Alot of people are not articulate. Black or white. Sometimes I feel black americans look for things to cry racism. Barack Obama is a brilliant and articulate man.

i wasn't even aware that "articulate" has a racist context.

I've personally never thought of "articulate" as a racially-charged word. It depends on the motives of the person saying the word.

In the wrong person's mouth (read: bigot), any word can change from a compliment to slur. And in the wrong person's ears (read: overly sensitive), any word can change from a compliment to offensive.

I don't think "articulate" can quite be called racially charged, in itself, but it is true that benevolent racists have long praised the black folks they like by saying they "speak well" (the assumption being that black people generally don't - which is true only insofar as, like CosmicSistren says, most people of all races don't speak that well).

So the question of whether it's ever OK to say a black person is articulate is one of context. When "articulate" is the lead compliment about a black person, and tossed off casually and not really in relation to anything else, not so good (hence, Joe Biden's problems). But if someone were handicapping the upcoming presidential debates, for example, and pointed out that McCain is kind of a mumbler while Obama is quite articulate, I give it the no-racism thumbs-up.

Josh, you make a very good point about "benevolent racist" white people.

It's not racial generally, but it doesn't seem to be a compliment when applied to Blacks by Whites. Usually White people like to use that "compliment" to detract from the weight of the Black person is saying. It is as if the ideas aren't valid, but it just being said most effectively.

Depending on the context in which its used, I think it can be offensive at whoever you direct it towards more than racist.

It's a gray area so to speak. I took a communications class so it was used superfluously for all students who were able to do their exercises flawlessly. I think when there's an element of surprise or the speaker is in a way separating him from a group he belongs to (inferring "you're not like those others"), it has racist undertones. I think Biden was also comparing Obama to the black presidential hopefuls that came before. I'm also fairly sure he used the word "clean" which is more blatantly an underhanded compliment than "articulate" could ever be.

I never realized "articulate" could be construed as an insult, even if it was phrased as the most backhanded compliment ever, and that's not what Biden did.

How about "uppity"? I always liked that word to describe a picky and easily offended person, but apparently that one is racially charged, too, and I got called on it for the first time yesterday. Indeed, I have heard the term applied insultingly to black people (i.e. "uppity negro"), but is the word alone entirely off limits now, just because it's been used that way too often?

I look at it like this: My niece is 7 years old. I was out with her the other day and gave her some money to buy some chips or whatever junk food she fancied. The woman behind the counter(an older White woman)took her money and proceeded to have a little chat with my niece. Couple minutes later convo is over and as I'm paying for my stuff, the woman behind the counter says to me "Wow, she speaks so well." I say thanks and leave. As I'm leaving I think to myself "What did she mean 'she speaks so well?'" I'm thinking does she mean she speaks well for a 7 year old or does she speak well for a Black girl?
Articulate can mean the person speaking speaks without saying "uh" "um" and "you know" or it can mean the person speaks well for a person of color.

It is very offensive, because it is never used to compliment a white person. When someone, such as Senator Obama, graduates from two of the top schools in this country (Columbia & Harvard), any astonishment based on their ability to put two or more sentences together, speaks volumes. The question becomes “why the surprise?”

Or it can simply mean the person speaks well compared to people of any color. It's a compliment. Many people are good at giving speeches; many are not. Color is not the issue here.

cosign H.L.C

When do you ever hear any white man called articulate? The decent speakers in the Senate—- when do you ever hear them called articulate? Was Ted Kennedy called articulate when he spoke at the convention last week? Or how about Joe Biden? Ugh. Articulate is used for Black people, women and children…. as in, you don't sound Black/like a woman/like a child…. "you know the white man's tongue!"

OK, that was too narrow…

…on second thought not just Black people are called articulate. Any foreign language speaker (of ebonics or otherwise lol) is assumed not to know how to put a noun and verb together without a serious translator. When an Asian man opens his mouth and you think you're about to hear a strong Korean accent and broken thought patterns and he blows you away with perfect standard English, oh you can be sure they call that man Kim Soo Articulate.

@ Cord Jefferson

You just made my point. Most were surprised by President Bush’s inability to enunciate.

Some of you are so full of shit.

If Hillary or Bill had refered to Barack as "articulate" when she was running, EVERYONE of you would called them out loudy as racist. Why is Biden getting a pass??

Oh I know! It's because he's running "with" the messiah these days, so all is forgiven/forgotton.

The hypocrisy never ends…

@ Cord Jefferson

Bush is a special case because your typical Ivy League grad is not able to buy his or her way into school by virtue of being from a wealthy family and third generation Yale student.

One's ability to speak well has little to do with their alma mater. While prep schools might focus on the ability to speak and debate effectively, it's not something that comes with a Yale, Harvard or Princeton degree. I'm sure state schools have Toastmasters just like private school. There are chapters everywhere.

Biden didn't just call Obama 'articulate'. He also called him 'bright' and 'clean' in the same statement. As if these were rare traits for black people.

But Hillary was much more offensive, with her desperate Vote White strategy. "…Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

The new whitespeak that says 'hardworking' people are anything but black is despicable.

Hmmm….

i think all the furor was over the word "clean" rather than the word "articulate"

Everyone is forgetting, he did not say just "articulate" or "clean" but "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." He is in a state of disbelief at Obama being clean, nice looking, and bright as well. ABC news quote. So yeah, that was incredibly racist or he has never had black history and is surprised at any black leader being any of those things.

Um… articulate does NOT have any racial connotation. A certain percentage of the Black populous is hypersensitive and is just looking for things to get mad at. This is why the rest of us "hardworking" people will never take your uppity, spoiled demographic seriously. Go smoke some crank; you know you want to!

Nikki, I would curse your dumb ass out, but you're probably some racist white teenager just looking for a place to write his uninformed ideas.

1. there's a difference between PATRONIZING and RACIALLY-MOTIVATED PATRONIZING, and I think a lot of people assume that all of the former must mean the latter, which is bizarre.
( the whole point about focusing on the delivery
*instead of*
the content - patronizing.
It burns my ass as much as yours, even though racially you probably aren't as East Indian as I am, or as Celt, or whatever ).

2. I'm articulate, Obama's articulate, Bush tries, but… his mind isn't Obama's equal ( different category, not just degree ).

3. Have you tried to have intelligent conversation with kids brought up on TV?
Articulate is a MEANINGFUL compliment in the world of boob-tube fed minds.

4. "when do you ever hear white men called articulate" Winston Churchill, anyone?
Does being compared with HIM mean insult?
The 33rd grandmaster of ninpo/ninjutsu ( who apparently could talk about the way Life, Universe & Everything fit together for days on end ).
Some rather excellent philosophers?

Would anyone here call Rush Limbaugh articulate?
( he of the "men and women are different: how can they be equal?" line — apparently can't figure out that equal-validity can coincide with different body — doesn't get that "equal" doesn't mean "identical" )

This is obviously some US culture thing:
"Articulate" isn't inherently complimentary or insulting, only in relation to -whatever- could it be deemed so.

And, obviously, in the US it is assumed to be insult.

Try using it as an insult in most other countries, and you'll be deemed at least slightly insane, because it is, for most of the world, a compliment.

Context + delivery, both make the difference.
"Obama is articulate!" to me means he shows exceptional ( compared with normal/most ) facility in arraying words to communicate precisely what he MEANS, whereas
"Obama is .. 'articulate' .." would indicate meant-insult.
With the *first* delivery, though, apparently most of you US people would assume insult was meant?

Man, how warped.

*I* would rather be deemed as articulate as Obama than not, and I appear "white".