causing offense?

Yes, I think some people use it to tease so it's not a term people use much now.

My youngest GD has ginger hair ,which I love .My naughty DD and especially my SIL
call her ‘Ginge’. Have no idea if she has ever been teased at school .She’s only 5 ,so I hope not.

Interesting discussion! I think the words might not have been best but your intention was to compliment.... but it does feel a bit like we're all safer minding out own business in case we speak out of turn. I was a very sensitive child, cringed a lot at things that were said to me even when they were really quite harmless. Now I see that as part of being a community and having a bit of compassion goes a long way.

I am gobsmacked by some of the posts on here. Very offensive language is used to tell the OP off for speaking offensively to strangers! The hypocrisy beggars belief!

Yes I think ginger nut is an unfortunate comment. My lovely 11 year old grandson has auburn hair and we prefer it when people don’t comment at all. To us he is just the same as everyone else and we don’t comment on other people, it’s downright rude.,

We've become such a P C country now. It's probably wrong to say good morning to someone in case they're having a bad morning !!!

I don't think we are fragile. Thank the Lord we have woken up, otherwise Speccy 4 eyes, Mongol, Pakki, Gingernut and so on would be acceptable.

My aunt, let’s call her Ava, has always been called Ginger by friends, she’s 84 now and still known as Ginger - most people now don’t know her real name.
The odd thing was that she’s always been blonde - she got the nickname ‘ginger’ because her maiden name was Ava Redhead.
I think ginger-nut might offend as we are a more fragile society now and easily offended by everything - I once commented how pretty a little girl if about 3 was, she really was very lively, and her grandma told me off as they were trying to raise her not to be vain.
Best say nothing to anyone nowadays.

I always wanted red hair as a child because my best friend when was 10 had carrot-coloured hair - we used to imagine that she was Queen Elizabeth and she would strut about majestically. Since I am half French, a quarter English and a quarter Scots, I naturally played her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, whose mix of nationalities is the same. And what was even better for my friend, she got to kill me before afternoon lessons started. I got to be a tragic, martyred heroine, which was fun, too. So when my husband and I applied to adopt each of our sons, we were both very surprised to be asked, in the same breath as the questions about whether we would be prepared to consider a child with a parent who was a drug addict or a criminal, or a child with ‘coloured’ blood [the agency’s words - it was a long time ago and I know no agency would use those words now], whether it mattered to us if the child had ginger hair. We said that none of these characteristics would put us off, and indeed, to be honest, I rather hoped one that at least of the children we were offered might have red hair. As it happened, neither did, so it wasn’t until over two decades later that I realised that children ere routinely teased or bullied for having ginger hair - auburn hair doesn’t seem to elicit the same ridicule. Mind you, my friend really hated being called ‘Carrot-top’, and We both agreed that it was silly anyway because carrot-tops are green and wilted, not carrot-coloured.

BlueBelle well it's a good job that my husband & I are according to "very thick skinned people" after the comments that have just made with regard to my post, actually I am not at all "thick skinned" in fact I would describe myself as quite sensitive, I just think that these days people take far too much notice of what others say and are far too quick to look for and take offence, I am certainly not glad that times have changed, and as my husband said the comments did him no harm, hold up your hands in disbelief again, some people actually survived a childhood where they were subject to comments about their appearance

2 of my 3 brothers are ginger and used to get the rhyme "gingernut you're barmy, go and join the army" chanted at them! I thought it was unkind then.

I had a lovely Italian lady as a patient many years ago and bumped into her outside of work with her son, who had gorgeous dark red hair. Iasked her who he took after (she had dark hair) and her reply makes me chuckle even now - "In England you say the milkman, in Italy we say the plumber!"

Well jennyveg good for you and your husband you’re obviously very thick skinned people but not everyone is, as for your husband being called specky short arse and it ‘did him no harm’ what absolute balony do you really really truly see nothing wrong in that and aren’t you glad times have changed
Would you really and truly consider it’s ok for a child to have words like that thrown at them throughout childhood

(Holds hands up in disbelief)

I was a ginger. So was my son.
I just don’t get why ginger is considered an insult but that appears to be the case.

I often cuddle my dgc and call him my wee ginger nut.

I remember at senior school the boys asking ,,,,, Ginger, would you snap !!

I had bright red hair and as a child, complete strangers would often address me as ‘Carrot top’ which I found a bit upsetting.
Fortunately, as I grew older, it did mellow to a quite nice golden blonde colour. Being pointed at and sometimes laughed at because of my hair colour has made be aware of other people’s feelings especially in terms of appearance....a little thought and kindness goes a long way.

When my gorgeous, now grown up son, was a baby, he had lovely golden hair, once in a shop I heard young girls say, ' I would not walk about with that baby without covering its head or better still, dying it' I was terrible upset , ran out of shop crying. Another time when my husband was out with him, two eldery ladies were overheard saying . Uh, look at that !!!
He is now a fine outstanding man whom we are very proud of.

cant believe someone would say the word ginger in front of a small child too.

When I was 18 months my hair was egg yolk yellow and my grandmother was horrified at the thought that she might have a grandchild with ginger hair (I would say she loved my totally and I her).

On the other hand, I always wanted truly bright red hair and envied beyond belief a girl at school with truly copper coloured hair.

I have decided that when my hair finally goes white (if ever) I am going to have it dyed a blazing flame red to achieve my hcildhood ambition.

I am a redhead and boys used to sing
" Gingernut fell in the cutt and frightened all the fishes,
A fish jumped up and swallowed her up
And that was the end of ginger nut. "

( A cutt is a canal)

I hated it . It was so taunting. Yes, I would find it offensive. I would never say that .

I have never understood why people have a problem with ginger

Because they is still predjudice about towards people with celtic origins (scotland/Ireland celts) and the two are associated.

I thought "ginger nut" in the context of a person referred to pubic hairs not head hair! So would be at someone saying that to a child!

Or maybe she wasnt in the mood for small talk

Could someone explained thecprejudice about red hair which I had never heard of growing up in Scotland? How far back does this go?
My grandson aged 20 has fantastic, wavy, copper coloured hair ( probably from Russian blood) and the right measurements for modelling. He has done quite a lot in his gap year and was told that the Japanese are crazy for redheads.

What ever next, we won't be able to say Custard Cream for fear of upsetting people who have custard coloured hair. I suppose Jammy Dodger is against those who are not nimble enough to dodge about.
Don't start me on Rich Tea, that's clearly poking fun at the upper classes. Digestive, people with additional dietary conditions.

Hang on I will contact the PC Brigade HQ and report back.

joke

Good thing the child wasn’t actually a girl- that would have added “insult to injury”. One has to be careful and never make assumptions !!

I am so hankering after ginger biscuits now.

I think that today everyone would consider gingernut to be offensive. It is not normal to make comments about people's personal appearance unless it is a compliment. My mother became increasingly non PC as she got older and it was embarassing though I now realize it was indicative of the start of dementia.