h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1220735,00.html

I couldn't believe this when I read it - is it racism gone too far or am I the only white Briton who's offended?

No, I was told what the words were when I saw that galaxy icecream ad, however, when I was little I think we had different words involving cooking squirrel.

It's one of those things when you realise just how far racism is inbedded in society. But unless we realise these things we have no chance to change it.

When I was younger it was grab a tiger by the toe and it was a rhyme used to pick who was going to be 'it' for hide and seek, tig, that sort of thing. It seems that we've come to the far side of racism to me, where anything that 'could' be offensive has to be moderated/withdrawn. I've heard far worse in my time than what Mr Woolley is suggesting the rhyme really means, and 'negro' is the word for 'black' in quite a few languages. Should we ban that too?

I learnt 'rabbit'.

This is sounding a touch familiar: F19585?thread=417429

True, but this one is more specific

So what's the criterion being used to assess whether something is racist or not in this context? How well-known does the racist version have to be?

For example, according to the News of the World last Sunday, a bunch of BNP electoral candidates took part in a singalong of a modified version of Kenny Rogers' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town". I'm not particularly familiar with Kenny Rogers views on race or the presence or otherwise of racist overtones in the original lyrics, so for the moment I'll posit that both are beyond reproach on that score. Does the above discovery mean playing Kenny Rogers songs is now racially offensive, and if so, did it become offensive the moment the BNP's best and brightest came up with the idea, or was it only once a certain critical number of people came to be aware of it?

well, to be honest we used to use the non-PC version when I was a kid, but I didn't know what the word meant until much later.

I've taught my kids to use the word "pirate" in its place and we don't have any problems with it.

But in general, this type of thing is just representative about how ingrained some of the old ways are. In this case, I'm in agreement, but in some cases I just want to bang my head against the nearest wall.

I wonder if any normal people were offended by this before the "activists" decided they should be? I mean, what's next for the chop? Cilla Black?

It went too far the day some bright spark decided to ban bah bah black sheep in my opinion,, yes we have to be aware..but what!?
surely something is only 'rascist' if its used in an intentionally derogatory way?

One of the myriad of unexciting facts which I posess and will bring to your attention is the following:

Shepherds in pre-Roman Britain would use a counting system that started.... Eenie meenie minie mo.

Aren't you glad I did that?

Liam.

"It went too far the day some bright spark decided to ban bah bah black sheep in my opinion"

According to the Guardian, this is an urban myth - no such ban ever happenend anywhere in the UK.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,5500,688638,00.html

Talking of whom...you hardly hear about Cilla Afro-American these days, do you?

RF

She has been quiet, yes....*strokes chin*

I remember a newspaper article a few years ago when, after successfully changing 'blackboard' to 'chalkboard' (it's a board. It's black.), the PC crackpots were even going to campaign to have Blackpool renamed....

I agree, IMO the 'tradiitional' version, would be deemed as offensive. We used 'tigger' instead. As I remember, it was us kids that didn't like using that word, we knew what it meant, and changed it.

Quite a few years ago, a friend of mine named black puppy 'n****r' she changed it after a few months.

Hmmmm I have to admit, I'm guilty of calling a black board a chalk board

Emmily

I refuse to call it a chalkboard. Just as I refuse to call a whiteboard a penboard. Fair enough, if something is outright offensive it should be withdrawn/changed/whatever, but the fine line between what is offensive and what isn't gets muddier by the day

When I was a small child the words to this little ditty included the 'N' word. Also we grew up calling brazil nuts 'N-toes'.

It was only after I had grown up a bit that I realised how awful both references were. But I mean, how can you know this when you are seven years old?

I'm not a huge PC fan, though I can see the point of removing this particular advert. Too many people are still around with the original and very nasty version in their heads.

az

When I went to school the blackboards were green.

RF

Our science rooms had green blackboards. I figured it was the chemicals

No, there is NO sense in removing the advert. Every single person I have spoken to about this ad said that when they looked at it they laughed at the advert for what it was - what size of spoon to use for the ice cream? If the ad is eventually banned, where will it stop? Will I be thrown into jail for preferring strawberries to blackberries? For preferring white wine to red wine?

Blackboards were made green, as far as I am aware, for non-political reasons:

1) It is a less-threatening colour for young children.
2) The green 'filler' gives you a smoother surface, so there is less bone-chilling scraping noise
3) You can use a greater variety of colours (except green!) with more visible contrast - useful for complicated diagrams, maps and soforth.

B

Yes you will, fords, so stop that racist talk at once and eat up your african-americanberries.

RF