Banned words: Thou shalt not say "gaijin," "haafu" or "Yankee"

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

[Ketou]

[Iraira]

What I'm worried about is how many of those words I said today. I am so "Too Hot for TV"

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

[Coligny]

I understand Gaijin and Yankii... All the others are chinese for me...

I think Oyajii might be in that list... MumInLaw slap me everytime I use dat' weurd...

[BigInJapan]

[bolt_krank]

"haafu" - they say that all the time don't they...

can't think of an example off the top of my head - but I'm sure I've heard it on TV a lot.

[Yokohammer]

"haafu" - they say that all the time don't they...

can't think of an example off the top of my head - but I'm sure I've heard it on TV a lot.

Yup. Heard it used on the tube last night, in fact.

If I remember correctly it was used to describe a Japanese/Taiwanese singer.

Perhaps it's OK when both halves are asian?

(Hey, I'm a quarter irish! )

[Mulboyne]

"haafu" - they say that all the time don't they...

I also wondered about that. Perhaps the context is important. For instance, Lovedrive, the haafu comedy duo, used it a lot when they appeared on TV:

[YThq]diGMlyttxNc[/YThq]

If people don't say haafu that much - and I can't recall hearing it recently - I wonder whether there's another term used or whether people just talk around it by mentioning someone has a foreign parent.

[Yokohammer]

If people don't say haafu that much - and I can't recall hearing it recently - I wonder whether there's another term used or whether people just talk around it by mentioning someone has a foreign parent.

Apparently some "haafu" kids are offended by the term, feeling that it makes them sound like only half a person. One guy I know always insisted (only half jokingly <- see what I did there? ) that the term should be changed to "daburu" (double), because they have the benefit of two cultures instead of just one.

[Mulboyne]

Apparently some "haafu" kids are offended by the term, feeling that it makes them sound like only half a person. One guy I know always insisted (only half jokingly <- see what I did there? ) that the term should be changed to "daburu" (double), because they have the benefit of two cultures instead of just one.

I've heard that before but "double" isn't sufficiently accepted to be a term which could be used and understood on TV.

[Yokohammer]

I've heard that before but "double" isn't sufficiently accepted to be a term which could be used and understood on TV.

No, there's no chance it'll become accepted. It's just an interesting perspective on how people use and respond to labels.

[Level3]

Semprini

[Coligny]

No, there's no chance it'll become accepted. It's just an interesting perspective on how people use and respond to labels.

I wuz quite often referring to my daughter as a hybrid...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Semprini

Whose got a boil, then?

[Greji]

I wuz quite often referring to my daughter as a hybrid...

I normally refer to my youngest one as that little spoiled bitch and it seems to fit....

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I normally refer to my youngest one as that little spoiled bitch and it seems to fit....

I think she must be my ex-wife....

[Greji]

Apparently some "haafu" kids are offended by the term, feeling that it makes them sound like only half a person.

I seriously wonder how far that goes. My daughter and her half friends use it constantly. I guess that could be like some Bros and the N word, they feel they can use it but if any member of another race uses it, it is derogatory insult.

Also, a thing that bugs me, is that some of these terms are decided as "being bad" by people who want to set up rules for Political Correctness and may not even be from the offended groups. This has always amazed me at how they can decide as to what is offensive to some other person or party.

I personally take no offense to being called a gaijin or a yankee, but on the other hand, there are those who think that I should drag anyone who calls me such a name to the kodan.

When you look different from the indigenous people, you are going to get noticed. But, it still remains, a "name" is still just a word and if you are going to walk around all day waiting for, or even daring someone to call you such a name, or maybe make an insinuation about your race/sex/nationality/religion etc., you aren't going to get much else accomplished in life.

[IkemenTommy]

As a cookie-cutter society, it's so typical of Japanese to divide everyone who does not "fit in" or look like them into separate categories.

