The Tragic MooLatte

[Gifted Gourmet]

Look, folks, I dunno 'bout you and your sensitivities, but I have yet to call the Anti-Defamation League every time I go to a movie and see in their snack case a box or ten of JewJewBees (Jujubes) .... and if that ain't blatant anti-Semitism, I don't know what is!!

[Richard Kilgore]

No one here still eats..."crackers", do you?

[sequim]

Look, folks, I dunno 'bout you and your sensitivities, but I have yet to call the Anti-Defamation League every time I go to a movie and see in their snack case a box or ten of JewJewBees (Jujubes)  ....    and if that ain't blatant anti-Semitism, I don't know what is!! 

Too funny.

I am so naive, I didn't even know mulatto was considered a slur. I just thought it described someone of mixed black and white heritage. I guess I'm not around enough name-callers.

[TheFoodTutor]

Isn't it weird that using the word niggardly correctly in a speech gets someone in a pile of trouble, but this hasn't caused any fuss at all?

Dammit! I was thinking of a way to use niggardly in a sentence in this thread, like by calling Fat Guy downright "niggardly" in his allowance of the term "politically correct," and then someone beat me to the punch.

Oh, and GG, I don't have to wait to go to the movies to be offended. There's a product at the grocery store called "Juicy Jews" and it comes in little boxes so that children can tote them around schoolyards, sipping on them. Hitler would have been proud.

Oy.

[bleachboy]

Oh, and GG, I don't have to wait to go to the movies to be offended. There's a product at the grocery store called "Juicy Jews" and it comes in little boxes so that children can tote them around schoolyards, sipping on them. Hitler would have been proud.

ROTFLMAOBBQ!

[zilla369]

I hadn't noticed it until it was mentioned here, and then of course it sounds like that.

It's been a weird couple of days. Last night I was in the process of finding a copy of "My Old Kentucky Home" for a friend moving back there. And then I realized what the lyrics to the official state song were. Or at least what they were until 1986.

What the hell were they thinking?

Hokay, jumping in with the history of changes to "My Old Kentucky Home" (and just to keep it food related, remember this song is traditionally sung with a mint julep in one hand):

original wording:

The sun shines bright on my Old Kentucky Home;

'Tis summer, the darkies are gay

changed to:

The sun shines bright on my Old Kentucky Home;

'Tis summer, the people are gay

changed again to:

The sun shines bright on my Old Kentucky Home;

'Tis summer, and time to be gay

It's awkward any way you slice it. But still a beautiful song, that i can't sing or listen to without crying a little bit.

[Mabelline]

Bout as sensitive as "Jimmy Crack Corn" but bad or no, part of our history and by acknowledgement, half the battle is won. But I'm one of those folks who do not carry down blame; only when the lesson stays unlearned do I tend to get impatient.

[Pan]

"Jimmy Crack Corn" is a happy song about the murder of a master by his clever slave, isn't it? That's how I read it. You can read the lyrics here, on this somewhat odd website. (How many of the kids on the bus do you think really understand the meaning of the lyrics?)

I haven't seen the ad for MooLatte, or at least it hasn't registered if I have. I don't think of "mulatto" as an insult per se, rather as a quaint though comprehensible expression whose history has somewhat of an air of bygone obsessions with racial divisions and the spectre of "miscegenation" (a word I had no knowledge of until I read it in an old book as a teenager), but (or is it "and"?) a drink that looks tan and sounds like "mulatto" doesn't seem like the best idea to me. So I agree with Fat Guy, and also with Mabelline. There's no important principle involved in a name chosen for marketing purposes, but God help us if we start to edit out the "nigger"s in the books of that radical anti-racist, Mark Twain! The very fact that racism is a central part of American history is a reason to avoid gratuitous insensitivity, however, and that's what we're surely talking about here. Surely, no-one thinks that this was all intentional by Dairy Queen as a way of getting increased publicity, do we?

[Mabelline]

I had not even flashed to the implication of MooLatte, now if they had named it "High Yellow", I'd have perceived it as a slam. But I fervently hope the Moo comes from Dairy Queen, and the Latte from Latte's recent surge in popularity.

[Richard Kilgore]

Okay, I have not seen the ads or stopped in a DQ for the drink, so I may have to eat my words. Or drink them.

I seriously doubt that the similarity was consciously intentional by DQ. But the unconscious works in mysterious ways. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

[chromedome]

Tempest in a disposable plastic cup, anyone? I mean, really!

Come to think of it, I got royally chewed out once, when I was working in retail, because I used the phrase "rule of thumb." Anyone besides me (and the chew-er) know why that's offensive? As she stalked out of the store, I shook my head and thought to myself, "Okay, so when you and I are dead, there'll be *nobody* left in the world who remembers how that got started!"

-Chromedome (has Metis brother-in-law, mulatto brother-in-law, neither of whom really give a rat's ass what they're called)

[Mabelline]

chromedome, I give; what's up with rule of thumb?

My family is metis back to 1838, so far as known. Every one of my three daughters is married to a tribal member. So I can understand the willingness to protest. But on the backside of the coin, do you think DQ was setting out to insult a full 1/3 of the U.S. and Canada? I really can't see it as intentional.

[Pan]

Come to think of it, I got royally chewed out once, when I was working in retail, because I used the phrase "rule of thumb." Anyone besides me (and the chew-er) know why that's offensive?

