elusive moonwalker;3474936 said:
I can give u a logical answer interms of the name jacko and its origin.
The origin of the nickname comes from the uk and prob austrailia where such nicknames are even more common than in the uk. Any male with a name such as jackson gibson a name begining with mac etc has the name shortened as a term of endearment to jacko gibbo macca or lets say deano for dean.do such nicknames not excist in the usa?
Hence why mj has that name given to him.for eg theres a football manager of a local professional team in my area.hes a jackson.and if theres a headline in the paper after the game it will say jacko..... Its a nickname used for any male with that
surname.its not something that is just used or created for mj.
The insulting version is when w.a.c.k.o is attached to it.
Presuming the usa picked up the name j.a.c.k.o from the uk press as u guys dont seem to use such nicknames then it has the same conotation which certainly isnt racist.if the usa press in using that name think they are insulting mj.then interms of the meaning of the name they arent.obviously thats very diff to it been insulting to mj on a personal level
I agree with all of the above, from the UK perspective.
I am replying as someone who has indeed complained to 'serious' British media for the use of the 'J word' as it does now seem derogatory in the sense of demeaning and belittling the man and his achievements. However I do think this 'nickname' ( as it was originally used in the UK ) was initially used in a rather affectionate manner ( in the sense that one tends to give nicknames to people you like...there already being plenty of names you can call people that you don't like!) Even the w**** word I think initially only conveyed a sense of benign eccentricity ('wackiness') which is even today not at all derogatory if applied to oneself ... Plenty of British people claim personal wackiness in a jokey way ('I'm mad I am')...as a sign of extreme personal individuality. ( and very many well loved British literary characters eg Sherlock Holmes, Just William, very many Charles Dickens characters eg Mr Pickwick etc, are liked and appreciated for their eccentricities).
However, I do agree that J**** became a very wide identifier by its universal recognition factor, and adopted a 'more negative' ( but not racial, in the UK at least) significance as time went on and accusations/ court cases came and went, partly by its universal use in newspaper headlines that went with the court case. ( It is after all a shorter word and has more visual 'punch' as a headline).
I have visited but never lived in the USA, and I think it is very difficult to discern the subtleties of 'racial' connotations of the use of language in other countries ( Britain and the USA are often referred to as two countries divided by the use of a common language).
It is very sad if the use of J*** is felt to be racially demeaning in the USA, and I am sorry that Michael understood it to be used that way in the UK...but I do agree with Elusive, that I think that was not and has never been the intention in the UK at all.
(Oh, and - particularly in their heyday- Elvis was called 'The Pelvis', Paul McCartney is 'Macca', Rod Stewart was 'Rod the Mod', Mick Jagger was 'Mick the Lip' etc etc.)
eg from the Business Times online
Macca's divorce lawyer lined up for encore with Madonna - Times ...
business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4215015.ece
26 Jun 2008 – She did it for Macca — now she can do it for Madonna.
