>>Hi Tamar,
>>
>>>Using "black" or "white" or "tall" or "short" to describe someone so others can find them or visualize them isn't insulting. But combining those descriptive words with pejorative words, in my view, makes the pejorative stronger and more offensive, especially if the pejorative word is part of a stereotype about the group identified by the descriptive word. So, for example (trying to choose one that's less inflammatory than some others), describing someone as a "blonde airhead" is offensive to blondes generally, while describing someone as an "airhead" is about only the individual so described.
>>
>>Personally, I don't see how a statement like "blond airhead" is offensive to all blonds. It still describes one individual. It would be different when you say "All blondes are airheads".
>>
>>IMO, there is a great difference between insulting and discrimination. Discrimination is about generalisations that are insulting. Here I miss te generalisation.
>
>Walter,
>Try to read Tamar's words very careful. She exactly points out what the mechanism is that makes 'blond airhead' a case that applies to all blondes. The word 'airhead' is a meant derogative (pejorative). By combining it with the word 'blond', the person who says it implicitly makes clear a negative opinion about all/many blondes.

While your conclusion is correct, I don't think the explanation is complete. Had she used the term "tall airhead" there would not be an implicit connection between tall people and airheads. The reason the "blond airhead" would be considered offensive is that there is a stereotype about blonds that this expression seems to enforce. There is no stereotypical connection between tall people and airheadedness.


>The same for 'you black rat'. Rat is meant pejorative. Black rat is then also a negative statement about blacks, not just this black.