Yes, though I found out within the last couple of years. However, the offensive derivation may be a hoax.

[Mabelline]

Pan, thanx for enlightening me on the old thumb thang. But whoever perpetrated the hoax forgot the woman's rule of thumb defense--you have to sleep sometime.

[Squeat Mungry]

Wow. I use 'rule of thumb' all the time, and have never had the least suspicion it might be interpreted as offensive!

As for MooLatte, I hear 'mulatto' every time, and the fact that it's a combination of coffee and cream just seems over the top. I agree with Fat Guy and Pan: if I were DQ I'd dump this campaign as quickly as possible, and move on to the next ill-conceived promotion.

Oh, and the word 'darky' or 'darkies' turns up in every single verse in the original lyrics of Foster's My Old Kentucky Home.

[Andrew Fenton]

Yah, that "rule of thumb" etymology is pretty well confirmed as bogus.

There's a similar bogus etymology for "picnic", which claims a nasty racist origin for the word.

[Mabelline]

Squeat, thanx for that link...this is precisely what I meant about carrying down the blame. The song comes from 1853, so in it's time context, "darkies" was more likely than not a "polite" or "generous" word choice. Now it's appalling. I feel the same sometimes while watching old westerns.Hell, I feel the same about the 60's civil rights movement.

I reckon DQ oughta just suck it up and change the name, although I do understand that a controversy is astute free publicity.

[cakewalk]

I think some people like to be offended, because it allows them to be indignant. So often they will create the offense themselves.

I've heard two different "offensive origins" for the word "gyp." One, that it is offensive to Gypsies; the other, that it is offensive to Egyptians. Take your pick. (Although in truth, I do think this word was intentionally offensive.)

I think the "offense" of the word mulatto was in its implications: interracial sex, which was illegal at one time. The child was stigmatized because of the illegal behavior of his parents. (Very biblical, if you ask me.) Not unlike the term "illegitimate baby," which also implied the, if not illegal, then "immoral" action of the parents. How on earth can a baby be "illegimitate"?

I can't quite believe that the MooLatte thing was intentional. But I guess in the long run, the intentionality becomes secondary. The words we use are important. I also think DQ should scrap the name (but keep the product! I want to try it.)

[alacarte]

Frankly, I hadn't picked up on the *mulatto* play until just now.

When I saw the MooLatte name, the first thing that came to my mind was "moolah."

Bet the marketing honchos thought of the same thing, and that's why they were so happy to approve the name.

[jhlurie]

Look, folks, I dunno 'bout you and your sensitivities, but I have yet to call the Anti-Defamation League every time I go to a movie and see in their snack case a box or ten of JewJewBees (Jujubes) .... and if that ain't blatant anti-Semitism, I don't know what is!!

I don't think the point is that Steven finds this offensive himself. I think his point is somewhere more in line with the fact that we live in a world where people react first and think second (if at all). It's pure self-preservation for a company like DQ to think about what people might find offensive, and even as we decry how silly it is, we've also got to admit that you are kind of stupid as a business owner if you don't do it.

Yes, if the inventors of Jujubes existed in this day and age, of hyper-political correctness, (gasp!) bare breasts in Superbowls which cause massive changes in social policy, and lawsuits over just about everything stupid imaginable, damn straight they'd not have been wise to call them Jujubes. But it's a vintage product, like Aunt Jemima, so the PC police don't have the right head of steam to go after it.

[ned]

No one's talking about the real issue here. That drink has about as much in common with a latte as it does with a banana split. I wonder when they're going to reach the point of omitting coffee and just mix up a syrup, whipped cream, and half and half with sprinkles. That'd alleviate the mulatto problem at least. They can give out party hats to wear while you drink your triple-dessert morning snack drink. It'll be like Farrells. The only problem is you can't say, "Let's go get a cup of coffee" when you leave your desk to get one of these. . . you could call it a giant cup of milk fat and sugar beverage. Some day people are going to scale back from these drinks and go back to 7-11 for 32 ounce cherry cokes. Have they found a way to make skim ones yet? Low carb milk fat bombs?

[gingerly]

i thought both 'moo' and mulatto.interesting that it's a 'blind' test!

guess 'mochachocolatta ya ya' was taken.

[FistFullaRoux]

And sometimes, you really just hope it's an innocent twist of words...

See this

[Jason Perlow]

But it's a vintage product, like Aunt Jemima, so the PC police don't have the right head of steam to go after it.

Jon, have you seen what Aunt Jemima looks like lately? She looks like one of those professional working moms now. She could be an attorney or something.

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_ar...?ai=1353&si=126

[Carolyn Tillie]

Okay, I called Dairy Queen (952) 830-0200). I asked to talk to the Marketing Department. The first guy (Luke Felbriggy) is out of the office. The second person I got was named Scott Spawn, a Marketing Director!

Scott and I spoke at length about the MooLatte (almost 10 minutes!). He explained the development of the name and now feel they should have searched for similar meanings, but it didn't enter their minds. They have already had a dozen or so calls and are very appreciative of hearing feedback. "It was never their intention to offend and our hearts are pure. "

We spoke at length about derivations of the word and how I felt about it. He appreciated my calling him and greatly likes the feedback that he has been receiving from people who have called about the word. By-and-large, it has not been as badly received as some on this board might have indicated.

At this time, however their legal advisors are telling them to not change the name of the product.

Howz that, folks?