PC Blackberries

[madmax]

Now, am I just being a tad oversensitive here?... I have been informed by MK2 son that it seems some politically correct caucasian numpty wants to rename blackberries (and the Blackberry phone) to something that is not 'racially offensive'?!?

What level have some parts of our society dropped to? I mean... when we lived in Atlanta, GA our kids went to school there and some of their best mates were black kids, and they called each other 'Nigga' - even the the white boys were called Nigga!!! Is this just political correctness gone barmy?

It is a free world... Isn't it?

[scarey55]

I quite qgree Max. This is political correctness gone mad and as long as we have this sort of nonsense there will never be any racial harmony in the world. All this does is point out differences rather than helping people become colour blind.
I'll shut up now befopre I get on my soap box.

EDIT: of course, that's my own stupid opinion and I don't mean to offend anyone who has a different view to mine.

[rustylady]

The world's gone b***** MAD!!!!!! In that case, I object most strongly to being classed as "White British". My skin is not white, it's a sort of pinky colour with freckles!!!!

[di]

I thought I'd heard it all when "they"(???)wanted to teach kiddies "Baa baa rainbow sheep".
It's absolutely hideous and the annoying thing is that most of it is pushed onto us by supposedly well meaning(???) "caucasion numpties"that haven't got the first blinkin' clue about what might or might not cause offence.And actually IMHO I think it aggravates things more as those that may be inclined to being racist actually assume it's the minority groups that ask for all these hideous changes,therefore they get more fired up with their views.
Think it's time for another cup of coffee...milkless!

[HayleyB]

Why not just call the colour black sommat else

I hate PC, it's just plain crazy.. a spade is a spade, white is white and blackberries are black

[zazen999]

The world's gone b***** MAD!!!!!! In that case, I object most strongly to being classed as "White British". My skin is not white, it's a sort of pinky colour with freckles!!!!

So is mine; I will now only be referred to as a Pinky Perky....how many of us would have to write that on a census form to get it to be an official descriptive term?

[smallblueplanet]

Now, am I just being a tad oversensitive here?... I have been informed by MK2 son that it seems some politically correct caucasian numpty wants to rename blackberries (and the Blackberry phone) to something that is not 'racially offensive'?!?...

I've googled and can't find any info on this...yet another urban myth?

[Two_Sheds]

It's an urban myth, crops up every couple of years, not even worth discussing

[shirlthegirl43]

Typing on Madmax's behalf here - he is asking have others heard it is an urban myth? He did think it was rather extreme - even for todays stupid PC brigade.

[maytreefrannie]

Some people go over the top though - some years back the university here brought out a guideline to politically correct speech - they called it
NON-SEXIST LANGUAGE
A Guide

It included suggestions like

What is food to one is poison to another (ref. One man's meat is another man's poison)

And
Instead of Lady you could use Woman (as if we didn't know).

And some more... honestly these people make me feel like throwing a Paddy...

[pjh75]

when we lived in Atlanta, GA our kids went to school there and some of their best mates were black kids, and they called each other 'Nigga' - even the the white boys were called Nigga!!!

Some words are offensive regardless of who is using them and who they are directed at!

[bubblewrap]

I think someone is extracting the urine here.
It's one of those stories to wind people up.

[shirlthegirl43]

Some words are offensive regardless of who is using them and who they are directed at!

It was not used offensively. The coloured people call themselves black, afro-carribean or negro etc depending where their origins are. They see it as a definition of race, not a racial slur.

[BarleySugar]

When we stayed in Tobago for a month, we were surprised at the way the Tobagans greeted each other in this way. I had to make clear to my kids (9,11 and 13 at the time), that they should never use that term over here. It wasn't seen as in anyway offensive, in fact a friend from uni said he had been surprised to find it wasn't a term he should use in England.
Maybe the connotations of racism and slavery we associate with the term are more from our culture, not theirs? There are many words 'borrowed' from other cultures which then become terms of abuse. e.g bint and chav

(My brother always used to refer to young kids as chavies, which I didn't realise for quite a while was from when he was friends with some traveller lads. Chavey is apparently a Kentish dialect term for young boy, and chavo is the romany for boy. My kids think it means people from Chatham, or descended from the same, hence I am a chav once removed but by the time it got to them the effect was diluted enough not to be noticable.
I think bint is the arabian for daughter, whereas my sons think it means bitch, or worse!)

[pjh75]

It was not used offensively. The coloured people call themselves black, afro-carribean or negro etc depending where their origins are. They see it as a definition of race, not a racial slur.

Doesn't matter how it is used or meant, some words are just offensive... sometimes due to the history and where they originated from but not always. This example happens to be a racial term, but others are equally offensive... the "F" word, the "C" word even though they feature in everyday language for some people who don't think twice about using them.