Are you Politically Correct?

[caketastydelish]

I think the whole "you guys" thing is rather silly and totally blown out of proportion by some. It's become a generic term, used in the vernacular to denote both genders. I mean really. I certainly don't care if I'm in a group and someone says "you guys." And I most certainly won't have a crap hemorrhage over it, as some are wont to do.

Something else that has become a PC hot button (at least where I live), is men can no longer say "girl's night out" when referring to their girlfriends going out to party without the men. It's verboten. But women can say it! WTH? A man can't even use the term "girl" without someone flipping out about it, but women can. Just how exactly does that work? We can also call the men "boys", but men using the word "girl" is a no-no? How stupid is that?

Doing my post graduate work at university was the longest four years of my life with all of this PC crap. There is nothing that you can say on campus that doesn't offend somebody. It's like walking on eggshells. You never know who you will set off. I hated teaching because there was always someone in the class with a PC agenda, ready to correct everything you say, or demand gender neutral pronouns or something else. I still hate teaching, btw.

I have a patient who is a tomboy. However, I am not allowed to use the term in paperwork. I must call her a "rough and tumble child." Good God, what are we coming to if we're so worried about language and offending a small minority? Why don't my favorite comedians come to college campuses any more? Why can't I say the term "********" to mean anything but the mentally disadvantaged (As in, "The engine speed was ********." <-- meaning slowed down) without being sanctioned?

I am so fed up with all of this I have become anti-PC. I deliberately go out of my way to use non-PC terms, except where I am required (like at work). I hope I offend everyone.

When I was taking a history class at a 4-year university several years ago, the professor, a man with very left-wing beliefs, was quite explicit that the slang word for female dog was misogynistic.

There was a time where this was undeniably true, but:

Speaking as a millennial/younger person/under 30, I have both been called that word by others guys and have called other guys that word far more times than I can remember. So, people who still believe the word is misogynistic even though it applies to EVERYONE now, I would consider to be part of the PC brigade.

 

[Narz]

When I was taking a history class at a 4-year university several years ago, the professor, a man with very left-wing beliefs, was quite explicit that the slang word for female dog was misogynistic.

There was a time where this was undeniably true, but:

Speaking as a millennial/younger person/under 30, I have both been called that word by others guys and have called other guys that word far more times than I can remember. So, people who still believe the word is misogynistic even though it applies to EVERYONE now, I would consider to be part of the PC brigade.

Sounds like a little white knight ***** to me. Women are big girls, they don't need some preachy dude telling them what words to use and/or get their panties in a bunch about.

***** is a very multipurpose word and everyone loves it.

If no one's calling you a lil ***** who needs to get his **** together you need better friends.

 

[caketastydelish]

The irony is that that very man was a whiny little ***** himself.

 

[Arwon]

When I was taking a history class at a 4-year university several years ago, the professor, a man with very left-wing beliefs, was quite explicit that the slang word for female dog was misogynistic.

There was a time where this was undeniably true, but:

Speaking as a millennial/younger person/under 30, I have both been called that word by others guys and have called other guys that word far more times than I can remember. So, people who still believe the word is misogynistic even though it applies to EVERYONE now, I would consider to be part of the PC brigade.

This more means that it's got new usages as well. The older and more traditional usage, which is directed specifically against women perceived as difficult, aggressive, rude, mean etc, is still the same misogynist language it was before the rise of the various other different nuances of usage. Slang isn't simple or linear, and is always heavily contextual. When someone asks John McCain "how do we beat the *****?" regarding Hillary Clinton, that's very different to women reappropriating the term or its variously hateful or affectionate usages in hip hop contexts.

I would however add that the use to demean men as unmasculine, submissive etc, is also derived from and draws its offence from sexist cultural tropes. A big part of traditional misogyny is, of course, stigmatising non-conforming men as being "like women".

 

[caketastydelish]

John McCain is literally an old dead man, thus showing how times have changed (my entire point).

Speaking only for myself, I’ve never had a different of intention if I used the word to describe a male or female. And based on what I’ve personally witnessed, nearly all younger people are exactly the same way.

Still, it didn’t take long at all to find someone who would take offense to the term right after I mentioned it, thus proving my other point about how whiny and soft so many people with far left political beliefs have become.

 

[Arwon]

Yeah the guy talking to McCain was also old, hence my referring to that as the traditional usage. My point is that slang is nuanced and contextual, and one usage doesn't cancel out or eliminate another, including usages by the same person. You could for instance say your female boss is "a real *****" and that's pretty much the traditional, gendered, pretty misogynist usage trading on ideas about assertiveness and strong authority being unfeminine, and it can't really be explained as okay because rap songs call people ***** in an affectionate way. Those two usages are entirely distinct. and the target, audience, and context are key.

