quote:Originally posted by Purple Monkey Dishwasher:
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: :wonders exactly who PMD, skaksi etc think is enforcing all these imaginary rules:
Nanny government I think.
I don't think the police are going to come kicking the door down and dragging you off if you use the phrase 'brainstorm'. So, no. Not the government in this instance. As ben points out they're mostly brought up by half-wit business folk trying to out-pc each other. Just because they said it's offensive it doesn't make it true.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
Like ben says, it's more to do with corporate types. But then, doesn't our own government like being very, very proper? That's what I was referring to.
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis:As ben points out they're mostly brought up by half-wit business folk trying to out-pc each other. Just because they said it's offensive it doesn't make it true.
I'm surprised you felt the need to reiterate. Do you believe anyone is taking this seriously?
Posts: 106
| IP: Logged
posted
I dunno - I guess it was just PMD's comment that it was being enforced by the Nanny government that made me re-iterate. Also maybe I was getting clouded in my head with a similar argument I had on handbag years ago with some dimwit who absolutely genuinely seemed to believe that he wasn't "allowed" to say blackboard, merry Christmas, man-whore etc.
Posts: 13758
| IP: Logged
posted
Fair enough, though. It may be a load of bollocks but the whole thing is made that much more... volatile by the fact that some people take it seriously.
What I'm waiting for is the opportunity to go to my local theatre and watch the pantomime, "Snow White and the Seven People of Restricted Growth."
posted
That's the shit. I remember seeing some clip about a white mother who was trying to get her mixed origin daughter to stop saying 'nigger' as she thought it was offensive. Perhaps it was on Jeremy Kyle or something.
What each person finds offensive can vary hugely, so surely it's more a case of using appropriate language in appropriate company / circumstance. There can be no hard and fast rules.
Posts: 106
| IP: Logged
posted
Exactly. It's fine to talk about pakis, niggers and chinks so long as there aren't any in the room.
*thinks*
There again, if you're using the word 'chink' in front of a nigger, will the nigger get upset and run off to tell the chinks? And if a paki overhears you using the common phrase 'black bastard' (as in "Get out of the road, you black bastard" while driving) do you then have to explain that you didn't mean any offence because they're brown, not black?
posted
My mum works in a primary school and she's not allowed to say baa baa black sheep anymore. Little kiddies were crying because they wanted to hear the song, but she couldn't sing it because she might lose her job. Also, she asked for a white coffee at breaktime and they told her you have to say "coffee with milk". So she goes "OK have you got any skimmed milk". No, they don't have that. "Not to worry I'll just pop down the paki shop." You would have thought she was a Nazi the way they glared at my mum. Honestly I'd have given them a slap them and Mr Phoney B. Liar with his police-thought state. Don't get me started on "Winterval", isn't it enough that our kids have to stay indoors at night because of paedos, without Christmas being banned in Britain, too.
[this post was originally written in 1985 when such topics had some remote chance of being novel and/or interesting]
quote:Originally posted by ben: And if a paki overhears you using the common phrase 'black bastard' (as in "Get out of the road, you black bastard" while driving) do you then have to explain that you didn't mean any offence because they're brown, not black?
Manners dictate that when making racist comments in front of a Paki friend, you should quickly add "no offence Chalky/Ali/Sooti, you're alright mate, one of us." Your pal will quickly be reassured that he has nothing to fear.
posted
also, ensure you don't offend the "pc brigade" by prefacing any humourous remarks with the innocent question "do you like racist jokes?". that way we all know where we stand.
-------------------- i shot a man in reno just to watch him die Posts: 2064
| IP: Logged
posted
Also: make this point clear to them in a calm, firm voice - if you start stammering "But - but -but..." they'll think you're really taking the piss.
Posts: 8657
| IP: Logged
posted
I favour the opening disclaimer "I'm not racist, but": again, bear Ben's caution in mind. Although the ethnic catchphrase "but-but-ding-ding fares please" was hilarious in the 1970s, times change and we must be sensitive to them.
posted
i get annoyed by all the sniping at political correctness gone mad! yes sometimes it can be silly, but mostly pc is just about being sensitive and respectful. i'm sure many of you are most upset not being able to use terms like half-caste or coloured in polite society. boo hoo, my heart bleeds the denial of your godgiven liberty.
