Language
 

I know I'm going to be flamed for this... and I know that this is an Internet Bulletin board where just about anything within decency can be said and goes... but...

Personally I'm bothered by some of the language used in posts on this board...

Words like Pi**#d (I'm too much a gentleman to use foul language in my writing -- even when I criticize someone) and in another thread someone says something like "we have a few nutcases over here." For someone who knows someone with mental illness... I take that as an insult and very derogatory.

And other words.

And I will REPEAT that the attacks are getting bad again. They calmed down during the Labor Day Holiday mostly but personally I would watch how you "express" a point.

It may not offend everyone who's easy going here. But it does offend some like myself.

Randy: If you find this post out of line close it up or I will delete this post (and only you and the Inside Flyer staff can tell me to do so.)

I stand by what I say and what I feel.

Does this rule apply to everyone's posts, or just your posts Catman?

Perhaps now everyone will know why Catman is the heart of these FT boards. He may well be the soul and conscience, too.

Upgrade me, that quote applies to this one post I made called "Language." I"m not talking about anyone else for the record.

Nathan Detroit, thank you.

I agree. Since everyone here doesn't know everyone else so well that they can joke around, I second Catman in saying to all (myself included) to try and watch what you are posting.

<Edited because my ")" ended up as part of the link>
Catman, (and everyone)

As usual, I agree with the spirit of your post. -And I don't think I have flamed anyone on the Boards. (Due apologies if I have rubbed anyone the wrong way.)

However, I do not 100% agree with one of the examples you quoted (from the following thread, I think: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum95/HTML/000571.html ).

You took offense at the mention of the word "nutcase," whereas I see it as pretty unequivocally tongue-in-cheek --especially considering it came after bokich's comment about "all of us FF lunatics." Technically, I suppose both of the above could have used a "smiley" to make the self-effacing humor clearer (neither did), but I think the ambiguity that can accompany short FT messages necessitates not only that people don't go overboard in what they post (as you wisely wrote), but also in what they read into things.

So I will try to give other posters the benefit of the doubt when there is some ambiguity, and try to eliminate ambiguity from my posts so that others do not need to do likewise with me.

-KP

(I of course hope that this post is not mistaken to be downplaying the seriousness of mental illness, etc.)

[This message has been edited by kidpachinko (edited 09-05-2000).]

Again, I think the issue here is the use of language.

I also think that lunatics might be a bit off the way, although maybe a smiley might work.

Remember, this is just one opinion of someone who tries to be very sensitive about what I say and what I post. SOmetimes I miss the mark and I apologize but we need to be more sensitive.

And, again, I cringe at the word P*#@ed!!!

Again, can we try to use another word than that one? The profanity bugs me to no end!

Catman, In theory, I agree with you. I'm of the opinion that just about everything we need to say CAN be conveyed without the use of profanity. However, please keep in mind that we all do not have the same definitions for the same words. If I travel to London, England or Sydney, Australia and sit in a pub and have too many pints of beer to the point that I'm drunk, someone may comment that that I am "pissed" (as in drunk). Same word, different definition...

Well personally I think you are being hypersensetive, but that it your opinion and you are entitled to it.

However, I have noticed in the past that the autocensor function of the board is very inconsistent in what it does and does not allow. For instance d**n (which is a very mild term IMO) is blocked, while Catman's example above, c**p and to***r [my asterisks] are not. I am sure many other words fall in to similar categories, but I am not going to try them all!

Therefore Webflyer, I suggest you do the following: Make the autocensor work properly and make it reasonable in what it does and does not block. In doing this, stop it being so Americo-centric, because it lets through plenty of English words that are vastly more offensive than d**n in many other parts of the world.



[This message has been edited by james (edited 09-05-2000).]

Geo, I truly understand that and in the context of this sentence "Geo got really pissed/drunk in Seattle." That's fine.

There are other areas when soemone who is angry "I'm so P**&ed at that idiot Catman for his inane posts on his cats."

In that context, the proper word to use is angry or furious or mad.

But Geo, we're best buddies and we can get blanked together in Seattle in a few weeks.

Who is to say what words are bad and what words are good. "Pissed", in Ireland it means drunk, in the US is means mad. "Nutcase, to some it is a nasty word, to others it is a case of nuts." Are we looking for family values here on this board? Who is going to define family values. If a thread has words you don't like, that is what the back button is for. Perhaps one of you would like to make a list of what words are good or bad, then run for president or appoint yourself to the supreme court.

