Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Well, no since you can never know what these expressions are. The correct solution is that people are more tolerant. Which also give people the opportunity to learn about different usage.
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Wow I know this is off topic and I don't normally get involved in debates such as this but I just have to jump in in support of this statement. Different words have different meanings in different countries,they can even have different meanings in different parts of the same country, this is just a fact of life.
I will explain and hope this doesn't get censored as it is edumacational
For instance:
In the UK we all use the word "damn" in normal conversation it is in no way considered a swear word, however in the US it is. In a similar vein you cannot use the word "fag" in a conversation in the US however in the UK it means cigarette and is used daily.
In the UK "shag" means to fornicate whereas I believe in the US it's a kind of dance.
On the topic of different words meaning different things even in the same country in the UK the word "twat" means idiot in Birmingham and most of the West Midlands however apparently (I only found this out accidentaly when my Aunt told one of the children she was teaching to "stop being such a twat" and was pulled up in front of the Headteacher over it to explain herself) in most of the rest of the country it means female genitalia and is considered a bad word. I would probably even go so far as to say to the rest of the world it's not even a word they would recognise and certainly would not recognise as a bad word so probably wouldn't be censored on this board.
There are certain words which should never be used in polite conversation/debate, that goes without saying however censoring certain words because they "might" offend a certain group is quite frankly ridiculous especially the one in this thread. Two of my best friends are gay and they use "such and such is gay" or "well that's just gay" all the time or is this another one of those stupid cases where they're apparently allowed because they are of said persuausion? Is this another case like the "N" word (I won't use it because rightly or wrongly I will get shouted at for that one) and black people, they're allowed to use it but we're not? Another case of Political Correctness gone mad.
I find not being able to use certain words to be offensive but no one cares about my wishes because I'm not in a minority group <tongue in cheek>
I respect that lines have to be drawn somewhere and the moderators do a thankless and difficult job I just think that censoring the word "gay" in what-ever connotation it is used is taking things a little bit too far over said line.
Just my two pence worth and back to the original thread...