Different Terms

I enjoyed Elaine Richardson's piece My Ill Literacy Narrative: Growing up Black, Po and A Girl in the Hood. I can definitely relate to having your own meanings for different terms. For example, I come from Dearborn which has a really large Arabic population. The term “boater” means something differently because of that. Boater to someone else might be someone who likes boats or maybe a Boater Hat. To people in Dearborn, boater is a word to describe someone who acts like a foreigner, someone “fresh off the boat.” It is sometimes used derogatory, but I have heard Arabic people use it to describe themselves. I generally just don’t use the word so I won’t offend anyone. I think it’s a little offensive, but I have heard people even describe their parents with it.