Posts: 5190
| IP: Logged
posted
Sorry, Vikram, I didn't realise you might be... you know. No offence mate. On the internet we're all "black and white", right? Time for some more bronchial mixture for me, I think.
posted
Pull your fucking lip in. Sensitivity: yes, over-sensitivity: no. There's too much cowering behind fear of saying 'the wrong thing', so much so that some of the lunacy above has had real consideration by people.
Advert for lime shower gel: 'So citrusy you won't know whether to drink it or shower with it' (or similar).
Disclaimer: not fit for drinking. Like anyone would.
Lunacy - and it's not all about race sensitivity either, so don't get a cob on.
Posts: 106
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by vikram: actually, i'm not sure what you mean kovacs
I was jokingly playing the part of a 70s-style racist who hadn't realised that you might be Asian (to be honest... I don't actually know what your ethnic identity is, Vikram) and was trying to wriggle out of it.
Thanks for asking because I think "unpacking" this really weak joke on my part showed how unfunny it was in the first place.
posted
lol - the other day, shitwit comic Teh Times had this feature which they entitled (unironically) 'Political Correctness Gone Mad' but into which they chucked just about any cockamamie thing they could come up with, up to and including peanut packets bearing the legend 'may contain nuts'.
I think the moral of the tale is that the appearance of the words "political correctness" in any newspaper or email are a reasonable indication that what you're reading 'may contain lazy, ill-thought-out bullcrap'.
Posts: 8657
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by ben: And if a paki overhears you using the common phrase 'black bastard' (as in "Get out of the road, you black bastard" while driving) do you then have to explain that you didn't mean any offence because they're brown, not black?
I'll tell you what does need banning, and that's different colour armbands to identify teams in paintballing. When we went a couple of years ago one team had brown armbands. One of them kept shooting me when I'd been hit and had stood up to move out of the game. I was really pissed off and shouted, "OI! Stop shooting you fucking brown bastard!". It's only as we were walking out of the safety zone afterwards that he took his mask off and revealed the terrible (and predictable, of course) truth - that he actually was a differently pigmented gentleman.
Mind you, I suspect that five paintballs at point blank range into the chest hurt me more than a bit of sweariness hurt him.
Posts: 8467
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by vikram: i'm sure many of you are most upset not being able to use terms like half-caste or coloured in polite society. boo hoo, my heart bleeds the denial of your godgiven liberty.
I once used "coloured" in front of my half-Mauritian flatmate in Warsaw and she laughed and said "what colour?" I had a vague idea that "coloured" was just a more genteel way of saying black, a bit like "sofa" instead of "settee". This is what happens when you're brought up in Dorset and have only seen about four real live black people by the age of 18. I have gathered since that it's a bit old-fashioned, but is it really that offensive?
-------------------- What I object to is the colour of some of these wheelie bins and where they are left, in some areas outside all week in the front garden. Posts: 4941
| IP: Logged
posted
I think "coloured" is an (at least-partially) accepted term in South Africa.
Here is wikipedia on the matter.
quote:During the apartheid era, in order to keep divisions and maintain a race-focused society, the term Coloureds was used as one of the four main racial groups identified by law: Blacks, Whites, Coloureds and Indians. (The terms are capitalised in apartheid era law.) Coloured people constitute a majority of the population in Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces. Most Coloureds speak Afrikaans. A significant number of the people who might be described by this category reject it; others embrace it but reject the description "mixed race".
quote:Originally posted by Vogon Poetess: I once used "coloured" in front of my half-Mauritian flatmate in Warsaw and she laughed and said "what colour?"
My son started going on about this term the other day. I wasn't really listening, but it was along the lines of "We're white, and we go red when we're hot, blue when we're cold, green when we're sick, yellow when we're jaundiced, purple when we're bruised... [and a few other colours were cited I imagine] ...so why do we call black people coloured?"
I had no answer, so I just told him why the sky is blue instead. Again.
Posts: 8467
| IP: Logged
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
So she goes "OK have you got any skimmed milk". No, they don't have that. "Not to worry I'll just pop down the paki shop." You would have thought she was a Nazi the way they glared at my mum. Honestly I'd have given them a slap them and Mr Phoney B. Liar with his police-thought state. Don't get me started on "Winterval", isn't it enough that our kids have to stay indoors at night because of paedos, without Christmas being banned in Britain, too.
Printer-friendly view of this topic