Faggots

A faggot as a term for a length of wood which could be chopped and used for firewood - a bundle of sticks - was used when I was a child.
Faggots are also used in river conservation.

Touche... same thing happened on our street! It seems as though it's easier for them to turn their head to things that really need fixing and gather everyone's attention on nonsense like this. If we live long enough we'll be controlled like robots!

OMG! is that why I haven't heard it on Radio 2 this year one of my fav. Xmas songs... as they say the past is a different country! All this PC nonsense is just ridiculous ....

apologies @StillGame - I hadn't seen your post also describing what the word faggot could mean.

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it in the thread but a 'faggot' can also mean a bundle of sticks used to heat an oven (going back to Tudor times). Point being we can have the same words to mean quite different things - though in the context of this song, its creator Shane McGowan explains why he included the word in the song ... '"The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character," he told The Tonight Show.

"She is not supposed to be a nice person, or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate," he added... "Her dialogue is accurate as I could make it but she is not intended to offend! She is just supposed to be an authentic character and not all characters in songs and stories are angels or even decent and respectable, sometimes characters in songs and stories have to be evil or nasty in order to tell the story effectively.

"If people don't understand that I was trying to accurately portray the character as authentically as possible then I am absolutely fine with them bleeping the word but I don't want to get into an argument." - So there you have it. And to be honest, I am more offended by things like human trafficking and homelessness than a Christmas song!

If you watch Carry on Cabby from 1963, the Sid James character refers to a stout older lady passenger in the back of his cab as a 'faggot' when speaking about her on the cab radio.

'The word faggot has been used in English since the late 16th century as an abusive term for women, particularly old women ... The application of the term to old women is possibly a shortening of the term "faggot-gatherer", applied in the 19th century to people, especially older widows, who made a meager living by gathering and selling firewood. It may also derive from the sense of "something awkward to be carried" (compare the use of the word baggage as a pejorative term for old people in general).'

I suggest this is a fascist right wing approach. Some very wealthy people are trying to disrupt societal norms by questioning the very basis of everything. Socialists / the Left aren't usually very rich as they share the wealth out more.

Certainly is too far. Stupid retrospective censoring of history. Old films still have the smoking scenes after all.

This is the LGBT/Transactivist campaign trying to make us think everything is acceptable and we must not criticise anything? There are other songs they don't like as well., and they are trying to take them off the radio/tv and any other broadcast.

Well, I like this song, and thank you for reminding me of it. The story is about the Irish who emigrated to New York in the 19th century to escape the potato famine and hoped to become entertainers. The famine was brought about by the British, who forced the Irish to export their meats, their grain, and other foods, so they starved. When Priti Patel said we could starve the Irish into submission, this is what she was referring to, and why it was such an evil thing to say.

A vital bit of history. This song helps us to remember that.

Where can I find PC police please? I am going on a search today.

My Mum used to call my sister and I little faggots in a humorous way. We understood it to mean little sticks or pieces of wood. Mum was the most straitlaced person you could ever meet and would turn over in her grave at the thought that it had another meaning.

Wow. Don't give the PC police any more ideas.

a faggot is a log that goes on the fire.or a meat thingy.

Who are these police? Do they wear a uniform? I bet they are all wooly liberals with dreadlocks.

It is a step too far. I believe they want to ban “ baby it’s cold outside”, too. I’m sure many, many songs have possibly suggestive lyrics if you look closely enough, but honestly, these political correctness police annoy me intensely. How dare they assume to know what I find offensive or not, I’m quite capable of making up my own mind, and if there’s something I dislike, I try to avoid it. I don’t need them dictating to me, thank you very much.

Hurdy, fair enough they were offended by the word. That is quite sufficient for any right minded person to avoid using it in their company.

As to political correctness providing jobs for people, I'm not sure. Is there some sort of department employing people to monitor language?

oldbatty - "Just as a matter of interest has anybody had a real life encounter where somebody has been offended by the word faggot"

Kind of. There is a facebook page I used to follow which was run by a gay married couple, who were the most open minded men I've ever encountered, and very welcoming of all points of view.

But they were VERY offended by the usage of faggot when used about gay men. It's not a word I would ever have used anyway, but I am ever mindful now not to. If they were offended by it, then it must be offensive. I can't remember now the reason they gave for their feelings about it, but given their liberal attitude to everything else, I totally respect their views on this.

I don't think they would have been campaigning for Fairytale of New York or Money For Nothing to be banned though.

Reading all the comments I thinkthat all us older people just accepted people for who the were. This political correctness is just a farce but it does keep some people in a job and they are anxious to expand it. It is rediculous to find meanings in words that were not there on the first place.

oldbatty Exactly!

Not to my knowledge oldbatty, at least not with myself personally.
Then again when you don't befriend such " delicate minded " people it never becomes an issue.

Just as a matter of interest has anybody had a real life encounter where somebody has been offended by the word faggot/baa baa black sheep/any other nonsense?

I am quite glad I started this thread, I was unsure of the responses but there seems to be agreement all round.
We had the Sunday School Party yesterday afternoon and a CD of Christmas songs was playing, we were discussing this theme and when listening to some of the songs there were a few with dodgy lyrics.
Off to the Nativity Play this morning,DGS is a Sheep,, his choice. Modern traditional but I know of at least 5 people who will mutter either that it is too traditional or too modern. You cannot please everyone can you. have a good Sunday and stay warm to those in the UK stay safe too.

Sectionalism is a left wing technique to divide and rule and keep people on the back foot. Accuse a perfectly innocent person of something nonsensical and they are so busy trying to defend themselves they forget to challenge the accusation.

I have a horrible feeling that heightened belligerence and going into attack mode is the only effective response . Not an approach that will fit well with Gransnetters.

1988 is 30 years ago....just saying.

But it is not real is it? Where are all these offended people? Not on here & I have not met any!

Urban myths about what has been banned by loony PC lefties have been around for years and often found to be untrue. I wonder if the people who spread these stories and get excited by them aren't often those who hanker after the 50s where women were best kept at home, being decorative & managing on the housekeeping and when men were men and minorities were fair target!

I think we used to call each other faggots when I was a child. (Out of earshot of mum, of course!)