h a l f b a k e r yMay contain nuts.
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
| |
When I read the title I thought these were going to be sunglasses that fit white people the same way that glasses intended for white people fit black people. That way if a white person is pretending to be a black person, the disguise won't be blown by how well their glasses fit. |
|
| |
Assuming of course that the premise of the "Sunglasses for Black People" idea is actually valid. |
|
| |
"coloured" is an invalid term simply because black is not a colour. As I've said many times, the word means something only peripherally appropriate; the successful efforts to have the abusive meaning included in everyday conversation was, I feel, a deliberate attack on the language itself, resulting in a communications gap between, roughly put, the literate and illiterate. |
|
| |
Surely, if everyone's just a black outline... a
silhouette, then there can be no more discrimination
on the basis of skin colour or even looks? |
|
| |
// everyone's the same colour. // |
|
| |
No more "Fifty Shades of Grey", then ? |
|
| |
In the USA the word "negro" was used during the period of social repression that followed emancipation, continuing well into the latter half of the 20th century. |
|
| |
Regardless of which, "African American" is just a silly term unless of course you're going to disinclude those of Caribbean descent, black people who have come from countries other than Africa, etc. |
|
| |
Of course if you go the other way then white people who immigrated from South Africa following the fall of Apartheid would be known as "African Americans" as well, which most people would find amusing considering its current common usage. |
|
| |
I'm not sure if there is any historically baggagious reasons not to use the word "black" if one has the need to refer to those of the negroid race outside of an anthropological biology paper. |
|
| |
// call the white people who immigrated from South Africa, following the fall of Apartheid, "African Americans" // |
|
| |
Why not just call them all "people" or "humans" ? To us, it seems so simple .... |
|
| |
Why aren't there any green or blue humans ? |
|
| |
<loosens collar> well ... ... ...
considering that similar compound nouns were in use before the promotion of "African American", "dis-include" would be more appropriate, referring to those who would normally be included being booted out.
<wipes brow> |
|
| |
//brown [...] more fitting// then what'rya gonna call Indians and Pakistanis ? |
|
| |
//blue// extinct since the realization that woad is not mistakeable for heather in bloom, from downwind. |
|
| |
//Native American// I think they're settling into "Native Peoples" as a group name for Amerindians and Inuit, which term, oddly enough, doesn't really insult anybody else. |
|
| |
But what would they call it on a personal basis ? All their languages are different so no common word for "us". |
|
| |
// half-dark and short? You see how difficult coming up with PC descriptive terms can be. // |
|
| |
That's why Pantones were devised ... |
|
| |
// what'rya gonna call Indians and Pakistanis ? // |
|
| |
// no common word for "us" // |
|
| |
... but, ironically, plenty of words for "them", "the others", "not us/like us", "the enemy", "heathen", "unbeliever", "victim", "target" .... |
|
| |
I used to have a theory that the English and the French didn't get along because everyday words in one language sounded like insults in the other. Sadly I've been sober too long to remember the details. Must correct that. |
|
| |
That's a good idea, [21], you should post that. |
|
| |
// English and the French didn't get along because everyday words in one language sounded like insults in the other // |
|
| |
It's more because the English are honourable, kind to animals, learned, patient, loyal and a model to all other nations, and the french are a bunch of venal promiscuous aggressive drunken empire-building perfidious illegitimate layabouts with the morals of alley cats and the intellectual acuity of coral polyps. |
|
| |
Hey, give us a bit more credit, [21Q]. We also got
Malaya, Borneo, Canada, Bermuda, Nigeria, Sierra
Leone, the Gold Coast, Sudan, Egypt, the
Ascension Islands, South Africa, Rhodesia, Kenya,
Tanganyika, the good bits of the Middle East,
India, Menorca, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei,
Kiribati (three cheers!), Fiji, Tonga, Tuvalu,
Tristan de Cunha, the Falklands, Gibralter, Burma,
British Virgin Islands, Malta, Cyprus, Quite a lot of
Antarctica, British Guiana, British Honduras, and
the right hand bit of the USA. Ireland and
Scotland don't really count. When we build an
empire, we build big. |
|
| |
// bull-baiting, bear-baiting, badger-baiting, cock-fighting, // |
|
| |
... all ideas imported from france. Curiously appropriate that the french national animal is a cock ... or, more appropriately, a chicken ... |
|
| |
// fox-hunting using massive numbers of dogs... // |
|
| |
A method adopted as a last resort when the 3rd Duke of Buchanan's scheme for hunting foxes using massive numbers of trained shrews was finally proved impractical. 462 years of work down the drain. |
|
| |
// India, Ireland, Scotland, Falkland Islands... // |
|
| |
... Australia, New Zealand, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Canada, South Africa, America <cough, cough> ... |
|
| |
All of them better places because of English influence. |
|
| |
England finally abandoned attempts to civilise france in the 16th century, and it's been downhill for them ever since. Four goes at beating the Germans, and lost every time (1815, 1870, 1914, 1939). Not much of a record, is it ? |
|
| |
Oh, and remind us again, which nation was it that burnt 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1814 ... ? <snigger> |
|
| |
Oh, and what [MB] said ... |
|
| |
Goodness - did I miss out Hong Kong? |
|
| |
//3rd Duke of Buchanan's scheme for hunting
foxes using massive numbers of trained shrews// |
|
| |
Actually:
*it was the fourth Duke
*he was a Galthwain, not a Duke, back then
*water voles, not shrews
*it was highly successful. The river fox has long
been extinct in Britain as a result. (I believe it is
known as an "alligator" in some of the offshore
continents.) |
|
| |
His uncle, the 3rd Duke, originated the
"multiple rodent" concept but yes, it
remained purely theoretical until his
successor took the radical step actually trying
it out using the then plentiful amphibious
voles. |
|
| |
We used the title "Duke" as the ill-educated
colonials reading the annotation need a
modicum of concession to their lack of
education; of course, the rank of Galthwain is
entirely correct, but a trifle obscure to those
from nations that have only existed for less
than 300 years. |
|
| |
As we tried to explain to the Intercalary Twin
before his most recent appearance before
the International Court of Justice, single-
handedly trying to bring about the extinction
of an entire species is noteworthy, but not
necessarily laudable; the consequent
reduction of genetic diversity in the
biosphere is not considered beneficial, even
by those who don't care about pandas one
way or the other. Justifying his actions on the
grounds that "Well, it's a family tradition,
innit ?" and "Them Japs will pay top dollar
for the good stuff, right ?" was not an
approach ever likely to impress the judges,
right up to the point where he cut them in for
20% of the gross. |
|
| |
Quite frankly, two months probation was a
bit of a whitewash. Someone must have
pulled some strings on his behalf. |
|
| |