[orionvmjoseph]

I gather he meant the colloquial meaning in most places of the world which is something to the tune of "Something best avoided rather than confronted.". I believe it originates from a story or fable as such.

However I assume you meant he was using it in the more offensive slang usage for african-american. Chances are he might not even know it has the connotation as it's pretty specific to America.

[Calamitous]

I'm an American who grew up in the deep South. I've been exposed to just about every racially derogatory term you can think of, in every direction, and I've never heard "tarbaby" used as anything but "a trap to avoid."

I'm all for keeping the discourse civil, but the term was clearly used in a nonracial fashion. Please don't destroy perfectly useful words in an attempt to act offended on someone else's behalf.

[waqf]

Here is your story or fable as such:

(2004 retelling) http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_mee...

(1886 version) http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus:_His_Songs_and_His...

[Resident_Geek]

Nobody uses "tar baby" as a slur in America. It's like "niggardly" - ignorant people use an incorrect interpretation to try to shut down people they don't like.

[jongraehl]

That said, you'd have to be crazy to use "niggardly" now after the reaction it got whoever that was. If you use words that most of your audience doesn't know, what does it say about you? :)