Somebody has to get a grip here. Let's turn to a dictionary shall we? According to Cambridge Dictionaries Online "Black" is defined as "being the darkest colour there is, like the colour of coal or of a very dark night" whilst Oxford Dictionaries are slightly less poetic, opting for "of the very darkest colour owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of white."
So, let's try "coloured". The Oxford Dictionary gives the PC Brigade some ammunition with the definition, "having a colour or colours, especially as opposed to being black, white, or neutral" but that "especially" word is crucial. It still means something can be coloured black or brown; just ask any five year old with a set of colouring pencils! The dictionary pegs the offensive use of "coloured" to South Africa, just as I thought. Cambridge Dictionaries, meanwhile, offers simply "having or producing a colour or colours".
Now, is Evra black? No he is not. He is deep brown perhaps, but he is not black. And Anton? He's no more black than I am! Brown yes, but black? Not a chance in Hell! And am I white? Of course I'm not white! How can I describe myself? Flesh coloured? That's offensive presumably because it somehow implies that my skin colour is the right flesh colour. So how about pinko grey as E M Forster termed "white" people? It suffices but it isn't accurate is it?
Describe me and what word describes me without question? I am coloured! You are coloured! We are all coloured! That isn't offensive, that is FACT!
This has to stop. This will breed resentment and racism if we are not careful. NOBODY should be allowed to play politics with the English language and NOBODY should impute malice when none is intended. Big Brother will kill freedom of speech if we are not careful. I know why Hansen used the word and it had absolutely nothing to do with racism and everything to do with a vocabulary that was common place when he learnt the language of HIS PLACE OF BIRTH. And why shouldn't he use a word that is, by definition, technically correct just because some language fascists dictate he should not?
9 comments:
Wow- you've got a bee in your bonnet these last 24 hours or so haven't you. Nice to see a WUM wound up.
Hansen is a chump though, right. I mean, he gets what, 1 million a year from the BBC and 750,000 from the Telegraph for his [ghosted] column.
How crazy is that?
Chump? For chumps, check out the idiots who opt for management instead!
"NOBODY should be allowed to play politics with the English language and NOBODY should impute malice when none is intended."
Absolutely spot on, HF. Don't fancy popping over to the Org and telling them that do you? Talk about banging on and on and on and.....it's driving me demented.
21:10 Hansen's income may be a bit excessive, but if you want crazy how about Hedge Fund managers who gamble with billions of pounds of other people's money, compromising banks and other financial institutions which ultimately leads to black/brown/coloured people in Africa going even hungrier, our pension funds shrinking not to mention the double dip recession we now stare in the face. Now there's crazy for you; Happy Christmas all!
I'll leave you to manage that playground HM!
Hi Marty, have a great Xmas mate.
You can't be driven demented - you can however be driven mad, insane, crazy or even jealous.
Back to school yet again for poor old HEADmaster. Are your pupils special needs, or is it just you?
What a strange conjecture and what an arse you have shown yourself to be - yet again!
Lord Mountbatten said "I have been driven demented in my career." http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/I_have_been_driven_demented_in_my_career./153168/
But, leaving that aside, if a man who is suffering from dementia is given a lift in a car then, by definition, he is driven demented.
Don't try to play on the playground with the big boys you silly little man.
Great call from the man who spelt Racist incorrectly 3 times in the same post.
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