Benedict Cumberbatch OUTRAGE!!!

ArchAnGeL · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:10

Hang on a minute. I have just read that guardian piece and it mentions coloured being offensive in the UK. Why? Perhaps I am naive on my UK history, but I don't recall hearing about the same issues and being connected with the word in the US. I'm not saying there wasn't racism and there still is. I would say that the Black has been used in the UK in derogatory terms at least as much, if not more, than coloured. (which is what the article says if I had read it all before getting all outraged and posting after the first paragraph)

cheesyboy · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:12

OhEsEcks said:
They did that here in Northern Ireland to get more catholics into the RUC (and later PSNI after restructuring) in the late 90s / early 00s. And it still didn't work from what I remember. Just under 30% are from catholic backgrounds the last time I checked. It was called the 50/50 plan or something.

Well, it increased Catholic numbers from below 10% to 30%, with a rough 50:50 ratio in the general population. Seemed to work pretty well, really.

Terminal_Boy · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:13

Just refer to people by their correct Pantone chart number and everyone will be happy.

OhEsEcks · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:14

ArchAnGeL said:
Hang on a minute. I have just read that guardian piece and it mentions coloured being offensive in the UK. Why? Perhaps I am naive on my UK history, but I don't recall hearing about the same issues and being connected with the word in the US. I'm not saying there wasn't racism and there still is. I would say that the Black has been used in the UK in derogatory terms at least as much, if not more, than coloured.

I've never heard of coloured being offensive in the UK either. Aside from "******", I think the only other majorly offensive term you can use is "***" as in "gollywog", which was a favourite of the skins from the 70s onwards. The term coloured certainly doesn't have the same emphasis or connotations here as it would in the US.

cheesyboy · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:15

ArchAnGeL said:
Hang on a minute. I have just read that guardian piece and it mentions coloured being offensive in the UK. Why? Perhaps I am naive on my UK history, but I don't recall hearing about the same issues and being connected with the word in the US. I'm not saying there wasn't racism and there still is. I would say that the Black has been used in the UK in derogatory terms at least as much, if not more, than coloured.

Does it mention "coloured being offensive in the uk"?

Skilid · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:16

The whole world has just become too sensitive. Using any excuse to say "that's racist". It really gets on my nerves.

balky12 · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:16

It's only within the last 5/6 years coloured has been considered offensive. It use to be the other way round... coloured was acceptable and black was racist. But apparently as a collective they changed thier mind.

jumpy · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:32

Nice to see the newsbeat in active commentary on the same page as the sensible guy.
Just so we can all understand that it's not context but the words themselves that matter.

'Spose newsbeat is for the kids, so someone needs to tell 'em how to be offended on other peoples behalf.

dirtychinchilla · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:36

Rroff said:
Did he mean to be offensive? from a skim read very obviously not so anyone taking offence needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

A lot of people say things that they don't mean to be offensive; that doesn't make them inoffensive, though. Having said that, I don't think that this is a particularly bad case of being offensive.

OK, I'm white as a sheet, but I can't imagine that coloured is an offensive term unless used in an offensive manner.

Lima · 28 Jan 2015 at 16:48

Kronos said:
I was so un-PC this morning. I had an appoint with a doctor an whilst waiting my appointment I noted how young the doctors were and for the most part very attractive.

When my name was called I was pleased to see that the the doctor I was seeing was a woman and young and attractive. I mentioned to her that there is a saying, or certainly used to be, that you knew you were getting old when the policeman looked very young. I thought this now needed to include doctors. I also mentioned that in my childhood my doctor was old and bearded but today I had a young and attractive doc to tend to my ills. I don't think she was embarrassed or in anyway offended as she thanked me but said she was older than she looked.

I have no doubt that my words were deeply not politically correct but the great thing about being in your sixties is we don't know any better so we get away with. But some of the PC nonsense that is out there and fully embraced by the Big Bad Cowards is ridiculous these days.

Don't really think you were being 'un-pc' at all....Doctor was youngish and hot and you paid her a pleasant and friendly compliment. Nothing wrong with this.

As for the OP article ......its pathetic. This kind of rubbish is a huge cause of racial divide.

ubern00b · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:16

OhEsEcks said:
I find the term "african american" stupid. You're not african american. You know who's african american? Charlize Theron. And she's white. You're not Irish American either. Or Scots Irish American. Or Italian American. You are American. You might have that ancestry. But that's it.

It's like me saying "I'm Ulster Scots". No I'm not. I have Ulster Scots ancestry. But that's it. Ancestry that goes back in Ireland longer than most "african americans" ancestry has been in America.

