Radio was playin', Desmond Dekker was singin'

[venta]

A quick question:



[Poll #1344729]

Edit: I don't mean "give me a list of names", I mean "which term would you naturally use in conversation if talking about such a thing".

If you're going to fill in an answer, please do so before reading on.

I would habitually refer to that sort of stereo (ie portable, speaker at either end, tape deck in the middle) as a ghetto-blaster. I seem to remember that that's what everyone was calling them in the 80s when I first started interacting with such things.

Problem is, I've no idea of the origin of the term. Which ghettos were being blasted exactly ? Is it possible that someone somewhere might find it an offensive term ?[*] Is it even in common enough usage now that I could expect someone to be sure what I meant - or am I just hopelessly outdated in my choice of name ?

What other words are there ? Apart from radio-cassette player, of course. I'm not very clear on what exactly a boombox might be - could it be one of those, or is it subtly different ? Can I still call it a ghetto blaster if it's got a CD player in it ? Does the choice of name depend on the kind of music player - could one still blast ghettos with Wagner, for example ?

[*] According to Wikipedia, yes. But it's a particularly shoddily written piece, plus I'm interested in what other people think.


_{That image is just quickly grabbed from google image search, so if you're in The Future, it's probably red-exed by now.}

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I think ghetto-blaster is probably a vaguely offensive term now, as it refer to the use of portable stereo systems in poor, chiefly black neighbourhoods, often for street dance and rapping contests.

I suppose 'boombox' or 'boogiebox' are alternative terms.

[mr-tom.livejournal.com]

It depends on the addressee, really.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I think of ghetto-blasters as being bigger than that, especially front-to-back. The item pictured looks more like something someone might have in their bathroom or out camping or something. But then again, there isn't actually anything to indicate scale on that picture, so I may just be mis-interpreting it.

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

I particularly like data regarding whether the term in question is considered these days to have one word, two words or a hyphen.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

When I was wee, we used to call thouse things by a name which, while aurally and phonetiaclly poetic, is far too offensive to print.
We were only small y'know! It was a good sound.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

Oh,I feel silly - I didn;tnotice the cassette element.

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

In the poll I owned up to using the word ghettoblaster because it's the term I grew up with but it's not a word I'd use casually and I'd probably recommend something like "boombox" instead.

I was pretty sure that there would be people who find the term offensive but I had a little Google for citations. I think I'll make more of an effort to avoid the term now, anything that begins with 'ghetto-' is pretty likely to be stereotyping, which is practically step one of racism.

Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing (Indiana University Press), by Marilyn Schwartz and the Task Force on Bias-Free Language of the Association of American University Presses lists "ghettoblaster" as "pffensive as a stereotype of African American culture". I also found this publication from an offshoot of the University of Wisconsin which listed the term as "offensive because it is culture specific and stereotypical". Urban dictionary's 5th definition for the term indicates it is heavily racialised in usage: "A large, portable, electronic noise-making device carried on the shoulders of spade cats, coons, stove lids, jigaboos, and (as the liberals call them) guys of color". Stuff White People Do concurs that the term is racialised and stereotyped.

Damn you for getting me started on this search, it's too fascinating! I'm delicious tagging what I find though so if I seek out anything else helpful I'll add it there.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on the scale and appearance of it. If that was 3 feet long it would be a boombox; if it was black and plastic with round ends it would be a ghetto blaster. If it was only a foot long I would just call it a radio or cassette player. You can't really blast anything unless you have to carry the noise-making device on your shoulder.

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

Heh - childeric still has a classic black plastic 80s one (twin-tape, three-band EQ, radio tuning scale running the whole length of the front, about a foot high by two long) in his flat, which attracted some comment at his housewarming.

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

I'd call it a ghetto blaster. I suspect that's what the folks in Chicago or New York who popularised the things called them. I'd agree though that to get this effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFcxe_DSyjs

you'd need something rather larger.

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

FWIW, my african-american stepmum finds the term ghetto blaster offensive. I used it in front of her during my teenage years, and have not since done so :o)

I have to admit it still leaps readily to my lips but that may simply be because I have almost zero contact with such devices, so I haven't had the chance to get out of the habit.

[sesquipedality.livejournal.com]

See I'm clearly weird, but to me it doesn't look enough like a lunar lander to be a ghetto blaster. I'm not sure I'd refer to anything by those terms any more, any way. Tape deck or CD player is more likely to spring to mind for me.

[cuthbertcross.livejournal.com]

At the risk of being a) waaay too late to the argument, and b) shot down in flames....

I use the term "ghetto blaster" because it's the name those things had when they first came out.

I don't link it with Ghettos, the name itself sounds active, and exciting, and noisy, which is what it was.
Prior to these things coming out the only way to play music away from electric power cables was to form a band, or to handcrank an organ or gramophone. The sheer excitement of these things in the 1980s gave them their name. I don't imply anything offensive when I use the term, and don't intend to stop using it.

But then I don't think that golliwogs are that offensive UNLESS they are implied to be so by someone expressing bigoted views. The negative connotations of their name (at least the wog part) , yes. The negative racial stereotypes involved in their gestation (a la little black sambo), definitely.

But ....the actual black-stuffed-dolly-come-teddy - how is that different than the politically correct "ethnic" dollies and teddys, that every childminder has to have these days to pass OFSTED regulations even if all of their charges are white and they live in a geographical area with very few mixed-race residents? How about "ethnic" TV characters like Milo off the Tweenies, Dipsy the Darker-faced Teletubbie, and Upsy Daisy the Rasta-haired doll?

OK, you can flame my white a*se now. I'll bring marshmallows.

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Ghettoblaster....Probably would still use the term without thinking, then again i'm not sure i find it that offensive, even thinking of the entymology of the word.

I got my first one, a Silver Sanyo, very much like the one in the picture for Christmas 1984 from my mum. My uncle gave me some blank tapes and also recorded a load of stuff off the radio round that time for me as well. It was my first real entry into music and i probably still have some of the tapes and can still name a load of the tracks from them !!!