Vocal Voices

Or an elephant I the room. Or anAfrican American in the woodpile....

I grew up with this expression. Every now and then, when I re-read Alistair MacLean's Golden Rendezvous I see it all over again.

Sadly we have become so politically correct that we have forgotten our own language history. Well very recent history actually, you can read it in books written in the 60's and 70's.

We need some perspective but we're not going to get it.

Not a word I would like to see back in common parlance. This MP was pretty stupid to use it, let's face it!

She was unwise to use it certainly. But it is not as though she has gone into the street and racially abused someone.

We must be the pearl necklace clutching champions of the world.

Nor me either Kaz. But we are in generational and language transition. People grew up with this phrase and it was not wrong. People who didn't grow up with it need to understand that.

Suff wrote: People grew up with this phrase and it was not wrong. .

Absolutely. In fact, I last used that expression, inadvertently, in a client meeting about 10 years ago after the two of us had spent some time puzzling over why the formulas in his financial spreadsheet were producing a peculiar result. He raised his eyebrows, I said sorry, he laughed. We were both more relieved we'd worked out what was going askew.

I'm not going to argue in favour of or against using that phrase; you can make your own minds up based on your own sensibilities. However, what has really irked me is this:

The Times, today wrote: Mrs May said "I was shocked to hear of these remarks, which are comlpletely are unacceptable. I immediately asked the Chief Whip to suspend the part whip. Language like this has absolutely no place in politics or in todays society." However, her intervention came some three hours after the comments first emerged and MPs criticised her for her belated response." (my bold)

Really? Do they think she has nothing better to do than stand on top of No.10, listening with an ear trumpet, and shouting out "I'msorryI'msorry" everytime she hears a loose remark?

Truly, we really have become a nation of morons.

I am allowed to use "morons", aren't I?

I also remember that expression from my youth. The word was also quite commonplace as a knitting wool shade of brown and also on painters colour charts. I doubt anyone thought too deeply about the expression then. These days fly in the ointment would seem a more apt phrase.

Not clutching my pearl necklace Cromwell, but it is offensive to many, including members of my own family. I do understand the phrase was in common use, I remember hearing it used, and I also remember that shade of brown, for wool or sewing thread. That was then, times change, it was very unwise for an MP to use it.

medsec222 wrote: These days fly in the ointment would seem a more apt phrase.

Absolutely.

I think it's a load of nonsense. In my opinion It's surely not racial abuse to use this term.

The sad fact is that, today, racial abuse is in the mind of the person who heard the term, not the person who spoke it.

That is open to abuse at so many levels it's just not funny. But it is what it is.

In short it does not matter is _your_ intent is to offend or not. If the other person, or people, feel offended, then you have offered offense.