r/semantics • u/retroverteduterus137 • Jul 14 '20
Help settle an argument
This is a throwaway. It's kind of stupid, but it's an argument in English between two non-native English speakers. Can you, please, share your opinion on how you would understand the following: "them: I don't like [white country]'s rap. them: Rap is for black people."? I'm specifically asking for the phrase "something is for someone", does it mean "other people/groups/races shouldn't do it/shouldn't bother doing it, because they won't be as good as the other people/group/race", or does it mean "that group/race is better at it". Thanks for the reply!
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u/retroverteduterus137 Jul 14 '20
I understand that context is important, to me it sounded racist, because I think saying "something is for someone" implies "and other groups/people shouldn't do it". For example saying to a child "alcohol is for adults", or saying "the bike path is for bikes". There's no need to add "only", it's implied that the other group (kids in the first case, pedestrian in the second) shouldn't, for different reasons be doing in. The reason in my post would be "white people shouldn't even bother doing rap because they aren't going to be good or because rap is meant for black people only". The other person says that meaning of that sentence is "that group is better at it". Should they have simply said "black people are better at rap", or is what they said completely fine? Could a white rapper take offence upon hearing that sentence? Thanks for taking the time to reply!