[Kush]

[GomiGirl]

I tend not to use "mixed marriage" but rather cross-cultural.. this is about as far as I go into PC language. I guess what is important is not the label you are given, but the intention behind it.. if it is intended as a slur, then deal with the slur and not the word.

I have a young nephew who has a Japanese mother and my brother as the father.. I tend not to say he is "half" but rather as a bilingual kid. If people ask, I just say that his Mum is Japanese and he is my nephew - no labels involved there. I guess I am going to have to figure out a better or smart arsed answer to the "half" question soon enough.

(BTW I only just recently figured out that a saying I use all the time can be misunderstood - my father used to say "I call a spade a spade" and I just picked it up assuming it was a gardening tool rather than a racial slur... around my peer group it was always mangled to be "I call a spade a shovel". Anyhoo, I was looking in a dictionary recently - surprise surprise - and learned that a "spade" can be actually a racial slur. I was mortified to know that I have perhaps - unwittingly - offended dozens of people over the years. So, if I have ever offended you, I am sorry.. )

[Yokohammer]

(BTW I only just recently figured out that a saying I use all the time can be misunderstood - my father used to say "I call a spade a spade" and I just picked it up assuming it was a gardening tool rather than a racial slur... around my peer group it was always mangled to be "I call a spade a shovel". Anyhoo, I was looking in a dictionary recently - surprise surprise - and learned that a "spade" can be actually a racial slur. I was mortified to know that I have perhaps - unwittingly - offended dozens of people over the years. So, if I have ever offended you, I am sorry.. )

I call a spade a manually-operated soil-repositioning and hole-forming implement (just to be on the safe side). As long as you're not the pot calling the kettle black.

[Greji]

my father used to say "I call a spade a spade" and I just picked it up assuming it was a gardening tool rather than a racial slur... around my peer group it was always mangled to be "I call a spade a shovel".

I was taught that it originated from the suit of spades in playing cards, which is the highest suit in ranking. I assume that because it is black in color it was later developed into a racial term toward blacks.

But, again for people to go around like a sky rocket ready to shoot off if they hear any word that sounds like it might b a racial slam, I wonder what they do for a life. Just the other day, one of the race baiters in the states was clamoring that if anyone were to be against Obama's health bill proposals, they would have to be racist.

Damn, give me a break. Since he's a "half" are the racists against his black half, or his white half? Just how far does PC go?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I call a spade a manually-operated soil-repositioning and hole-forming implement (just to be on the safe side).

And, you should make sure you're wearing your fluorescent safety jacket to increase your visibility when you do so.

[GomiGirl]

And, you should make sure you're wearing your fluorescent safety jacket to increase your visibility when you do so.

And your name is Doug...




(Sorry that was just bad!! I shall slink away in disgrace now.)

[Taro Toporific]

... around my peer group it was always mangled to be "I call a spade a shovel". Anyhoo, I was looking in a dictionary recently - surprise surprise - and learned that a "spade" can be actually a racial slur...

Hell, I never thought about "spade" as a slur until my late teens either.
A shovel to me is broad and better suited for moving looser materials but spades tend to be sharp for use as a digging/turf-cutting tool.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

And your name is Doug...

I think that joke is far more politically incorrect than inadvertently calling a spade a spade.

[Coligny]

Hell, I never thought about "spade" as a slur until my late teens either.
A shovel to me is broad and better suited for moving looser materials but spades tend to be sharp for use as a digging/turf-cutting tool.

We say "calling a cat a cat" (appeler un chat un chat)...

And since it's in order to advertise a metaphore-free speech... it's not hiding anything... it's just aboot the furniture shredding furry bundle of love (and claws)...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

appeler un chat un chat

You should see some of the things we call "French" in English....

[Level3]

:rofl:
Whose got a boil, then?

Figured someone would be cultured enough to get that one!

These are the words that are not to be used again on this programme:

b*m
b*tty
p*x
kn*ckers
kn*ckers
w**-w**
semprini