Stato
Well-known member
- Dec 21, 2011
- 7,367
Hold on, i’ve called someone out for using a racial slur, and i’m the troublemaker ?
Ok, answer this question, and i won’t post any more on this thread,
Is the using of the word pikey acceptable ? Yes or No ?
I'd suggest that it should not be. If the ethnic minority community that the term has historically been used to describe feel that it is derogatory, then it's probably best to avoid it's use. Even without the racial connotation, I don't much like it's use, or that of 'chav' to describe someone or something cheap or 'common' either. It is still generally being used to demean people because of their class, background or education and this is an overlooked prejudice these days.
I wouldn't say it's particularly seventies as suggested in your earlier post. Back in the seventies the only time I remember hearing the word was from Private Walker to describe Frank Pike. The seventies had a huge number of nasty insulting terms to be used for all sorts of minorities, but certainly in my memory, the increase in the number of snobbish terms to describe something or someone who doesn't meet assumed standards of acceptability coincided with the increase in disdain for poverty that came with the more individualistic and materialistic attitudes of the following decade. (Must.. try... not... to... say .. her.... name.)
As Brighton fans, who often demand standards of language from other supporters, let's try to meet them ourselves and avoid using terms that can be seen as intended to stereotype or demean. After all, they're not even accurate. There are all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds who have to support our friends up the road. The only reason we need to scorn and to pity them is their, often unasked for, association with that morally bankrupt organisation. To paraphrase the old Cecil Rhodes quote 'To be born a Brighton fan is to have won first prize in the lottery of life.' Perhaps we should take a more sympathetic view of those unlucky enough to have been forced to take the Croydon booby prize. As Clement and Les Frenais found in 'Porridge', having limitations put on the language that you are allowed need not be restricting, but can lead to some naffing good ways of describing a despicable nerk.
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