I'm going to show my utter ignorance here, or perhaps naivety here. I always referred to the corner shop as the 'P... shop'. I would also refer to the take away as the 'Chinky'
It was only about 15 years ago that I was corrected.
That may come as a surprise, but when someone has never used such terms with malice or antipathy and has never been corrected then there should be reasoning.
I remember being told that 'Chinky' was offensive. I was quite taken aback, even offended, to think that I could be construed as having a racist attitude. For me it was an affectionate term. I really liked the family that ran the store. So there you go, context and intent. Obviously, I didn't use it after that, but was quite stunned by the whole thing.
So, from my own experience, this is why I try to cut through the whole thing. But in the event of confusion here is my summary:
1) Racism is unacceptable, as is prejudice.
2) Words have different contexts in different situations and amongst different people. What two people say in private consensual conversation is no-one else's business.
3) People should be educated in proper address and sensitivity. But what happened at a time when things were culturally different should remain in that time. If it was acceptable then it is still acceptable in its original context, just not in a modern one.
4) My biggest frustration is the hypocrisy of all this. Rather than addressing the situation, some folk have loaded agendas. And the absolutist view of things is riding over reason. Some folk may have done wrong, but they didn't mean to. I know that last sentence may be contentious but I am not withdrawing it.
5) [MENTION=17322]Lenny Rider[/MENTION] did make some valid points. I don't agree with him on a lot of stuff, but he is highlighting another angle. It's just a shame PPF 'liked' the entry, but I'm sure Lenny will get over it. PPF liked a post of mine once and I washed my hands afterwards.
6) Changing words doesn't change attitudes. The Daily Mail uses the right words. As a youngster I had a racist attitude, it was injected into me. The same goes for most of us. You can get all your words right but that doesn't change you. Up until relatively recently I was using the wrong words, but I sorted a lot of my attitudes out. Can others who always use the correct terms say that ? People need to look inside rather than out. But a lot of folk don't want to do that, because it's painful.
The 'paki' shop was commonplace when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s. I'm certain I used the term in my 20s (in the 70s). And an ex of mine, from up North, used the expression 20 years ago. In neither case was anything meant, but I would imagine that had it been heard by the subjects referred it would have hurt. Changing words is not there to change attitudes, it is simply to stop being offensive to people. That's good enought for me.
And Das Reich would disagree because he wants to be offensive.
Oh, and ps - an honest post. All the best
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