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

"people of colour" ???

Isn't that so-oo last Tuesday?

No idea SWL, does it really matter?

It seems to you it does. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it? It's one of those tortured, politically correct expressions that goes so far out of it's way *not* to offend that it ends up drawing even more attention to the feature the user was trying to tiptoe around and becomes, if anything, even more offensive.

Which is probably why no one uses it any more.

>>It seems to you it does<<

Well, you're the one that brought it up. And now you're going to some length to explain your problem with it.


AFAIK it's still used in the US, which is relevant to the issue with Big Al's mnemonic.


>> that it ends up drawing even more attention to the feature the user was trying to tiptoe around<<

I wasn't trying to tiptoe around ethnicity though (thought that much was obvious at least). I was intentionally talking about racism and how it affects people who aren't white.

>>
and becomes, if anything, even more offensive.
<<

Well be sure to tell all those black people in the US who use it



And, gee, look, now kea has used 3 different ways to describe ethnicity. How terrible.

come come! this was meant to be a nice civilised discussion about tits.

Oh come on, was there ever a more ridiculous phrase than "person of colour"? It's utterly meaningless as a descriptor as it applies equally to every person on the planet. While it was (briefly) in use, it seemed to be used exclusively by white people to describe black people. I don't recall any black people using it themselves, except ironically. Isn't it racist to give a name to other people that they don't use themselves?

I remember a black comedian (Eddie Murphy?) doing a stand-up session -

"What is it with this "people of colour" shit? Whitey goes blue with cold, green with envy, red in the sun then brown, black with rage, yellow with scurvey ...... and they call *us* "people of colour"?"

I'm not offended by the word tits and as this convo has proved there are much more offensive things/ideas discussed about here at hootoo that don't get yikesed..

However it has to be said that just because I'm not offended by a word like tits there will be those who are as it can be deemed a swear word by a minority and I would be cautious about using possibly offensive wording on a site that does have children viewing/contributing from time to time.

I do think the main gripe here though is the inconsistencies of what gets yikesed permanently and what is ignored..

>>It's utterly meaningless as a descriptor as it applies equally to every person on the planet<<

Only if you have no understanding of historical context.


>>I don't recall any black people using it themselves, except ironically. Isn't it racist to give a name to other people that they don't use themselves?<<

You really should get out more SWL.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=%22women+of+color%22&btnG=Search

Results 1 - 100 of about 1,070,000 English pages for "women of color". (0.46 seconds)

It's amazing how many of those are political activist or racist sites though. Not surprising since the term was brought back into use by Jesse Jackson. In it's original context it referred to black people in slave-owning communities who weren't slaves themselves. Bottom line is it's labelling behaviour with political aims. In the UK the name du jour is Black Minority Ethnic (BME).

As to "tits", whether it's offensive depends on context I suppose. It undoubtedly has sexual connotations in a way that breasts and bosoms doesn't. The litmus test for a word (for me anyway) is would you feel comfortable talking about tits to your mother at the dinner table? I wouldn't, but I accept everyone is different.

I have absolutely nothing against tits.............unfortunately

Novo

Trinny and Susannah are always talking about s - on mainstream TV, before the watershed.

SWL - On "people of colour", I've had a very similar argument before. Personally it grates my teeth and seems vaguely offensive, but that seems to be a very UK thing. In the US it currently seems to be the politically correct thing to do. It became a fairly protracted and ugly argument. My cohorts and I eventually turned in the suggestion that perhaps the term "Collective Oppressed Peoples" should be used where, say, "Kevin" wasn't appropriate.

As for "tits", I can understand why, although it seems a little pedantic. A somewhat minor transgression. Being as this is the BBC, though, everything does need to be squeaky clean.

>Black Minority Ethnic<

I don't think it's a UK thing, SWL, because I've never heard that term before. I personally thing 'people of colour' sounds pretty daft as well. And I've never heard anyone of my acquaintance use it, black or white. The general terminology used amongst every day people round here seems to be stuff like, black, white Asian etc. And it's used fairly descriptively really. I don't know which word black people or others ethnics use amongst themselves though...obviously. But I've a hunch it isn't 'people of colour'. I've heard that 'people of colour' is very much a US thing as well.

The term I've heard most often used by American politicians is African Americans. I don't think there is a similar sensitivity or preference in the UK.

Back to the thread. Would these people have been similarly offended by breasts or b**bs. (Don't know how picky the mods are, so playing it safe there. The rest of the community don't seem to be fazed by language.) The word was used in context, rather than as a term of abuse toward a person, so what was their problem?

I quite like Cockney rhymning slang like 'bristols' or 'threepennies'

See my Post 31.

To add to your Post 31, how many kids can wander into any newsagent across the country and buy the sun for less than a quid? There are the Y in all their glory.

Until the actual object isn't out there freely (well, cheaply) available for all to see, the word shouldn't be censored. It's a bit daft. Kids can look at them as long as they don't talk about them?

Deb

And there's a Smiths song, forget which, that talks about mammary glands....

I'm looking forward to this event. They say fashion eventually comes around full circle, but I've waited in vain for a return to (was it) 16th Century women's fashion

>I'm looking forward to this event<

Just so long as they keep the male bits that extrude exteriorally well hidden in eg tight lycra. Imagination. I love it. You can't really beat it, AFAI'm concerned. (And sometimes one has to really stretch one's imagination about that... to the absolute limit..