If you start a thread, it would be nice if you could decide what type of language you would allow in it and edit out what you don't like. However, the owners of the board have decided moderators are not allowed based on who starts the thread (something that is a change which is easily made.) For those of you who keep complaining, I would rather have bad language then censorship by a few people on all the threads. I think moderators based on who started the thread is middle ground. As membership grows, the owners of the board will have to keep re-thinking the best way to operate the board. In the mean time, complaining about language is getting old. Ignore it, read a different thread. I have enough complaints to deal with on a regular basis, why make me read ones about language. Sticks and stones can break my bones..... and so forth. THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO BE RUDE TO ANYONE ON THE BOARD DIRECTLY.

The first word in the title of a thread on a current "NEWS" posting is a VERY common and totally non-offensive expression in Australia, i.e.. "PI*SED". It appears regularly in newspaper articles in the MOST conservative broadsheets here. It may it seems have a different meaning in Paducah, or Wheeling W.Va. But fanny and rooting and dozens of other words have entirely different meanings here, in NZ, and in the UK, to what they do it the USA.

Without in any way trying to poke fun at our host here, his first name as James and others not resident in the USA will doubtless confirm, has a TOTALLY different meaning and connotation in the rest of the English speaking world.

The number of males christened in Australia during the past 20 years with the first name RANDY would be nil is my best guess. That kid would spend the rest of his life here fending off terrible jokes and far worse.

The English language changes substantially across the globe. There are words in ALL English speaking countries that are highly inappropriate on a board like this, and I for one trust we never see them here. I cannot imagine "The Times" using the word cr*p and ar*se, but both are fine by UBB on this board.

The latter word was used without ANY comment by a well known board regular in the last week, to my VERY great surprise. Even more surprising was it was used in a thread started by Catman on Sept 1st, and Catman posted soon after it, and he himself made no comment, so it seems cr*p typed in full is far less offensive than pis*ed?

I would never personally use "Pis*ed" in a thread title, but it did not/does not particularly offend me. Now it has been raised it may offend some, I would not use it in a thread body. But I most strongly disagree with Catman that this word could ever in the year 2000 be regarded as "profanity"!

I suspect it can't be terribly offensive in common useage in the USA, as Whoopi Goldberg used in on prime time network TV in Feb, at the Academy Awards. "The Age" is about as radical as the New York Times! This is a direct and exact quote:


"Naomi: a ..... of a role model
WHOOPI GOLDBERG said it best while hosting an Academy Awards ceremony: ``What is it about supermodels? Ten
thousand an hour and they still look pissed off." And if there is ever an Oscar presented for the Most Pissed Off
Supermodel, Whoopi won't even ...
The Age, Feb 2000"


Despite someone asserting something to the contrary a few days ago, I defy ANYONE to post here one widely recognised offensive word used by me in a post on these boards. I have many times asked posters to consider editing cr*p and ar*e etc and other similar words from their posts.

I again do not feel they are overly offensive, but there are other ways to tell the story without them. Not everyone may agree with what I say, or how I say it, or to whom on these boards (ain't that the truth!) but you will NOT ever see me using gutter language to do it.

The UA board affectionately refers to their budget priced carrier as the UA Sh!ttle or Sh*ttle. I have never seen anyone object to this use. Does anyone here?

The Whoopi Goldberg Academy Award word may bother Catman, and as he says, it is his personal view only and like Voltaire, I will fight for his right to express it and hold it, whilst not agreeing with him. Censorship of the written word bothers me if taken to any extreme, but commonly accepted offensive words should of course be avoided on a civilised board like FlyerTalk and edited out of courtesy if objected to by a core of those on any thread. (IMHO of course!)

------------------
~ Glen ~




[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 09-05-2000).]

Excellent posts Ozstamps and JRF. However, it seems as if Webflyer want to have the autocensor or it wouldn't be here - my thought is that it ought to work propely, and at least consistently. As rehashed many times, censoring the name of important world cities beacause they might upset anglophone ears is just petty.

ozstamps

You made a post and used the word d**khead. I politely asked you to edit it and remove the word and you did not. That is a word that I don't think could be construed as anything else except what you meant.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/001022.html

Whose dictionary do we use to decide words?



[This message has been edited by goldelite (edited 09-05-2000).]