from past posts), there might have been some confusion as to your usage, even considering the paraphrase.
Actually the unsavory version had a different letter in one spot. I know what it was and what word it represented and I'm definitely not going there any further.
Ah. Well acronyms, especially short ones, can be that way, I suppose. Move a letter and they mean something completely different. Well, when I have my blog, I'm going to use the HGIC URL *but* I'm also going to clearly have the title posted at the top of the page in huge writing: HEAD GLITCH IN CHARGE.
I'd never heard of this "unsavory" acronym, and I still have no idea what any of you are referring to. I wish AMU wouldn't have assumed that I knew that, though. Yes, I try to be EXTREMELY sensitive and aware of all things progressive, and I feel I know a lot more than most, but I can't know everything. I bet many of you don't know that feeling "gypped" and using "eenie meenie miney moe" are also extremely offensive?
Ok. Replace the "G" with an "N". Think Deep South in the U.S. historically (and my family - dad's side IS from the Deep South - historically we were plantation owners!)
Controversial version Older versions of this rhyme had the word nigger (instead of tiger) and are less popular now because of the waning public acceptability of the slur, including : Eeny, meena, mina, mo,Catch a nigger by the toe;If he squeals let him go,Eena, meena, mina, mo.[2]
I also want to explain why I didn't censor that: fear of the word only makes it more powerful. Like Voldemort.
A few years ago a woman (who identified as white) had a dispute with another woman (ethnic identification unknown) on an airplane over a seat on the flight. A flight attendant used the Eeny Meeny rhyme to "help" them select who should be in the seat. The white woman sued the airline and actually won (I have no idea what they were able to charge the plane with) because, even though she identified as white, she found the rhyme offensive and the court felt there was enough justification to let her win the case.
@Cerulean - Yep. I read that part of the article before I posted the link.The children's rhyme seems to predate that particular version. That legal story is amusing (and sad). Probably the jury in that case was not given the full history of the chant.
I have run a Western component to my D&d campaign and I had my NPCs and PCs use the term as a matter of course because it was appropriate for the time period being played. I know the term did not always have the pejorative meaning it has now. The "sanitized" versions of Samuel Clemon's novels still upsets me.