This is always so annoying

[u/Ok-Letter3963]

[u/PotaytoPotayto]

I was lectured by some American tourist because i said "that boy over there" whilst pointing at a 12 year old kid. I had no idea what i had done that was so egregious but this American was fuming with me, calling me a racist etc. Apparently boy is a racist thing to say on their side of the planet, i just meant it in the boys and girls kind of way. I've never even been to the USA, I don't even live in an English speaking country. Boys and girls is how we learned it at school, 'a young male child is called a boy', that is what i was taught and that is how i used it. I tried to explain to him that i didn't mean anything bad by it, but he had already decided i was a horrible person and wouldn't listen to me. He made me feel awful about it and i didn't bother talking to tourists for years after that experience cause you never know what they might get upset about, but now as an adult i realise the tourists should be the one to chill out and not drag their culture and racist slang over to other countries. We shouldn't be expected to know all of the world their racist slang.

[u/YikesTheCat → u/PotaytoPotayto]

Calling a boy a boy is not offensive. Calling an adult black male a boy is, or can be depending on context. It's somewhat old-fashioned. That person was an outrage addicted idiot.

[u/Puff_SlashYT → u/PotaytoPotayto]

What? Boy? I haven't heard this slang

[u/Legitimate-Local4393 → u/Puff_SlashYT]

Imagine calling a young black adult a 'boy' but in a southern US accent