Will 2016 be better or worse?

[fallen-archie]

Interesting article in the news about a 175 year old Pub in Wales which has had it's FB account suspended because it's name may be offensive. I know that some on here will agree but what is the answer to the seemingly endless banning of words/names within social media. Should Pub names be subjected to change by law, would that help? should words which have a dual meaning be changed to remove any reference to something unacceptable but above all who should decide what is and is not acceptable? I once received a sharp rebuke for discussing a product to be found in local Butchers and more widely available in Supermarkets  made by Mr Brains. 

And while the PC brigade attacks our language one way our Corporate sector joins in with it's own assault, the following is a good example:-  The unique movement of a threaded pointed implement through fabric obviates the future necessity of numerous movements of the aforementioned pointed implement with the resultant outcome that time is retained for other pragmatic exertions of energy. Apparently this and other ridiculous rubbish form part of todays rising stars of industry, like those who appear on the Apprentice and for part of essential business learnings, Learing is of course a singular noun and adding an s to it is grammatically incorrect and just as adequately descibed by the use of the word lesson/s which was acceptable until some numpty came along. Lets start a fightback in 2016, let us reclaim our language and our right to use terms of old without them being condemned as hateful. Lets re-run some well known TV of old like Billy Bunter, Bless thy neighbour and till death us do part, maybe it would help people understand that being offended is a choice which many just get wrong.

[jd.linklater]

What a load of nonsense over the pub name. Anyone who looks at the sign can see it refers to a cockerel and yet according to the link in the Independent one woman finds it so offensive she covers her childrens' eyes when they walk past it. Sorry but I just don't believe that anyone can be that  prudent.

As for the TV shows, please don't bring back Love Thy Neighbour if that's what you're referring to. That was cringeworthy even in the seventies.

[cee-dee]

It seems someone was offended by the pub being named after one of these species of birds, could have been either:-

[artful_dodgings]

Never mind in the outside world, there are a few words in the confines of eBay that will get bleeped out. Apart from the male bird, there's also the yellow Brassica plant, and the female species of the dog family. Probably that isn't definitive either.

[astrologica]

When I saw the original post in this thread, and the mention of 'a pub in Wales', I thought it might have been a pub near me, which is called the 'Labour in vain'. The sign shows a woman who is scrubbing a little black boy with huge amounts of bubbles. Very un-PC! We also have another pub called the 'Upper 'Chicken'..if you get my drift! But no-one seems to complain about that one.

[cee-dee]

It seems to me that the country has a large number of "professional councillors" who've done little else but get themselves "elected" without ever having done much else. They don't know anything except how to waste money and force their vested interests on everyone else.

Also, many full-time council employees have "qualifications" galore but as for really knowing the practical aspects of what their job is supposed to entail, they don't have a clue beyond their theoretical background and as for man-management skills and social relations forget it!

[astrologica]

Oooh! Does this mean that I might be able to wear my Robinson's Jam Golliwog brooch again?🙂 It seems really strange that on all my school photographs, up until  I was aged about 12, I wore one of those Golliwog brooches pinned to my school pinafore. My Mum had to save all the jar labels and send away for the brooch. I really loved it, and no-one thought anything of it in those days. To us kids, a Golliwog was just a toy.

[jd.linklater]

Same here Astro. As a kid I never thought of the Robertson's Golliwog as a representation of a black person,  just a toy figure.

I do remember the name was later changed to Golly so I guess somebody must have influenced Robertson's marketing department to make the brand less offensive.  It must have been an adult, prejudice was not a concept of the minds of children. Or at least it wasn't back in the fifties.

[mustard-tree]

I recently got a regular email giving helpful household hints and tips

One referred to frozen and burst pipes, and stated "Make sure you know where you stop `male chicken` is

Then went on to explain that if they had used the correct name, the email would have gone into spam box.

I once came across a woman whose surname was pronounced "Beeco" but was not spelt that way.

As to the name of the pub, there is another one in Northumberland.

There is also a whisky and a record label by that name.

[fallen-archie]

I think an answer to my general question can be found here:-  http://bit.ly/1MAJLkR So it's all about the theory of a Psychologist siezed by a few more academics with a view to control and dictate the way we interact. 

[cee-dee]

Quite honestly after wading through that site, the thought uppermost in my mind was, like the people complained about, the writer has too much time on his hands.

[fallen-archie]

Yes the site Is a bit grungeworthy, it is a little easier than the Academic articles which abound throughout the US and now here. Some of the things they describe will make you really think, they admit that people mean no harm yet do so all the time. This is what they want to stop and some of it comes under the heading of simple chatter. 

[cee-dee]

I think people are far too ready to take offence at, sometimes, the most innocuous comments.

[fallen-archie]

True, the problem as I see it is that those who share your opinion including myself are the ones who will be demonized, to use another posters favourite term albeit this time appropriately.

[cee-dee]

Up to a point, it's because we're daft enough to let them!

[fallen-archie]

Daft is a great word, needs no explanation but is nevertheless microaggressive