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stranger
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stranger
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A quote from Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh):
Well, I’m the worst person to come to for advice. I’ve never been “short” as you so painfully call it. And yet what else could you sya? Hard up? Penurious? Distressed? Embarrassed? Stony-broke? On the rocks? In Queer Street? Let us say in Queer Street and leave it that way.
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Joined: Mar 2002
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stranger
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stranger
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I've always associated the term with boxing, as in "...knocked him two blocks up Queer Street", usage in the same ball-park (ring? as discombobulated, disoriented, confused, confounded etc.
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stranger
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stranger
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I found this week's theme very interesting and I look forward to the words.
As this is a forum of words, and this week's theme is offensive words, I wanted to add this thought... Something can only be offensive if someone takes offence to it... I am "offended" by segregation, so I am "Offended" by the term "African-American" the proper term is "American", more so when you realize that most of the people the term is applied to have never been to and are not from Africa...
You can try to Offend someone all you wish, if they do not take offence, you have not offended them... you may have made a fool of yourself, but you have given no offense.
Being "Offended" is giving power over yourself to another... if a fool uses a string of syllables that cause you to change how you are acting, that fool has controlled you... so who is the bigger fool?
Take no offense from this, because life is too short to allow fools to control it.
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stranger
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stranger
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As a gay man, I wouldn't personally be offended by the use of the word "queer" in almost any context, particularly if someone knew me well enough that they were aware that I was gay. And overall, I presume people in general don't wish to offend. Only if the tone of the conversation was such that it was obviously used derogatorily, does it become offensive. One more point: the word "Queer" has been adopted by some as an alternative to the awfully pedantic LBGTQ-blahblahblah in literature and reporting. "Queer" has also now been used as a verb, meaning to make a situation queer by being completely out, preventing everyone thinking heteronormatively, e.g. I may actually have a husband, not a wife.
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Joined: May 2013
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stranger
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stranger
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Interesting and very valuable point. If everyone could pull this off, so many Politically Correct issues and arguments would die on the vine. And many of them I consider a bane, like recently, the beer label "Albino Rhino" was pulled because someone with albinism considered it offensive. Hey, I'd love it if someone created a label "Queer Beer", lol.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Good reasoning Hamfast. With offenses it is the way you take it that decides offense or or no offense. In the case of "African American", "Irish American", "African German", "Moroccan" Dutch or "Bosnian French", in all cases it's a good thing to absorb an intended insult as a compliment and be proud of one's ancestry or disposition or profession.
The more tolerant a society, the less need of political correctness. On any issue.
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: May 2013
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stranger
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stranger
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BranShea,
Perhaps we need to look at how a hyphenated name is applied and by whom...
If I apply it to myself or you to yourself, it may indicate pride as you said. But if the hyphenated name is applied to us by someone else, it is more likely to indicate ignorance (of our background) or an attempt to put us in a group... to segregate us by some unimportant feature...
Oh, and TonyF, what about your beer is queer? does it taste a tad bit funny? Does it have some other odd feature? We could add an extra bit of flavor and some reddish coloring and call it "Ginger Beer"... make it stouter and call it "Ginger Ale" oh, wait, that is taken...
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Joined: May 2013
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stranger
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stranger
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When our children were small, we told them that there were no "bad" words, but that any word could be a bad one if it was used to hurt someone. We all understand that most of the words considered bad in our language (or society) can be, and are, used in different contexts where they are not bad. And if I call someone a "cabbagehead" and my intent is to make them feel bad, to hurt them, to bully them, then "cabbagehead" is a bad word!
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Joined: May 2013
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stranger
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stranger
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Niggardly ("stingy") has a Scandinavian derivation that predates our N-word by hundreds of years. Chaucer used it in the 14th century. It's a good word but I refrain from using it simply because it raises eyebrows even among educated people who misunderstand the meaning.
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