Not meaning to be pedantic but what makes Charlize "African American"? She was born in South Africa and moved to the US when she was 11. There is nothing American about her bar the fact that she currently resides there.

She is from Benoni, the most South African place on planet earth

ArchAnGeL · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:20

cheesyboy said:
Does it mention "coloured being offensive in the uk"?

You are correct. Directly it doesn't. I was referring the the paragraph concerning Alan Hansen and the others with the implication that it is, and following those links, further comments.

OhEsEcks · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:27

ubern00b said:
Not meaning to be pedantic but what makes Charlize "African American"? She was born in South Africa and moved to the US when she was 11. There is nothing American about her bar the fact that she currently resides there.

She is from Benoni, the most South African place on planet earth

The fact she was actually born in Africa makes her more African American (she became an American citizen in 2007 or 2008 I think) than someone whose ancestors where brought by slave ship to the US several hundred years ago and haven't been beyond their city limits let alone the continental US in generations.

Zatoichi.uK · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:31

I don't recall coloured ever being considered a racist term in the UK, just out of date like something you might hear from someone of an older generation. People tend to learn what to refer to certain ethnicities as and don't tend to change it, whereas society might over time.

That being said, a sweet old lady called into LBC yesterday and insisted she was told never to use the term 'black' whilst growing up and instead to use 'coloured'. What a strange world we live in sometimes.

ubern00b · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:40

OhEsEcks said:
The fact she was actually born in Africa makes her more African American (she became an American citizen in 2007 or 2008 I think) than someone whose ancestors where brought by slave ship to the US several hundred years ago and haven't been beyond their city limits let alone the continental US in generations.

I see your point. I just don't think she is any more "African American" than the other people who claim to be. Regardless of whether she is now a citizen or not.

Same as what you are saying, just I dispute the American part. You dispute the African part hehe.

spookywillow · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:46

Zatoichi.uK said:
I don't recall coloured ever being considered a racist term in the UK, just out of date like something you might hear from someone of an older generation. People tend to learn what to refer to certain ethnicities as and don't tend to change it, whereas society might over time.

That being said, a sweet old lady called into LBC yesterday and insisted she was told never to use the term 'black' whilst growing up and instead to use 'coloured'. What a strange world we live in sometimes.

Pretty much the same for me, I have always used the term "coloured" and feel it's insulting to say "black", It's what I was taught as a kid.

It makes me laugh tbh, It's just stupid.....These PC moaners complain about this and no doubt go home or get in the car and listen to the likes of Jay-Z and his N****** in Paris and don't bat an eyelid

C.R.A.Z.Y · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:51

I can understand why some people find the term coloured offensive as it tends to group all non white people together, it was also heavily used during the racist time of segregation.
(people claiming to not know its offensive must have been living under a rock, it's been generally accepted as offensive for over a decade!!)

I use the term 'Black' as only a few crazies 'claim' to be offended by this but cannot seem to give a reasonable explanation why, I think this small minority of black people would find offence no matter how they are referred too.

Zeed · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:52

As SP fan i should throw this in

Anyhow sometime i wish i was different color than white. I would not have to be careful what is say in public

And yes i dont think N world is bad.

There is no good or bad words.

You can call someone lets say dood. And in your mind doon can be most racist word you can name a person. So you would be full on racist calling people doods and get away with it cause its not a BAD WORD...

adam98150 · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:54

Absolutely ridiculous. Why did he even apologise? And who decides what's offensive now?

elmarko · 28 Jan 2015 at 17:56

dirtychinchilla said:
A lot of people say things that they don't mean to be offensive; that doesn't make them inoffensive, though. Having said that, I don't think that this is a particularly bad case of being offensive.

OK, I'm white as a sheet, but I can't imagine that coloured is an offensive term unless used in an offensive manner.

It's more of a cross cultural faux pas than anything racist. The irony being he was most likely attempting to avoid causing offence in the first place.

The UK doesn't have the same history if it being used in very outward & derogatory fashion as it was in past in the USA (coloured fountains/sections of the bus etc).

Black is a better term to use if one needs to mention race from what I can see, but I admit there are likely so who would prefer people to use another term - it can be a verbal minefield as each group tends to have certain phrases which have historic associations & due to the clear fact he was speaking against racism it was pretty clearly just a mix-up. I see no reason to mention race in 99% of conversations so it's not that much of a problem in my life.

I believe it's more the media shouting about this one tbh.

But anybody is free to correct me here as I'm going by experience of not wanting to cause needless offence (there is no manual).