In this age of political correctness...

skipper kelly

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Thread starter #1
In this age of political correctness, I would like to hear what other posters feel is acceptable.

Is it acceptable for me to call my mate a poof, coon, fellow, gook, slope etc etc just because that is the language I speak. If my mate is tolerant and is not offended by it, is it right? If this is the language that I speak and my use of these words have no racist or derogatory undertones is it acceptable language?

If one person is offended by my language does it make my language acceptable?

If homosexuals call themselves poofs or aborigines call themselves coons is this acceptable even if other homosexuals or aborigines are offended by it?

What about in regards to religious beliefs. Is it acceptable for me to call a muslim friend a God fearer or terrorist etc or a christian friend a God fearer or hypocrite etc, if that friend takes no offence to my language.

If Christians or Muslims call themselves these, is this acceptable even if other Christians or Muslims are offended by it?

If one person is offended by my language does it make my language acceptable?

Where is the line in the sand between acceptable and unacceptable?
 

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- PC -

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#2
skipper kelly said:
In this age of political correctness, I would like to hear what other posters feel is acceptable.

Is it acceptable for me to call my mate a poof, coon, fellow, gook, slope etc etc just because that is the language I speak. If my mate is tolerant and is not offended by it, is it right? If this is the language that I speak and my use of these words have no racist or derogatory undertones is it acceptable language?

If one person is offended by my language does it make my language acceptable?

If homosexuals call themselves poofs or aborigines call themselves coons is this acceptable even if other homosexuals or aborigines are offended by it?

What about in regards to religious beliefs. Is it acceptable for me to call a muslim friend a God fearer or terrorist etc or a christian friend a God fearer or hypocrite etc, if that friend takes no offence to my language.

If Christians or Muslims call themselves these, is this acceptable even if other Christians or Muslims are offended by it?

If one person is offended by my language does it make my language acceptable?

Where is the line in the sand between acceptable and unacceptable?
Context and adjectives

If you are longstanding mates and he doesnt take offense then by all means IMO it should be fine.

I know here in WA if you say Noongar some take offense yet the word is plastered everywhere? They can call me a wadjilah and I have to accept it and not be so sensitive

In the US an American Negro/Black/Coloured can call another fellow but if someone else does it is offensive as well.... And thats where context comes in..time also helps ..all those words I used have been acceptable over the last 40 years and some are now considered to be offensive..

Adjectives come into play by calling someone a lazy black coon you are seen to be denigrating not his colour but his work ethic ,whether it is true or not. I know the old joke when someone comes up to me and says ''how you going you old Pr*ck '' the comeback is always '' enough of the old''

To me it comes back to self esteem issues..I know who I am and I know where I stand in the nature of things, if someone else has differing ideas ..well I cant help that can I
 

Tim56

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#3
I don't want to comment about specific terms, but I will say this. I find it amazingly annoying how people try and insinuate offence at every remote opportunity, and that many people need to grow up and get some perspective.
 

afc9798

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#4
Tim56 said:
I don't want to comment about specific terms, but I will say this. I find it amazingly annoying how people try and insinuate offence at every remote opportunity, and that many people need to grow up and get some perspective.
Yet others find it amazingly annoying that what you call perspective, is in fact a cheap shot at anyone that doesn't share your view of what is and isn't offensive. It is all about individuals Tim and the very individuals about whom you have no right to judge their sincerity or otherwise. You really need to grow up and get some perspective. Easily fits both ways doesn't it.
 

funkyfreo

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#5
skipper kelly said:
In this age of political correctness, I would like to hear what other posters feel is acceptable.

Is it acceptable for me to call my mate a poof, coon, fellow, gook, slope etc etc just because that is the language I speak. If my mate is tolerant and is not offended by it, is it right? If this is the language that I speak and my use of these words have no racist or derogatory undertones is it acceptable language??
Really, only you and your mate can answer that question. It is not a case of them being tolerant, rather your relationship with them. I call my uncles fags, but if I walked up to a gay bloke I dont know and asked "How you goijg you ********ing fag" I'd expect to get into a fight.

