Colored People Time
- noun
- Slur
:
[término ofensivo que sugiere que las personas negras son impuntuales]
- She apologized for arriving late, saying she was running on Colored People Time.
Examples
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References to Colored People Time are now widely criticized as perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
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The meeting started late, and everyone joked it must be Colored People Time.
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He always jokes about Colored People Time when we plan events.
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Some people believe in the concept of Colored People Time.
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Many people find it offensive when someone mentions Colored People Time in casual conversation.
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During the discussion, he mentioned that joking about Colored People Time can reinforce negative stereotypes.
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While some people may laugh about Colored People Time, it is important to recognize its problematic implications.
Synonyms
A relaxed way of keeping time when people often arrive later than planned
A relaxed view of time in Puerto Rico where events often start later than planned
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the constituent words 'colored', 'people', and 'time' are individually transparent, the phrase encodes a culturally specific, pejorative stereotype meaning 'habitual lateness attributed to Black people' that cannot be predicted from the literal parts. A B1 learner who knows the words but lacks cultural/contextual knowledge would not derive this offensive idiomatic sense, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Colored People Time plays on the words Colored, People, and Time to picture a relaxed idea of 'time' in some Black communities, where events often start later than scheduled. So it came to mean 'being late', but the phrase is a hurtful stereotype and is considered offensive.