Simple Question: Is anyone else fed up with having to be PC ?

[661-Pete]

If anyone thinks we're tying ourselves in knots over PC-versions of English, consider the torments that some public-spirited Francophones are going through! There's an active movement to bring écriture inclusive into the language, especially with regard to plural endings and pronouns, where "masculine trumps feminine" every time. The Académie Française, bless 'em, are holding out against this mauling of their magnificent language...

Try googling "Gender Neutral French" for more...

[Oldjohnw]

I speak of "my" wife. But then, she refers to "my" husband. So who owns whom?

[thirdcrank]

I'm old enough to have been expected to learn (but failed) Memorial lines on the gender of Latin substantives.

I can remember some of it:-

The gender of a Latin noun, by meaning, form or use is shown.

I have The Shorter Way of Eating Prime Beef to hand as I type, but I won't cheat by pretending I remember loads more. Among the utterly useless bits of lumber in the attic of my memory is

And masculine is found to be Hadria, the Adriatic Sea.

[merseymouth]

Hi all, Nice to know that traps can still be tripped!
Gay boxes are of course decorative wall miniature display units, in the form of interconnected quadralaterals. Nothing to cause offence.
The word Gay is certainly not to be confused with GAY. But I note that the poster who pointed that out then went and fell into the trap himself! Oops.
Any one who has worked in schools in the last 40 years would be well aware of the clampdown on any word that has been hi-jacked by the "Politically Correct" lobby.
Censorship with the cosh of dismissal!
I, with my fiancee took out a mortgage 45 years ago, in our given names, no problem. One has to go back a lot further before single name was the rule. You could then change either of the given names upon marriage, which would simplify things if one of the couple should sadly die.
The "Crime in the mind" was the charge laid against Liam Neeson but not by me. Rather like "Adultery in the mind" isn't the same as "Adultery in actuality"! Except in the minds of the PC Lobby.
The point about the word "Faggot" being an embroidery term was news to me, but the other meanings are well known to folk of old.
So let us all all be decent to all we encounter, think wisely before speaking, think well before reacting to traps laid.
My dear lady of 45 years is known to all who know me as SWMBO, from Rumpole of the Bailey. TTFN MM

[Cunobelin]

I use a MAC.........

[Cunobelin]

Rather like "Adultery in the mind" isn't the same as "Adultery in actuality"!Except in the minds of the PC Lobby

... and most wives!

[reohn2]

.
The word Gay is certainly not to be confused with GAY. But I note that the poster who pointed that out then went and fell into the trap himself! Oops.

As that poster I'll need explaining to me as to what trap I've fallen into, if you could be so kind.

[661-Pete]

I think "Gay" used to be, and perhaps still is, a common surname. One of the characters in Dickens' Dombey & Son is named Gay. So, too, IIRC, is a character in The Coral Island. We can't go around bowdlerising all of literature...

[Bez]

Twisting peoples words to suit your own predjudices is insulting. I never said I identified with Trump, I just had him in mind. He is just a very obvious example of how folk in the US can say anything they want to

Fair enough. I thought replying “yes”to the suggestion that you “identify him if you want” was some sort of agreement. Either seem to be using Trump as an example of why people should be able to say anything they want without recrimination. Or have I totally got the wrong end of your stick? (Not trying to twist words, not prejudiced—I was frankly somewhat surprised that someone would be using Trump as some sort of model—just unsure what point you’re trying to make.)

[Oldjohnw]

Any one who has worked in schools in the last 40 years would be well aware of the clampdown on any word that has been hi-jacked by the "Politically Correct" lobby.
Censorship with the cosh of dismissal!

Could you give some examples, please?

[merseymouth]

Hi all, It was Reohn who capitalized the word as "GAY" (Good As You), but left it as Gay, meaning Happy.
So no slight itended to anyone, but it does show that it is a fine line between okay & iffy or even offensive.
Was Fred Astaire making a statement in "Gay Divorce"?
So maybe the folk who take control of words for their own different purpose should think of possible consequences.
Respect for all would go a long way. MM

* One must say Chalk Board no matter what. One is now also obliged to have children sing "Baa Baa Wooly Sheep" or you are for the high jump.
With a wife who taught for 42 years and a daughter who has done the same job for 17 years we speak as it is.

[pete75]

The "Crime in the mind" was the charge laid against Liam Neeson but not by me.

What Neeson did wasn't just in his mind - he said he went out for about a week with a cosh in the hope of finding a black person to attack. He didn't find one. I wonder what his action would have been if someone white had committed the alleged rape.

[al_yrpal]

Twisting peoples words to suit your own predjudices is insulting. I never said I identified with Trump, I just had him in mind. He is just a very obvious example of how folk in the US can say anything they want to

Fair enough. I thought replying “yes”to the suggestion that you “identify him if you want” was some sort of agreement. Either seem to be using Trump as an example of why people should be able to say anything they want without recrimination. Or have I totally got the wrong end of your stick? (Not trying to twist words, not prejudiced—I was frankly somewhat surprised that someone would be using Trump as some sort of model—just unsure what point you’re trying to make.)

I remember seeing a Louix Theroux TV program which featured people with the most outrageous anti gay signs and chants in the street in the US. Its allowed. But just like Alf Garnet it showed them up just as Trump has revealed to everyone what a bigot he actually is. Trouble is he has bigoted supporters in spades.

Al

[Cunobelin]

The "Crime in the mind" was the charge laid against Liam Neeson but not by me.

What Neeson did wasn't just in his mind - he said he went out for about a week with a cosh in the hope of finding a black person to attack. He didn't find one. I wonder what his action would have been if someone white had committed the alleged rape.

This is one of the misreported aspects of the case

I did it for maybe a week, hoping some [in air quotes] 'black [rude word removed]' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could… kill him.”

He was open that it would be in retaliation, he was not looking for someone to attack, he was looking for someone who would attack him

[pete75]

The "Crime in the mind" was the charge laid against Liam Neeson but not by me.

What Neeson did wasn't just in his mind - he said he went out for about a week with a cosh in the hope of finding a black person to attack. He didn't find one. I wonder what his action would have been if someone white had committed the alleged rape.

This is one of the misreported aspects of the case

I did it for maybe a week, hoping some [in air quotes] 'black <i>[rude word removed]</i>' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could… kill him.”

He was open that it would be in retaliation, he was not looking for someone to attack, he was looking for someone who would attack him

That doesn't justify it. Going out armed hoping someone would "have a go" and then killing him wouldn't even be justifiable as self defence. In any case have a go usually means something verbal not physical.