Do you agree ...or not?

Hellogirl1

I had a post taken off GN once because I used the word "foreigners", I didn`t realise it wasn`t a word to use anymore. I was accused of being racist.

Really?

I consider myself a foreigner if I go to another country. Wasn't there a rock group called Foreigner - have they had to change their name?
Perhaps I'll call myself a traveller from an antique land.

TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language, which presumably means we are the foreigners.
CELTA from Cambridge is a qualification for teaching English as a foreign language.

I'm becoming like Miranda, can't stop using the word.

Anne Robinson just comes across arrogant, elitist and rude!

Just overheard the nursery over the road having the children sing 'ba ba happy sheep! Still laughing!!

I worked in a school for along time Newatthis and all of the staff and parent helpers too were told not to say blackboard say whiteboard and coffee with milk not black coffee.and tea without milk,amongst other things.
So you are not lying at all.

My DH goes, in normal times, to a "current affairs " class. Someone once mentioned the black country, and was challenged by a member of the class who was black!

I think black sheep, and black lambs especially, are beautiful.

Is that not just normal early years singing though, I know a number of versions of baa baa black sheep, there are numerous versions of incey wincey too, it's nothing to do with woke it's to relieve the tedium

write off!

I'm not denying that some people were told not to say things, but my point is that those doing the telling had been persuaded by the Sun etc that doing so was unacceptable, and because the whole idea was nonsense, nobody could follow the (non-existent) logic, so things went from bad to worse. This made people write of the whole idea of considerate language as 'political correctness gone mad' which suited the agenda of the Sun.

My granddaughter came home from Nursery singing Baa baa spotty sheep...?

It probably depended on the area you were in, but many of us were told not to use words like blackboard, never to describe anyone as black and to take care with words such as brown or dark when applied to people.

Not being able to talk about black coffee, does it apply to black bun as well? seems a little over the top. Makes me wonder why Black Friday is acceptable.

Actually, the thought of Anne Robinsen complaining about anyone's language had me in fits of giggles. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! To my mind she was frequently so rude on The Weakest Link that she just was not funny.

I remember with glee the young man who answered her back, saying, "I used to like redheads, but I've gone off them since coming on this show."

FannyCornforth

Lucca

I’m sorry but I simply don’t believe anyone was told not to say blackboard or black coffee. Urban myth.

Yes. I agree. The Sun under Kelvin Mackenzie made up many a lie in order to fan the flames of racial discord. One headline was that black bin liners were to be banned
Complete rubbish (ho ho).

I agree too. I do think, however, that some people believed the hype, and started to conform to the notion that you 'couldn't say' things like black coffee etc. It served the purpose it was meant to - to make considerate speech look ridiculous and get people so angry* about it that they threw the baby out with the bathwater and refused to think about language use at all.

* I also think that it tapped into the notion that a so-called 'educated elite' was telling people what to do, which ended up with the 'who needs experts?' nonsense from Michael Gove, (which he's conveniently forgotten about now that we all know that we owe our lives to the expert virologists and people producing the Covid vaccines). That anti-expert message helped to Get Brexit Done, too.

I was a bit surprised she was on countdown tbh, it was bound to cause controversy.

Did they explain why black coffee wasn't appropriate Newatthis?
Were you allowed to use the word 'black' at all?

Mine too!

FannyCornforth

Tallulah she wasn't on 15 to 1 (probably my favourite quiz show).
She did the Weakest Link

You're quite right, FannyCornforth! My memory is abysmal.

I had a post taken off GN once because I used the word "foreigners", I didn`t realise it wasn`t a word to use anymore. I was accused of being racist.

Lucca I don't tell lies, i was there at the meeting, but you can believe what you want!

Tallulah she wasn't on 15 to 1 (probably my favourite quiz show).
She did the Weakest Link

Lucca

I’m sorry but I simply don’t believe anyone was told not to say blackboard or black coffee. Urban myth.

Yes. I agree. The Sun under Kelvin Mackenzie made up many a lie in order to fan the flames of racial discord. One headline was that black bin liners were to be banned
Complete rubbish (ho ho).

I met her once in M&S. She was with her daughter. The pair of them were lovely. Lots of people had scurried over to get autographs or whatever.
She was being discussed on some TV show about the taking over of Countdown. She won't be remotely like her 15 - 1 character. And that's what it was. It was an act. Anyone opting to go on that show would have been well aware of what they'd let themselves in for.

In case you don't want to click the link.

I’m sorry but I simply don’t believe anyone was told not to say blackboard or black coffee. Urban myth.

I hope Peggy gave her a good retort back!
I'm glad I never watched the Weakest Link if that's the kind of thing AR came out with.

Since she's in favour of saying what we think, though, what on earth is she wearing in those pics?
I think a bin bag would be more becoming.

She doesn't sound especially bright, either