Is the word "blackmail" connected in any way to black people?

No, it's a European thing, Old English, before they ever saw a person of color. 1552: money paid to outlaws for protection; 1826: a tax or tribute; payments extorted by threat.

Gee, sounds like the income tax!

Don't use the term downtown though, the locals prefer extortion.

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No

Main Entry:

black·mail Listen to the pronunciation of blackmail

Pronunciation:

\ˈblak-ˌmā(ə)l\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

black + 1mail

Date:

1552

1: a tribute anciently exacted on the Scottish border by plundering chiefs in exchange for immunity from pillage2 a: extortion or coercion by threats especially of public exposure or criminal prosecution b: the payment that is extorted

not really

but if you think about it

everything in the dictionary that is "black" is given a negative connotation...seems funny how they call black people "black" which is the word that contains only negative connotations

I love being called black, simply because to me everything associated with black isn't negative, the dictionary was made by a white man...so..that says a lot

LOL @ Reddas

he beat me to the punch

A lot of words with the word "black" in it are negative (its been that way before there was slavery, or before Europeans even knew darker people existed), but that doesn't mean its connected to people of the race.

"Black" was always being portrait as "evil", "dirty". No it's not connected to black people but it's simpler as, where it got it as evil.

black in that word means dirty, incorrect, all that good stuff..so that would mean that it's something wrong to do...

No

Wow....LMAO.

no look it up before you make yourself look dumb