I'm Australian, I can think of about a dozen different distinct usages of the word for vagina, some are pretty taboo and sexist, others utterly innocuous, and sometimes it's literally only the tone or the audience which determines which is which. That's slang for you.

Edit: Also, if you're going to go with this

find someone who would take offense to the term

in response to the mere discussion of slang being multifacted and nuanced, I'd suggest you probably don't have much business opining on slang.

 

[caketastydelish]

I wouldn't hesitate to call a male boss a ***** for a second if that's what I thought of him... I've literally done it before.

 

[Arwon]

I wouldn't hesitate to call a male boss a ***** for a second if that's what I thought of him... I've literally done it before.

Yes, and that's another different context. This seems to be quite difficult for you.

 

[Arwon]

I mean, the word "dumb ****" might be abuse or affection dependent entirely on whether you say it in a car or not, "absolute ****" can run the entire spectrum from loving affection and misogynist abuse depending on the target, and "sick ****" is nearly always a positive term. Context and nuance are important.

 

[caketastydelish]

The word ***** still having these "contexts" in the first place you speak of is nothing more than a figment of the far left's imagination.

 

[Arwon]

You're lecturing an Australian on offensive slang here mate. You might as well start telling Canadians about snow.

 

[Arwon]

Incidentally, let's talk about the contextual nuance of the word "mate" lol

 

[Broken_Erika]

Incidentally, let's talk about the contextual nuance of the word "mate" lol

Made me think of this.
The Clerks cartoon series when the Dante and Randal ended up in London England and a customer asked for cigarettes using the local term...

 

[Narz]

I would however add that the use to demean men as unmasculine, submissive etc, is also derived from and draws its offence from sexist cultural tropes. A big part of traditional misogyny is, of course, stigmatising non-conforming men as being "like women".

Who cares? This language will always be around.

The word "dick" (surprisingly uncensored on cfc, guess cuz it's also a name) implies selfish, forceful, aggressive, anti-social and generally undesirable typically masculine characteristics, no one is up and arms about it.

Language meant to deride whole groups = bad (racial/gay-bashing slurs, etc)

Language meant to deride a person (he/she is a b****/dick) is fine.

Calling someone a bit/dick is making a distinction about one person.

When you say "he/she is a b/d" you're implying that most other (wo)men are not b's or d's (or else why single one out?)

Even if you say "all women/men are b/d's" the problem is still not with the language. And misogyny/misandry won't disappear if you eliminate gender-specific insults (which is not possible anyway because humans prefer specificity of speech in the same number of syllables cuz why not?).

Most people will continue to use the word b..... are not sexist. Shoot even my 79 year old mother will occasionally use it.

 

[Zardnaar]

You're lecturing an Australian on offensive slang here mate. You might as well start telling Canadians about snow.

The way Aussies and NZers swear can be very offensive to say Americans. We use similar terms in similar ways and even mate can be passive aggressive.

We use the f word alot more/casually than alot of the anglosphere. C word is fairly rare here wife uses it more than me. Call some that and don't get to surprised at an incoming fist. Call a women that is very low brow as well.

 

[Azem.Ocram]

Most of the time, though I disapprove of enforcing PC language.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The way Aussies and NZers swear can be very offensive to say Americans. We use similar terms in similar ways and even mate can be passive aggressive.

We use the f word alot more/casually than alot of the anglosphere. C word is fairly rare here wife uses it more than me. Call some that and don't get to surprised at an incoming fist. Call a women that is very low brow as well.

For me, in the US, that is strictly a "lose your mind" word. I use appropriate lose your mind words when I want someone to throw the first punch, and that is their only function.

 

[Zardnaar]

For me, in the US, that is strictly a "lose your mind" word. I use appropriate lose your mind words when I want someone to throw the first punch, and that is their only function.

It's similar here, it has some casual uses a'la Australia but you got to be careful with it.

 

[Old Hippy]

For me, in the US, that is strictly a "lose your mind" word. I use appropriate lose your mind words when I want someone to throw the first punch, and that is their only function.

that's context for you....here telling someone you had a c of a day would get a laugh in polite company depending on your tone when saying it...of course you would try not to use that word... but sometimes your just having a c of a day
here I could get someone to throw the first punch by telling them to ''have a nice day mate'' with the right tone applied to the right letters

 

[Timsup2nothin]

that's context for you....here telling someone you had a c of a day would get a laugh in polite company depending on your tone when saying it...of course you would try not to use that word... but sometimes your just having a c of a day
here I could get someone to throw the first punch by telling them to ''have a nice day mate'' with the right tone applied to the right letters

Using it in reference to a day would get you nothing much here but a really, really strange look. I don't think I've ever heard it used other than with "you dumb" or "that dumb" in front of it. It doesn't have any usage other than as an outright slur, but it works extremely well for that.