12 Everyday Words You Use That Are Actually Racist
12. Ghetto
One of the less surprising on the list, "ghetto" immediately harbours imagery of segregation seeing as it refers to a part of a city in which a minority group lives, usually in economic hardship. First used in the Italian city of Venice to describe the Jewish quarter - the Italian term for "waste" or "Slag" is "gheto" or "ghet" - because of this area's segregation from the rest of the city, and due to the fact slag from iron ore was stored there, ghetto when used as an adjective actually means "low class". Although the noun of the word only refers to a deprived part of a city, by using the term "ghetto" the user is - either deliberately or inadvertently - classifying someone as being from a lower class who they want nothing to do with.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
One of the less surprising on the list, "ghetto" immediately harbours imagery of segregation seeing as it refers to a part of a city in which a minority group lives, usually in economic hardship. First used in the Italian city of Venice to describe the Jewish quarter - the Italian term for "waste" or "Slag" is "gheto" or "ghet" - because of this area's segregation from the rest of the city, and due to the fact slag from iron ore was stored there, ghetto when used as an adjective actually means "low class". Although the noun of the word only refers to a deprived part of a city, by using the term "ghetto" the user is - either deliberately or inadvertently - classifying someone as being from a lower class who they want nothing to do with.