British University bans all offensive words and phrases

[V F]

When I was at school, there were two types of blackboard. Some were a large wide belt over rollers, effectively doubling the surface area. They weren't made of slate. They were black. Some were a fixed board. They weren't made of slate. They were black. Many materials that aren't slate are black. Black is a good background colour when the writing is white and needs to be seen clearly by a group of people.

The root of the problems isn't the colour black. It's the belief that every reference to black or white is about "race" and it's the belief that black and white make any sense at all as descriptions of people and it's the belief in the whole idea of "race".

Geez! I hated the roller ones. Saying that I detested the flat ones as equally as everytime I hear the chalk scrape off them it made my skin crawl. Plus hate the smell off the chalk and dusters.

There was always some prat that dragged their nails down them. That finished me off.

 

[Cromulent]

I agree with that one.

"Disabled" means "completely useless, having no function and no purpose". I'd be hard pressed to find a more insulting way to refer to a person. It's very weird that such an extreme insult was deliberately chosen as the preferred term in the first place. It's not surprising that it'll be changed repeatedly in order to catch people out so they can be falsely accused of irrational prejudices, but it is surprising that it was chosen to replace "handicapped" which wasn't at all insulting.

Disabled doesn't mean 100% disabled it just means that one ability a person might normal have present is either lacking or absent. There are much more offensive words to describe my disability. Schizo, retard, crazy, nutter, mental etc etc I find much more offensive than disabled.

 

[Cromulent]

There was always some prat that dragged their nails down them. That finished me off.

Even thinking of that makes my skin crawl.

 

[V F]

Disabled doesn't mean 100% disabled it just means that one ability a person might normal have present is either lacking or absent. There are much more offensive words to describe my disability. Schizo, retard, crazy, nutter, mental etc etc I find much more offensive than disabled.

It is if you put in completely useless.

 

[Cromulent]

It is if you put in completely useless.

The dictionary defines it as:

(of a person) having a physical or mental condition that limits their movements, senses, or activities.

I'm happy with people using the word in the dictionary sense. I've never had anyone say to me in a way that implies I'm completely useless. In fact it is quite the opposite most people I meet are always encouraging me to do more and expand my horizons which is really helpful and is why I've recently embarked on teaching myself about something that I know absolutely nothing about.

 

[V F]

The dictionary defines it as:

(of a person) having a physical or mental condition that limits their movements, senses, or activities.

I'm happy with people using the word in the dictionary sense. I've never had anyone say to me in a way that implies I'm completely useless. In fact it is quite the opposite most people I meet are always encouraging me to do more and expand my horizons which is really helpful and is why I've recently embarked on teaching myself about something that I know absolutely nothing about.

Yes but this is people out there making up their own definitions and keep chopping and changing. After all a lot of teachers were good at telling their pupils they were absolutely useless. People in little boxes.

 

[Angilion]

Disabled doesn't mean 100% disabled it just means that one ability a person might normal have present is either lacking or absent. There are much more offensive words to describe my disability. Schizo, retard, crazy, nutter, mental etc etc I find much more offensive than disabled.

That would be true if the relevant ability was being referred to as disabled.

"A's vision is disabled" - A's vision is completely useless.
"A is disabled" - A is completely useless.

Sure, people might or might not mean what they say or write. English is full of imprecision and words being used incorrectly. But I think using a word that explicitly means "completely useless" to refer to a person (not one aspect of a person, the entire person without qualification) is, to put it mildly, not the best approach.

 

[Cromulent]

But I think using a word that explicitly means "completely useless" to refer to a person (not one aspect of a person, the entire person without qualification) is, to put it mildly, not the best approach.

Fair point. I'm just not sure what word I would use instead. It seems a bit weird to call someone with mental health issues handicapped. I mean technically they are handicapped in some areas but it still sounds strange to my ears.

 

[wolfie138]

I'd prefer to get rid of the word "housewife" myself, although I'm not sure what I'd replace it with. It's far too gendered for me and the masculine version ("housewere") isn't a word I've ever seen used so the genderisation is pretty much total .

