Linkspam: Fairytale election results with rather large rodents

[matgb]

Right then, last year, you lot voted that Best Xmas song lyric ever is: You scumbag, you maggot You cheap lousy faggot
Well, this morning, BBC Radio 1 decided this was offensive to some listeners but then later on in the day saw sense and backed down. I agree with pickwick, it's a damn shame that the BBC manages to tie itself into hoops as often as it does

Comments

[matgb]

Shiny shiny. But yeah, it is fairly common to assume comparisons to Major are meant insultingly, I've done it myself at times (conversation with he who tags himself Grammar Police in public on the LDV forum).

I'm still cynical y'know. Just not as cynical.

[insomnia]

The BBC and/or The Pogues should consider taking the original version of the song and editing in audio from this version performed on Top of the Pops by Shane and Kirsty back in 1992, which uses the lyrics "you're cheap and you're haggard" instead of the offending line.

(These are the same lyrics that Maire Brennan used herself a few years back.)

I love the song as originally recorded, but frankly, some people really don't want to hear "cheap lousy faggot" on their Christmas radio, much less have their kids sing along to it or think it's okay for them to call others that name.

[matgb]

The thing is? In the US, I get that it might not go across so well, but in the UK, it's not a derogatory term. A cheap faggot would be poor quality meat. My copy of the Oxford Concise from around the same time has a long list of UK meanings, then at the bottom it has (US, often offensive: male homosexual) as the 6th meaning, there are 5 non-offensive meanings above it (and Oxford lists in usage order).

A cheap lousy faggot is literally, bad quality meat with lice in. I know they were probably playing a double meaning, but it's only very recently that the term has picked up the US meaning over here.

OTOH, I didn't know they'd done a radio edit or different version for ToTP, so thanks for that. Meh, I sleep now. Really.

[mdmnmdllr]

"In the US, I get that it might not go across so well ..."

Heh. Um, yeah ... not well at all. Same goes for the right proper term (in the Kingdom, anyway) that is 'fag'.

Utter either of them in here in the States and it's a solid way to earn the 'bigot' term for oneself.

They'll suspect you even if you use it in the right context, too.

(If, by that, you take me to mean that I believe the politically correct set is run amok here in the States, you are correct, sir! As BtC would say - ACK thpbpht!!!)

[matgb]

Oh, agreed in many respects, on your side of the pond many words have different usages, and thus a US version may need differnt lyrics or would be taken in a different context. But the BBC is broadcasting to the UK.

OTOH, assertions of bigotry based on word usage always bother me, if you censor what people are socially allowed to say too much, how do you sort out the genuine bigots from those that are merely ignorant? Hard to say.

[mdmnmdllr]

Quick dirty answer: It's almost impossible to sort them out. That - of course - is why it's so crazy. Compound it with the set who like to use words normally considered bigoted vulgarities on and to each other ('nigger', anyone?).

Confusion is the rule.

And - since we're near to the topic - let's not get into when I try to actually (gasp) use the word 'niggardly'. It's as good as my rhetorical life when I do, sometimes even when I'm writing in a sympathetic forum. >rolleyes< Stupid, stupid, stupid ... I HATE it when MY language must be stilted by the biases and ignorances of fools - and that is every single day.

Somehow, I think you know what I mean.

[matgb]

Oh yes, I know exactly what you mean-we have similar issues over here: I have an intense dislike of people using the word "gay" as a synonym for "bad", but I also dislike that describing something weird as "queer" is effectively no longer an option, let alone misunderstood meanings.

Ignorant, for example, isn't technically an insult, and I'll use it where appropriate, but so many people think it means "stupid". Ah well.

the set who like to use words normally considered bigoted vulgarities on and to each other
See, I do support the idea of reclamation, take a term that's used as an insult and reclaim it, but if you do that, then it has to be acceptable use for everyone or it doesn't work. Ah well.

[matgb]

Thing is that most people are subconsciously adding "released within my adult(ish) lifetime" when they say something like that. I remain a fan of the song, but it is overplayed. OTOH, compared to a lot of the other stuff, it remains better-it's certainly better than the sacharine crap that, for example, Sir Cliff regularly releases.

But, y'know, misrepresentation within links is fine in this sort of post, it's not like any of it's really that serious. I shall edit a bit ;-)

[innerbrat]

Shut up.

[matgb]

Shant.