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AIBU?

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Original poster

To call my black dog Sooty?

202 replies

PaxMalmKallax · 17/01/2021 09:42

DH says we can’t name our new puppy Sooty because he is black and people might get offended. Is that the case? Sorry for my ignorance.
Puppy gets microchipped by the breeder next week and I’d like to have named him by then. Any better ideas are gratefully received!

OP posts:
gottakeeponmovin · 17/01/2021 13:15

I would have thought sooty was fine tbh - it's quite cute. Nero also a good dog name. I would think of the teddy which is orange

52andblue · 17/01/2021 13:16

Inky? (we have a coal black guinea pig called Inky, also have a Snowy)
I absolutely believe the story about the dog called a derogatory word beginning with N. I grew up in working class Kent in the 1970's and there was a local adult man the other adults simply called 'Darky'. (I called him Mr Darky when our ball went into his garden and we had to knock to get it back as I didn't know better as a very young child and he was very kind). Pets with dark coats were not infrequently given names referring to that and racist names were not uncommon.
I now live not far from a local landowner well known (locally) to have a horse called Barack (it's black and white) - he thinks it's hilarious.
There's nowt intrinsically wrong with sooty but I'd still give it a swerve.

ukmail · 17/01/2021 13:16

@Pieceofpurplesky

Ukmail I think it depends on age as to some of us sooty was used as a racist slur. The fact is that the OPs other half thinks this and doesn't like it so it shouldn't be the name. Both of them have to agree on a name
I am of that generation. However I don't make the mistake of thinking using a word that accurately describes the colour of soot is automatically an insult. Just because some used it as an insult it doesn't mean they get to own that word and it's meaning. People are using the name Karen as an insult now...
HunkyPunk · 17/01/2021 13:21

How about Sable?

ElizaLaLa · 17/01/2021 13:33

Only on mumsnet could the most innocuous bollocks be the height of racism but 'sooty' not racist at all.

Jesus christ.

Can people really not see the racist connotations here? It's been racist slang for as long as I can remember.

YippeeKayakOtherBuckets · 17/01/2021 13:36

@ElizaLaLa

Only on mumsnet could the most innocuous bollocks be the height of racism but 'sooty' not racist at all.

Jesus christ.

Can people really not see the racist connotations here? It's been racist slang for as long as I can remember.

I was thinking that! Someone got eviscerated for ‘beyond the pale’ the other day, and then this thread 🤷‍♀️

I’ve just asked my DH, who is the least ‘woke snowflake’ person I know, would you name a black dog Sooty? God no, he said, that’s really racist.

We are in our 40s, I wonder if growing up in the casually racist 70s/80s has a bearing on this?

SpiderinaWingMirror · 17/01/2021 13:41

Jet?
My nan had a cat called sooty but it was the 1970s!

Ptarmigiana · 17/01/2021 13:42

How about Mortimer/Morty? Like Monty but darker.

SilverDragonfly1 · 17/01/2021 13:43

YippeeKayak, hope the fact the 'the pale' is a boundary in this context was quickly pointed out.

VestaTilley · 17/01/2021 13:44

It’s absolutely fine and not a problem. It’s a really nice name for a dog! It is not racism. Your DP is wrong.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 17/01/2021 13:45

Our NDN had a B&W cat Sooty- which if you think of a chimney sweep they'd be grubby in patches not all over ?

Bert is the best name ever for an animal, we had a guinea-pig Bert .

Or go with Lucifer Wink

ElizaLaLa · 17/01/2021 13:47

Only on mumsnet could the most innocuous bollocks be the height of racism but 'sooty' not racist at all. Jesus christ. Can people really not see the racist connotations here? It's been racist slang for as long as I can remember. I was thinking that! Someone got eviscerated for ‘beyond the pale’ the other day, and then this thread 🤷‍♀️

I’ve just asked my DH, who is the least ‘woke snowflake’ person I know, would you name a black dog Sooty? God no, he said, that’s really racist.

We are in our 40s, I wonder if growing up in the casually racist 70s/80s has a bearing on this?

Yep, 80's london.

Sooty is not an acceptable name nowadays.

And I don't go in for all that woke snowflake millennial cry baby bollocks either.

ChocolateSantaisthebestkind · 17/01/2021 13:47

Sooty is fine. Blackie would be racist. DP needs to give his head a wobble.

Lostinwinter · 17/01/2021 13:55

I know a Chinese man called Sooty.

TreacleHart · 17/01/2021 14:44

@Dontjudgeme101

I know , I could barely look at them after that.

Pieceofpurplesky · 17/01/2021 14:51

I think what this thread shows is that some people will think it has racist connotations and some won't. I would side with your husband on this one

HunkyPunk · 17/01/2021 15:08

Someone got eviscerated for ‘beyond the pale’ the other day, and then this thread

hope the fact the 'the pale' is a boundary in this context was quickly pointed out.

Yep, but apparently, due to its origins, the phrase is actually racist towards Irish people, don'tcha know?

SilverDragonfly1 · 17/01/2021 15:18

I didn't know that and TBH if that's so I will stop using it. There is quite a lot of veiled racism towards the Irish in the english language.

Ultimately, if a community feel a particular word or phrase is being used to belittle or other them, then it is not appropriate to use it, despite not believing it's racist. If you don't belong to that community, then you don't get a say in what is considered offensive.

Passiveobserver · 17/01/2021 15:31

A previous poster suggested the name Bert, I love that! I would definitely call my dog Bert if I got another one Smile

DdraigGoch · 17/01/2021 15:44

@OnlyToWin

The Sooty puppet was orange if I remember correctly and the Sweep on was grey.
The original puppet was named 'Teddy' and didn't stand out very well on black and white TV so they covered its ears with soot to make them stand out. Hence 'Sooty'.

OP, 'Sooty' is a completely normal name for a jet black dog or cat which looks like it might well have rolled in the coal. It's no different to calling a white cat 'Snowy'. My neighbours have a mostly black cat named 'Shadow' (probably by the children). Nothing wrong with that.

Reinventinganna · 17/01/2021 15:49

I would listen to your dp.

Passiveobserver · 17/01/2021 15:54

If one of you has a doubt about calling your dog that then jut don’t, regardless of anything else. There are so many great names out there.

Whammyyammy · 17/01/2021 16:10

Calling a dog sooty is not racist at all.

Theunamedcat · 17/01/2021 16:16

I thibk it depends on your area ive never heard of sooty being racist but my area tended towards calling people "chalky boys" as a racist term growing up and calling grown men "boy" it was ridiculous but sooty is one that swerved us

Pop into the dog house with a pic and ask for suggestions

Soubriquet · 17/01/2021 16:21

I know someone who had a black dog called W..now that was racist.

Never mind that he (the owner) was nicknamed Snowy

Sooty is fine

Message edited by MNHQ to remove an offensive term*

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