Wth? housewere? is that one that turns into a wolf every few weeks?

 

[Angilion]

Wth? housewere? is that one that turns into a wolf every few weeks?

Only in stories.

'wer' or 'were' (spelling wasn't strictly defined back then) is the Old English word with the same meaning as the modern English word 'male'.

'wif' is the Old English word with the same meaning as the modern English word 'female'.

'man' is the Old English word with the same meaning as the modern English word 'person'. It only became male-specific in the last few decades.

So 'housewife' is from OE 'huswifman', literally 'housefemaleperson'. The masculine equivalent in OE would be 'huswerman' and if it was morphed into modern English in the same way it would be 'housewere'.

'werewolf' is from OE 'weremanwulf', literally 'malepersonwolf'.

As far as I know, they did at least sometimes drop the 'man' bit in OE when context made it clear that a person was being referred to.

 

[mrk]

It doesn't end there folks, look at iMDB's new rating addition: https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/imdb-f-rating-female-film/

 

[Vonhelmet]

It doesn't end there folks, look at iMDB's new rating addition: https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/imdb-f-rating-female-film/

Fair enough. The film industry is heavily geared towards men. Like stupidly so.

 

[wolfie138]

Only in stories.

'wer' or 'were' (spelling wasn't strictly defined back then) is the Old English word with the same meaning as the modern English word 'male'.

'wif' is the Old English word with the same meaning as the modern English word 'female'.

'man' is the Old English word with the same meaning as the modern English word 'person'. It only became male-specific in the last few decades.

So 'housewife' is from OE 'huswifman', literally 'housefemaleperson'. The masculine equivalent in OE would be 'huswerman' and if it was morphed into modern English in the same way it would be 'housewere'.

'werewolf' is from OE 'weremanwulf', literally 'malepersonwolf'.

As far as I know, they did at least sometimes drop the 'man' bit in OE when context made it clear that a person was being referred to.

thanks, but it was just a joke.

 

[StriderX]

But how do you know what's "feminist-friendly" it would literally be all the male bashing films that exist that have men as stupid evil ********.

This will be abused like everything else, pointless.

 

[Nasher]

Even thinking of that makes my skin crawl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1CrZk6llfY

 

[antijoke]

Bloody racists whitewashing society.

Hahahahahahahaha.

I never thought of it like that.

It doesn't end there folks, look at iMDB's new rating addition: https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/imdb-f-rating-female-film/

WUT?!

 

[Dis86]

It doesn't end there folks, look at iMDB's new rating addition: https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/07/imdb-f-rating-female-film/

That's OK. We can have an m rating for manly as ****

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Disabled doesn't mean 100% disabled it just means that one ability a person might normal have present is either lacking or absent. There are much more offensive words to describe my disability. Schizo, retard, crazy, nutter, mental etc etc I find much more offensive than disabled.

+1

The dictionary defines it as:

(of a person) having a physical or mental condition that limits their movements, senses, or activities.

+1

Agreed with Cromulent here. I'll say once again that I'm not offended when being referred to as disabled. E.g. I have a disabled rail card. I don't mind the word handicapped either. Oh, and I'm also fat and I don't mind people calling me a fat *******

For the terminally offended: have you ever had to endure 1st word problems such as going to work, earning your start, paying the rent/mortgage, getting help for boiler or roof repairs, relationship problems, car breakdowns etc? These are much more important issues in your life than to get your knickers in a twist from certain 'offensive' buzzwords. The gist: everything is offensive if you try hard enough!

 

[Ayahuasca]

This is what happens in societies where there is no real struggle and the vast majority of jobs are mindless, meaningless work with the addition of being sat on your arse for at least 8 hours a day.

 

[Angilion]

Fair enough. The film industry is heavily geared towards men. Like stupidly so.

Responding to sexism with sexism is stupid...if the goal is less sexism. It's a brilliant move if the goal is more sexism.

I'd quite like to see a sexual equality type of rating (difficult though that would be to implement), but of course that won't be possible as long as feminism has power.