What do people think of the so called PC brigade? I've never actually come across anyone really being told off for using expressions like 'blackboard' or 'whiteboard' but I guess it happens. Or is it just an urban myth? Were the publishers really right to take the golliwogs out of the Enid Blyton's Noddy books or should they have stayed? Do people really get offended by Irish/jewish jokes etc? Are the people who are making these rules just creating problems where there weren't any before or are they really changing people's awareness for the better?
I don't know the details i am sure someone does...i heard that PC was a joke within liberal minded circles ...?? Its possibly being mis-used or some one somewere is having a great laugh at all the people that run around like headless chikens trying to conform to the PC ideal.. I am not totaly PC ..i just don't say anything to bad out loud .. i am just like most i guess, nobody has anything to worry about with me.
There was a big movement in the nineteen eighties I think, closely tied to the feminist movement, arguing for political correctness. I'll try and dig out some of the info ...
There's a level of political correctness I feel people should observe, without taking it too far. Personally I'm very offended when somone uses the 'n' word, with malice, or talks of rag heads. I think it was right to take the Golliwog out of Noddy, that toy is a remnant of racist British colonialism, and is quite offensive. As for blackboard and whiteboard, that's just stupid, and if true is taking political correctness a bit too far. There's a danger of rebelling against PC too far, the BNP are very adamant about not being PC, and that's the ultimate conclusion of a complete rejection of it taken to the extreme - outright prejudice. In general, I think we should respect people's wishes, and if it's offensive, and has no constructive purpose, it shouldn't be said....
I told this joke a little while ago: 2 sharks swimming around, one said to the other "I'm sick of fish lets go down to Morcambe Bay for a chinese" I got jumped on for that but I really didn't mean to offend anyone and would never say something like that in a Chinese restaurant, to me it was funny because of the coloquial use of English, I also think bad taste jokes can sometimes a natural way of dealing with bad situations. There was a comedy sketch on recently where some Asian guys were sitting in an English restaurant taking the piss out of the way we behave when ordering Indian food .. They were saying stuff like "What's the blandest thing on the menu" etc. I thought it was hilarious and think its funny when English culture gets laughed at. All of my Jewish friends will tell Jewish jokes, I've also known black people call themselves niggers and gays call themselves queers. Although I wouldn't use those expressions myself unless I was quoting. I guess it all boils down to context and desired effect.
Yeah I agree. If it's not meant to offend, or in a hateful way, and the present company takes it in the same way, then that's fine. The Tory cabinet minister who told that same joke at a public dinner, however, where it caused a great deal of offence and controversy, was out of order. I actually find that joke a bit sick to be honest, so have never really found it funny, but hey, each to their own....
definitly boils down to context.. i call most of my gay friends "raving homo's" and because they know its a friendly thing its ok... just like some 1 saying "hey come here you stupid wanker" if its meant in a friendly way and not said with aggresion then i think you should be able to call people anything you like thats what i think andy xxx
The word Nigar technically isnt offencive if used in the right terminolagy. Its a short hand expression for someone who is from Nigeria, or a Nigerian. Same as calinga british person a Brit. However it was taken on as a Deroderative term and broardened to anyone who wasn't caucasian. ...just a bit of history for you there
according to dictionary.com, ****** can also mean this Used as a disparaging term for a member of any socially, economically, or politically deprived group of people: “Gun owners are the new niggers... of society” (John Aquilino). hmmm... its just all about context hugs andy xxx
"Once the three bold golliwogs, Golly, Woggie, and ******, decided to go for a walk to Bumble-Bee Common. Golly wasn't quite ready so Woggie and ****** said they would start off without him, and Golly would catch them up as soon as he could. So off went Woogie and ******, arm-in-arm, singing merrily their favourite song -- which, as you may guess, was Ten Little ****** Boys." - Enid Blyton When I was about 6 I had a copy of that book except the golliwogs were changed to pixies...I remember my teacher telling me it was different when she read it as a kid
Actually when I read it back now it isn't that funny, but then there's been other occasions when I've laughed at stuff and thought "Why the hell am I laughing at that?" I guess it's a human way of dealing with life's nasties. Did you know that in WW1, battlefirld troops were known to shake hands with severed arms and say "how do you do" to them? Seems bizarre, but the human mind does some strange things when under pressure.
No it's not, it's from the Spanish 'negro', meaning black, and was first used as a term to degrade people of Afro-Carribean descent....
Actually I think you're both right (sort of). It seems that the latin for black is niger and that may well be how Nigeria (Which was once under British control) got its name: http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/caricature/
or maybe because they were actually black. hmm... Anyways, pc can eat my ass. I think it's ridiculous; I'll say whatever I damn well please.
