The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXVIII

[bhsup]

How offensive is "tranny"?

Considering that whenever I see it, my mind wants to substitute "transmission", it's not offensive at all.

 

[Borachio]

How offensive is "tranny"? Some people on the totally sensible PI forums were arguing about it, but I suppose it better to come to the more civilized folks here to ask. Someone said it was equivalent to the n-word, while others were saying it is more akin to saying Catholic priests = pedophiles or calling Irishmen ginger drunkards.

Put it this way: if you were someone contemplating gender realignment surgery and taking hormones for the rest of your life, because you'd suffered from gender dysphoria for as long as you could remember, how happy would you be to be taunted by people using the word "tranny"?

 

[shadowplay]

Fungi come in all different colours, and they're often fluffy.
Most likely an Aspergillus or Penicillum (and no, also the latter one doesn't make it healthy ^^).
For more specificity you need to go to someone with a lab *shrugs*.

Thanks, it appears to be aspergillus.

...and I meant to type "muffins" and not "muffles"

How offensive is "tranny"? Some people on the totally sensible PI forums were arguing about it, but I suppose it better to come to the more civilized folks here to ask. Someone said it was equivalent to the n-word, while others were saying it is more akin to saying Catholic priests = pedophiles or calling Irishmen ginger drunkards. .

I'd say the word is comparable to "gay". Calling someone gay who isn't gay is offensive. Calling someone who is gay "gay" is just a matter of fact. Likewise with "tranny" - if the person IS actually transexual, I don't think the term as derogatory.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Why is Papua New Guinea considered Oceania, while West Papua is considered Asia? Is it just a desire to say "oh yeah europe has a land connection with oceania?"

Wasn't West Papua a colony of Britain at some point of time?

 

[Traitorfish]

How offensive is "tranny"? Some people on the totally sensible PI forums were arguing about it, but I suppose it better to come to the more civilized folks here to ask. Someone said it was equivalent to the n-word, while others were saying it is more akin to saying Catholic priests = pedophiles or calling Irishmen ginger drunkards.

It's pretty offensive. I don't know if it's quite as offensive as the n-word or the f-word, because it doesn't have quite the same historical weight behind it, but it definitely has derogatory associations. Remember, after all, that those terms have only relatively been acknowledged as offensive- that's partly why they're so powerful, because we know that nice people don't say those words- so the fact that people might not use "tranny" with the same venom isn't proof of its inoffensiveness, only of how far many people refuse to take transphobia seriously.

I'd say the word is comparable to "gay". Calling someone gay who isn't gay is offensive. Calling someone who is gay "gay" is just a matter of fact. Likewise with "tranny" - if the person IS actually transexual, I don't think the term as derogatory.

I take it that you also believe that the "n-word" is not offensive when used to describe a black person?

 

[Civ'ed]

Wasn't West Papua a colony of Britain at some point of time?

I'm pretty sure West Papua was Dutch

 

[Borachio]

I take it that you also believe that the "n-word" is not offensive when used to describe a black person?

Oh don't remind me! I've had to endure a number of meals on New Years days with a bunch of people who seem to sincerely believe exactly that.

I'm hoping to escape it this year. It really does grind me down.

 

[cybrxkhan]

It's pretty offensive. I don't know if it's quite as offensive as the n-word or the f-word, because it doesn't have quite the same historical weight behind it, but it definitely has derogatory associations. Remember, after all, that those terms have only relatively been acknowledged as offensive- that's partly why they're so powerful, because we know that nice people don't say those words- so the fact that people might not use "tranny" with the same venom isn't proof of its inoffensiveness, only of how far many people refuse to take transphobia seriously.


I take it that you also believe that the "n-word" is not offensive when used to describe a black person?

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense.

 

[Gori the Grey]

How short can a piece of string be before it's no longer worth calling a piece of string?

A quartet of limericks on a philosophical problem:

Is half of a string still a string?
How about half of that? still a string?
Well, then, how many halves
Can you have and still have
A string, and not some other thing?

If its shortness so certainly tells
Against “string” naming it well,
Sir, if it’s not a string,
Well, just tell me one thing:
How much less is it anything else?

Must it suffer a knot for a thing
To be properly reckoned a string?
If I may be so bold:
Anything you can hold
As a string may be held as a string.

If the length of some thing that you’ve got
Can’t be twisted into a frayed knot,
Could you at all
Properly call
It a string? No, sir, I’m afraid not.

 

[Borachio]

Oh very clever. Well done!

But what happened in #2? "tells", "well", "string", "thing", "else"?

 

[Gori the Grey]

Well-sir

 

[Borachio]

Oh, I see!

I missed that.

 

[Takhisis]

What's the furry pink stuff that started growing on my apple bran muffles?

Fungi come in all different colours, and they're often fluffy.
Most likely an Aspergillus or Penicillum (and no, also the latter one doesn't make it healthy ^^).
For more specificity you need to go to someone with a lab *shrugs*.

Furry. Pink. Toxic. Obviously a pony.

Why is Papua New Guinea considered Oceania, while West Papua is considered Asia? Is it just a desire to say "oh yeah europe has a land connection with oceania?"

white people not understanding stuff

Duh!

 

[shadowplay]

I take it that you also believe that the "n-word" is not offensive when used to describe a black person?

Only if "tranny" (or is it "t-word?") is as offensive as the "n-word". I don't know that it carries that kind of weight, but as I'm not a transexual, and afaik you aren't either, neither of us can really say for sure.

My impression is that "tranny" is more analagous to "gay". Calling someone "gay" can be offensive, but it can also be simply a matter of fact when not said in any derogatory context whatsoever. The same isn't true of the "n-word".

 

[madviking]

being able to say "tranny" but having to say the "n word" is indicative of their relative offensivenesses

 

[bhsup]

Well, again, there is a far more common use for "tranny" that simply does not exist for "the n word" at all. Unless, that is, you can point to a major mechanical part of an automobile that is called "the n word."

 

[James Stuart]

Why is Papua New Guinea considered Oceania, while West Papua is considered Asia? Is it just a desire to say "oh yeah europe has a land connection with oceania?"

All of New Guinea is considered Oceania, rather than Asia. West Papua, or Irian Jaya, is a province of Indonesia, which is an Asian country, and is therefore often included as part of Asia on maps. This is similar to European Turkey occasionally being greyed out on maps of Europe, as Turkey is an Asian country, and the Sinai often being included in Africa, even though it is part of Asia, due to being part of Egypt.

Papua New Guinea was once an Australian colony, whereas West Papua was part of the Dutch East India, which became Indonesia.

 

[bhsup]

Given James' explanation, I guess it's actually white people understanding the situation quite satisfactorily.

 

[Takhisis]

Then we should grey out parts of the Middle East from Asian maps.

 

[James Stuart]

Then we should grey out parts of the Middle East from Asian maps.

Why? Aside from Turkey, which isn't usually even included as part of the Middle East, what Middle Eastern country has territory outside of Asia?