If your mate is really a mate and would rather you didn;t use it, they would tell you.


skipper kelly said:
If one person is offended by my language does it make my language acceptable??
Context again. I guess you mean unnaceptable. But on the condservative side I'd say yes. If your mates were in a group and you said "you ********ers" that is ok, but if your Grandma is there too....?


skipper kelly said:
If homosexuals call themselves poofs or aborigines call themselves coons is this acceptable even if other homosexuals or aborigines are offended by it??
Yes, and I bet that other poofs or aboriginals would speak up if they were offended, and I bet the offender would know where to draw the line. CLearly it is obvious it is not used in a derogatory fashion.


skipper kelly said:
What about in regards to religious beliefs. Is it acceptable for me to call a muslim friend a God fearer or terrorist etc or a christian friend a God fearer or hypocrite etc, if that friend takes no offence to my language.?
If they are a friend - yes. If they are offended they will not be a friend much longer.


skipper kelly said:
If Christians or Muslims call themselves these, is this acceptable even if other Christians or Muslims are offended by it??
I don;t get this one?

skipper kelly said:
If one person is offended by my language does it make my language acceptable??
again do you mean unnaceptable? If that one person was someone you cared about I'm sure you could explain - you may even care to hear their point of view.


skipper kelly said:
Where is the line in the sand between acceptable and unacceptable?
How long is a piece of string? Up to you to run the gauntlet, and to be sincere enough to think you may actually be wrong, and apologise.

PerthCrow said:
I know here in WA if you say Noongar some take offense yet the word is plastered everywhere? They can call me a wadjilah and I have to accept it and not be so sensitive?
Are they a Noongar/Nyungah? Wheras you are DEFINATElY a wadjilah. That is just a word in a different language, how can you take offence to that.
 

bunsen burner

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#6
PerthCrow said:
I know here in WA if you say Noongar some take offense yet the word is plastered everywhere?
Noongar is more like a tribe rather than another word for aborigine (derogative or not). Noongars originally come from South West WA.
 

medusala

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#7
Aussie - short for Australian => acceptable
POM
Kiwi
Yank
Frog
Kraut
etc

Jap/Nip - short for Japan/Nippon => racist

white/caucasion => acceptable
black/negro/aboriginal => unacceptable

Golden rule is: as long as it relates to a white person any slang/derivation is acceptable, if it relates to a non white/non Christian then its a hanging offence. Simple.
 

funkyfreo

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#8
medusala said:
Aussie - short for Australian => acceptable
POM
Kiwi
Yank
Frog
Kraut
etc

Jap/Nip - short for Japan/Nippon => racist

white/caucasion => acceptable
black/negro/aboriginal => unacceptable

Golden rule is: as long as it relates to a white person any slang/derivation is acceptable, if it relates to a non white/non Christian then its a hanging offence. Simple.
I think you are wrong on just about all counts. As a Pom I know when pom is ok or not. Of some ********er in a pub wants to get all shirty and sneer at me and call me a pom, well then I'm up for it I tells ya. Since when has black or aboriginal been unnaceptable? Negro is just not used in Australia.

Germans don't really like Kraut.

Golden Rule - If you are a W*nker then people will take offence.
 

funkyfreo

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#10
Swarbs said:
poof should be allowed, its a funny word.

like parrot, priest, mallard, pork, cedric etc
Good onya Swarbs - I never thought I'd hear the day you'd say poof priests should be allowed!
 

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#11
funkyfreo said:
I think you are wrong on just about all counts. As a Pom I know when pom is ok or not. Of some ********er in a pub wants to get all shirty and sneer at me and call me a pom, well then I'm up for it I tells ya. Since when has black or aboriginal been unnaceptable? Negro is just not used in Australia.

Germans don't really like Kraut.

Golden Rule - If you are a W*nker then people will take offence.
Use of POM is always acceptable, otherwise that makes you a whingeing POM. Black is unacceptable in the US (African American) and in Australia along with aboriginal (hence more frequent use of the term Koori). Negro isnt used here but given Negro is simply Spanish for black then one wonders on what basis it can possibly be more offensive than calling a white person white.

Re Germans, do you really think you would get in trouble with the Racial Villification Act (or whatever its full title is) for calling someone a Kraut, Pom, Frog etc? No of course not and the complainint would be laughed at. Calling someone a fellow, Kike, tea towel wearer etc would land you in major hot water.

Even in the land of PC the USA you can get away with calling the French "cheese eating surrender monkeys".

Golden Rule, if you are a thin skinned muppet, you will always take offence.
 

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#12
medusala said:
Use of POM is always acceptable, otherwise that makes you a whingeing POM. Black is unacceptable in the US (African American) and in Australia along with aboriginal (hence more frequent use of the term Koori). Negro isnt used here but given Negro is simply Spanish for black then one wonders on what basis it can possibly be more offensive than calling a white person white.

Re Germans, do you really think you would get in trouble with the Racial Villification Act (or whatever its full title is) for calling someone a Kraut, Pom, Frog etc? No of course not and the complainint would be laughed at. Calling someone a fellow, Kike, tea towel wearer etc would land you in major hot water.

