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The Death of Comments

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nope, still not getting it. no one spends their lives looking to get offended. either there is offense in the statement/action or no offense in the statement/action. we can use simple measuring sticks and legal interpretations to understand what is an offense or what is against the law. yes, language by its nature is very biased i.e. sexist, racist and homophobic. one only has to spend a wee bit of time looking at all the different colourful descriptors we have for the two dominant genders to recognize that the language is sexist and problematic in the way that women are described for example. however, we always have the choice to use different words or to alter our speech to insure that we are not repeating sexist language or promoting sexist views of any gender. it's quite simple really.

here's an example from one of your papers from across the pond that takes a quick look at what i'm talking about: Downton Abbey row: 14 words we only use to describe women - Telegraph
 
But what when only 1 person in 20 say is offended by one simple descriptor.

Say using 'sheila' to describe an aussie bint.
 
Oops.
I think he has choked on his marshmallow.

Funny that word bint how the different dictionaries class it, the posh one's term it as derogatory slang, more modern ones say the equivalent of 'bird', in liverpool it would be right now, this is my bird tracy, while in london it would mainly be bint.

And just so your in no doubt, just read my london football team forum, search bint.

QPR - MESSAGEBOARD - WE ARE THE RANGERS BOYS
 
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yes, language across cultures does make the issue of offense tricky which is why it's good to go into other cultures not like imperialist bastards stealing all the gold, raping the women and drinking everyone's wine. it's better to go in with some humility and learn the ways and customs of others before you put your foot in it, or as my dad always said, Put your brain in gear before you engage your mouth!

but as to how we work across cultures is another matter and some are exceptional at it and others blunder like bulls in the proverbial china shop. if I'm refereeing a football match (soccer for you folks west of the pond) and I've got two different cultures in front of me, and I happen to be well versed in each team's versatile vocabulary when it comes to expletives how should I proceed? each team is mostly ignorant of the other's vocabulary so no harm if we are throwing about words left and right without care right? wrong. FIFA's law of the land compels me to respond by bringing in proper discipline to the match. I would immediately take action on each word I recognized as ungentlemanly (as football's description begins as "a gentleman's game") in order to maintain dignity for all players and to set a healthy tone - less fouls, less legs broken, less yellow cards and more fun and good spirits all around after the match. when I was taught to referee I asked the provincial official who was training us young players who wanted some extra quid to spend, what do you do if you have no idea what the person is saying? that's alright lad, he said to me, you know how the bloke is sayin' it and that's where the offense lies.

so while these issues are complex, there are simple solutions. ask questions if you don't know the answer. consider tone. is there a pattern you can discover?
 
Do you want an eye opener, and i mean real real wide, you want to see real life multi-culturism in london, being discussed by londoners all local or previously from the same small part of london.

You know without the tinted glass's, it stinks, you wont read that in the paper, you dont see it on the tv, these are real people.

Search muslim and/or immigrant/on the link above, i dont get involved in those threads because it is simply a different world where i live to london.

But if you do, search and read you will know that multicuturism in britain is NEVER going to work, it would have, if they would of kept net immigration small, londons a pressure cooker ready to blow, as social cleansing sweeps thru whole areas.
 
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Do you know this book? Told me all about multiculturalism in England. Hard line nationalist cultures are hard ones to create integration in. I hold out more hope for countries like the US where they're busy melting everyone down into their melting pot to pour out American ingots of all shapes and colours whereas Canada is basically telling cultures to do your own thing when they arrive and they've been doing it pretty well. each country will have its challenges based on its history and openness. the colonizer never does well in this area.
 
Why hope ?.

If i want to talk to polish waiters, i will go on holiday to poland, i dont particularly want 8 of them living next door.

Whats wrong with that ?.
 
BS mentioned soccer and it reminded me that soccer players are like a few posters here.. you look at them sideways and they throw themselves to the ground in agony to get the attention of the officials then get hauled off the field on a stretcher..only to come back just fine a minute later.
 
BS mentioned soccer and it reminded me that soccer players are like a few posters here.. you look at them sideways and they throw themselves to the ground in agony to get the attention of the officials then get hauled off the field on a stretcher..only to come back just fine a minute later.
that's just a Southern European thing. real footballers would never stoop to such tactics ;)
 
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