In retrospect, I was a sad little boy and a standard-issue, shiftless, egotistical, dejected teen-ager.

NEWYORKER: Where I Learned To Read

Maybe a shiftless tenant won't pay his rent, a dishonest contractor is ripping off your Grandmother or a meth-addicted actress murdered your boyfriend.

CNN: P.G. Sturges wins fans with "The Shortcut Man"

He perfected the art of buttboarding sitting on his skateboard and careering down hills with no helmet and no brakes and staged rock-throwing wars with other shiftless kids in empty lots.

NEWYORKER: The Martian Chroniclers

Now it may not mean anything to most Americans but to those of us who are African-Americans, the second word is shiftless and then there's a third word that goes along with it.

WSJ: Stephens: Colin Powell's Double Standard

If only one black person (Django) displays the vaguest interest in gaining freedom, while the rest consistently demonstrate that they wouldn't do anything with that freedom, were they to obtain it, then we're not able to become invested in them or their pursuits: We can't relate to shiftless characters.

CNN: Django, in chains