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Re: Talking Pictures in trouble again for broadcasting words offensive to black peopl
Times change - we don't find it acceptable to ban Irish and dogs from boarding houses any more, or put homosexuals in prison or mental hospital, make women endure marital rape, or make women in offices make the tea/coffee as an expected part of their roles; society evolves.
Regarding the word that is at the basis of this thread, I think Charles M. Blow put it very well, about how it's the context and the person using a word (not just that one) that's important.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/op...etType=opinion
Quote:
MY father’s name is William Paul Coates. I, like my six brothers and sisters, have always addressed him as Dad. Strangers often call him Mr. Coates. His friends call him Paul. If a stranger or one of my father’s friends called him Dad, my father might have a conversation. When I was a child, relatives of my paternal grandmother would call my father Billy. Were I to ever call my father Billy, we would probably have a different conversation.
I have never called my father Billy. I understand, like most people, that words take on meaning within a context. It might be true that you refer to your spouse as Baby. But were I to take this as license to do the same, you would most likely protest. Right names depend on right relationships, a fact so basic to human speech that without it, human language might well collapse...
...A few summers ago one of my best friends invited me up to what he affectionately called his “white-trash cabin” in the Adirondacks. This was not how I described the outing to my family. Two of my Jewish acquaintances once joked that I’d “make a good Jew.” My retort was not, “Yeah, I certainly am good with money.” Gay men sometimes laughingly refer to one another as “******s.” My wife and her friends sometimes, when having a good time, will refer to one another with the word “bitch.” I am certain that should I decide to join in, I would invite the same hard conversation that would greet me, should I ever call my father Billy.
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Last edited by Hugh; 25-01-2018 at 16:13.
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