Even in the land of PC the USA you can get away with calling the French "cheese eating surrender monkeys".

Golden Rule, if you are a thin skinned muppet, you will always take offence.
Just who says "black" is unnaceptable in Australia. And what are you on about saying "aboriginal" is unnacceptable? Why in Gods name would I call a Nyungah a Koori??? They would give me a pretty funny look I rekon.

You are just making things up to justify a position that only exists in your mind.

I bet you that I could get someone under the act for telling me they thought I was a pommy piece of ********, threatening to hit me for being a pom, and setting my house on fire for being a pom, while painting Pommy Bastard on the road out the front of said house.

I bet the French guy would have a swing mind you.
 

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#13
FF
maybe Koori is a Victorian thing but the term is increasingly used on tv reports there. I have hear on numerous occasions indigenous people in the media complaining aobut the use of those terms.

re POM calling someone a POM in a pub is slightly different to threatening to bash them, destroying their property etc.

re the Frog, he might have a go but only if he could collaborate with a German.
 

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#14
medusala said:
FF
maybe Koori is a Victorian thing but the term is increasingly used on tv reports there. I have hear on numerous occasions indigenous people in the media complaining aobut the use of those terms..
But that is to help differentiate. I'm sute if I was a criminal they would describe me as a scouser not an englishman, as it would assist identification.

medusala said:
re POM calling someone a POM in a pub is slightly different to threatening to bash them, destroying their property etc.
Certainly - but it is just an example where being called a pom is not ok. Just the same for all other race-desctiptive terms - the context is the key.

medusala said:
re the Frog, he might have a go but only if he could collaborate with a German.
You mean Kraut;)
 

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#15
I lived in the flinders ranges during my younger days and my best friend was aboriginal, I would spend alot of time with her family and they referred to each other as a boong. Now I didn't really know what the word meant but I heard them use it and there was no problem with me using it to - I think they made allowances for a 11 year old of anglo-saxon descent :). But when I moved down to the city and in year 8 I used the term at a large school with pretty much only kids of european descent well I got in quite a bit of trouble and I had no idea why. The problem is in context and how it is being used.
 

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#16
What I didn't get was that queer whinger that was offended, yet didn't understand, John Laws 'pillow biter' reference. How thick can you be. I assume he has never heard of 'fudge packer' or 'doughnut maker' either...
 

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#19
Tim56 said:
I don't want to comment about specific terms, but I will say this. I find it amazingly annoying how people try and insinuate offence at every remote opportunity, and that many people need to grow up and get some perspective.
Tim, there's probably not much you and I have agreed on thus far but I reckon you are spot on the money this time. My opinion is that political correctness is threatening to kill the art of conversation. If you make honest folk afraid to spek their mind in case they inadvertantly use a turn of phrase that might be contrued as racist or offensive, you're branding people as a bigot who don't deserve to be, and attepting to intimidate them from expressing their opinion.

I've got a thoroughly offensive an un-PC joke book by a guy called Allan Pease. He's of the opinion that if you take offense at a remark that isn't directly aimed at you, you've got to think long and hard whether the person with the problem is yourself.
 

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#20
M29 said:
What I didn't get was that queer whinger that was offended, yet didn't understand, John Laws 'pillow biter' reference. How thick can you be. I assume he has never heard of 'fudge packer' or 'doughnut maker' either...
Or maybe he just isn't aware of all the childish, derogatory little put downs, that you homophobes come up with. :rolleyes:
 

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#22
funkyfreo said:
Just who says "black" is unnaceptable in Australia. A.


While doing an essay on the Jack Davis play No Sugar this year, I was marked down for the use of the words Black and Aboriginal. PC=Indigenous Australian apparently. Go figure :rolleyes: .
 

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#24
Freo Big Fella said:
While doing an essay on the Jack Davis play No Sugar this year, I was marked down for the use of the words Black and Aboriginal. PC=Indigenous Australian apparently. Go figure :rolleyes: .
Having taught in a remote community the last seven years, I can honestly say that most of my blackfella mates prefer Aboriginal to Indigenous Australian. Most preferred is actual group name- Yamatji, Wongi, Noongar,Koori etc, then probably Blackfellas (when rapport has been established).
 

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#25
mantis said:
Or maybe he just isn't aware of all the childish, derogatory little put downs, that you homophobes come up with. :rolleyes:
Put downs? How can you put down someone that bums other men for pleasure. That's derogatory enough on it's own.
 
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