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A Ramble through Smilie Land

On words that annoy me and other stuff!

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13 Comments
by
Nightshade
, 01-22-2009 at 07:19 PM (1662 Views)
I found this smilie the other day cleaning out my photobucket, I made it for Logos, Scher and Jay in the days before my elevation to Moderdom , ah those days of old .( oh great now I have ald lang sigh in my head thanks virgil I had never heard it till you sent me that link. So I thought I might dust it off and give it an airing so here it goes

Moderator night is on patrol..be ware!
But seriously there are some things that we really can’t be having around her like derogatory terms and I thought Id be helpful and explain this more.
The definition of derogatory from the OED is as follows
2. Having the effect of lowering in honor or estimation; depreciatory, disparaging, disrespectful, lowering.
So basically if the term refers to anyone or group of people in a nasty mean, or demeaning way it is BAD!

Now the tricky thing to remember about the litnet is this we are a very multicultural, multiethnic and international community. We have people from all kinds of races, creeds, beliefs, ways of life and lots of other Ses. We all see tings differently so what you might think is fine, can be very offensive to someone else, so please think before you type. Just use this as a rough guideline, would what I have just said have the PC police after me, if the answer is yes then I suggest you rephrase, and fast. There is nothing sadder than the upsets miscommunication can bring about.

Examples of what I mean:
Now I am pulling these out of my head and they do NOT relate to any specific cases, but for example:
The use of gay as a derogatory term – this is just wrong, please remember that.
Calling someone a fascist – this is easy and stupid and takes the wind out of your argument unless of course you can back up your statement with a 1,500 word essay on the definitions of fascism and how well it applies to said person, maybe through in some relevant philosophical, historical and socio-political theory ,fully citied and referenced of course, ( but just don’t, ok?).
Use of racial slur terms--- even as a joke they are WRONG WRONG WRONG ( I think it is especially worse if you don’t realise the word you have just used is a slur term!)

I think you can follow on, ridiculing, mocking demeening a set of belief way of life or whatever , something that is a fundamental part of a person, or community even if there is no visible representation of them around!

Generally just think about what you write, offending people is mean!

So to reiterate think about what you have written

Will it annoy, offend or upset someone? ( or in the extreme potentially get you banned – I do so hate to see a person banned, well unless they are a porn spam monkey but that’s another story altogether)

And remember keep smiling my chickens!
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Comments

  1. Virgil's Avatar
    Great post Nightie. Thanks for that. I hope I haven't said anything that would be offensive, though I probably have. If I ever slip please feel free to whack my knuckles. And you never heard Ol Lang Syne before? It's traditionally played at New Years.
  2. Joreads's Avatar
    Nightshade in light of our conversation a great post. I am like Virgil I would never mean to to offensive but it happens. I guess that is something we should all remember when posting the reader cannot ususally pick up on the tone behind the post. Poster Beware I think
  3. sprinks's Avatar
    I try very hard not to be offensive, but reading this reminded me that even the smallest little common day comment can, to someone else, be offensive. I'm generally a very good girl so I should be fine
  4. Dori's Avatar
    Forgive me, but I'm a bit confused about the word gay. Why is it considered derogatory? I mean, the phrase "gay rights" is thrown around here in the States more times than I can count. I've never heard someone say refer to the same thing as "homosexual rights."

    Just befuddled a bit...
  5. kilted exile's Avatar
    Dori, gay is derogotary when it is used as a descriptor for a person or activity we dislike eg "dude you collect stamps? that is soooo gay"
  6. Dori's Avatar
    Many thanks for clearing that up, kilted.
  7. Nightshade's Avatar
    Ok I posted that when I should have gone to bed, and once I was falling a sleep I realised I should have added, Luckily it happens very rarly round here and I doubt that anyone who actually reads this is one of the people who does do it.

    Mostly I was set off by mixture of things including RL and simply needing to use my cool smilie ( although everything I said still stands).

    Jo seriously complete coincidence Ive been planning this blog entry older for longer than our conversation.

    Virg, this is night remember? I usually don't hold with arbitrary dates decioded by some ancient roman man ( probably a drunken emepror at that!) the last couple of years Ive started the newyear on the 3rd of september . But generallly my family doesnt really go into the whole marking occasions thing, I had sort of heard the song in backgrounds of films like Ghostbusters 2 but I couldnt identify any of the words!

    Yupp sprinksy that ws sort of m point something that is common place to someone can be offesive to someone else. but no worries mostpeople around here are good

    Thanks for the clear up kilted!

    Okays people, I shouldnt have logged in today Im runing late on those evil 9,000 words ( now upped to 9,500 I just hought Id better clear up any misconceptions that might arise!) keep smiling!!
    Updated 01-23-2009 at 04:23 AM by Nightshade
  8. optimisticnad's Avatar
    I better watch out! I'm always jesting, but I hope never offensive.
  9. Niamh's Avatar
    i'm glad you wrote this, and i hope that people will be careful with what they write, even if they are in jest.
  10. Neo_Sephiroth's Avatar
    So, umm...Yeah. Come again. O.o
  11. Nightshade's Avatar
    what do you mean Neo?
  12. 1n50mn14's Avatar
    Dori, I'm shocked you're not familiar with that term, especially at the age you are. I heard the term 'gay' tossed about as an insult so frequently in high school... *sigh* Silly kids.
  13. LadyWentworth's Avatar
    Yes, I am happy to see that you have written this, too. Maybe it will make anyone who may use some words/phrases in a derogatory way to think twice about using them. But notice that I did say "Maybe it will". I think the people who tend to talk that way aren't going to care about respecting others (or rules) and still go on and say those things.

    By the way, I read the rest of the comments in the entry from when you were with Niamh. So what is this cross stitch that I must cross the ocean to get?