Has political correctness actually gone mad?

LawCharltonBest said:
I don’t think you’ve actually read what I’ve said and are just assuming things
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I was partly taking the piss, but you went for a job in external comms and thought that you'd just not bother communicating your preferences to people as you didn't feel the need given you'd only be talking briefly.

Looks an awful lot like you've failed part of the interview there.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I went for an interview at BBC in London and nobody said a pronoun the whole time. Everyone is “they” or “them”

I don’t find it offensive - but does anyone else hate being referred to as a “they” or “them”? It hits my ear as rude. Like I’m not even an identity, I’m just an ‘it’

As a side note: in primary school we got in trouble with the teacher for calling people “them” rather than he or she - how times change
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I'd say all those times you were right on RedCafe really look good on the CV.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I went for an interview at BBC in London and nobody said a pronoun the whole time. Everyone is “they” or “them”

I don’t find it offensive - but does anyone else hate being referred to as a “they” or “them”? It hits my ear as rude. Like I’m not even an identity, I’m just an ‘it’

As a side note: in primary school we got in trouble with the teacher for calling people “them” rather than he or she - how times change
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I guess you now appreciate why people tell other people their preferred pronouns. To avoid feeling like you did. You'd have been well within your rights to tell them you'd prefer they used he/him.

I'm old enough that I find the whole fuss over pronouns weird as feck but it's easy enough to negotiate. I couldn't give a toss what pronouns someone uses about me but if they care enough about how I refer to them to tell me then that's fine by me. I'll go with whatever they prefer.
 
decorativeed said:
I was partly taking the piss, but you went for a job in external comms and thought that you'd just not bother communicating your preferences to people as you didn't feel the need given you'd only be talking briefly.

Looks an awful lot like you've failed part of the interview there.
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Many of the situations I heard it had nothing to do with me. I’m hardly going to interrupt a conversation in an elevator between two people I don’t know and ask them to refer to John, who I also don’t know, as a “he” because I prefer it

You’re giving me the impression you want me to have failed the interview just because I’m not keen being called a “them” which is a bit weird
 
LawCharltonBest said:
I went for an interview at BBC in London and nobody said a pronoun the whole time. Everyone is “they” or “them”

I don’t find it offensive - but does anyone else hate being referred to as a “they” or “them”? It hits my ear as rude. Like I’m not even an identity, I’m just an ‘it’

As a side note: in primary school we got in trouble with the teacher for calling people “them” rather than he or she - how times change
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What was the context?

The whole they/them chat always confuses me. If someone asks me where my mate is at a festival, I’ll reply ‘They’re still in bed’, regardless of gender. It’s always been used as a singular as well as collective.

Unless you mean they were referring to you as they. Which can’t be the case as they’d have no need to call you he or she.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Many of the situations I heard it had nothing to do with me. I’m hardly going to interrupt a conversation in an elevator between two people I don’t know and ask them to refer to John, who I also don’t know, as a “he” because I prefer it

You’re giving me the impression you want me to have failed the interview just because I’m not keen being called a “them” which is a bit weird
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No, I am mainly ribbing you, but sorry that hasn't come across.

It's also very possible with the extra context you've given me that I misunderstood and thought they had spoken to each other as part of a conversation you were also in, when they referred to you as 'them'.
 
decorativeed said:
No, I am mainly ribbing you, but sorry that hasn't come across.

It's also very possible with the extra context you've given me that I misunderstood and thought they had spoken to each other as part of a conversation you were also in, when they referred to you as 'them'.
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No need to apologise, think we just got our wires crossed

It might have just been a coincidence that the time I was there that I heard it a lot. My friend also works there (and the Salford one) and says he never notices it. But it was quite excessive when I was there. That they referred to everyone that way and use it several times in a sentence when it would make the sentence sound strange by doing it. Maybe not explaining well but I do wish now I hadn’t used the BBc example and just asked about the “them” thing.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
No need to apologise, think we just got our wires crossed

It might have just been a coincidence that the time I was there that I heard it a lot. My friend also works there (and the Salford one) and says he never notices it. But it was quite excessive when I was there. That they referred to everyone that way and use it several times in a sentence when it would make the sentence sound strange by doing it. Maybe not explaining well but I do wish now I hadn’t used the BBc example and just asked about the “them” thing.
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No worries. It may have been specificly those few people you encountered.
 
Mike Smalling said:
I hate to be that guy, but both "they" and "them" are pronouns.
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People really have been thrown a loop by the concept of pronouns, these last few years. As if the're an alien concept and new to the language.

I spotted this on someone's YouTube channel bio the other day:

"You tube/Google(alphabet) allows you to choose your pronounce . Making it clear they approve of the weirdos ideology."

Not only does the concept of correct usage of language escape them, but the idea that we've always been asked whether we're a Mr, Mrs, Miss, Master, Doctor, Professor, etc is absolutely normal, but whether we're a he, she or they is indicative of a political ideology is bizarre to me.

Also the fact that on things like YouTube, you're often posting under a pseudonym that gives no clue about the gender of the person behind it. Adding it in that situation is actually quite handy and informative.

I suppose thinking is as much this person's forte as spelling, though.
 
I'm actually Lord Spoony. For some bizarre reason my missus decided to buy us both a title - Lord and Lady. I also own land in Cumbria the size of a sofa(was included). It pee'd me off because I hate all that bollocks. And it was a waste of 50 quid. £50 that could've been put towards a new Ferrari.
 
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LawCharltonBest said:
I went for an interview at BBC in London and nobody said a pronoun the whole time. Everyone is “they” or “them”

I don’t find it offensive - but does anyone else hate being referred to as a “they” or “them”? It hits my ear as rude. Like I’m not even an identity, I’m just an ‘it’

As a side note: in primary school we got in trouble with the teacher for calling people “them” rather than he or she - how times change
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It's the definition of neutral. And yet that's somehow an issue? We've always used they/them.

Q "Somebody walked past" A "What did they look like?"

Also "Look at the state of his (or her) hair, what made them do that?"

The more modern and more frequent use is an attempt at inclusion, and people, have an issue with it. Tedious.
 
moses said:
It's the definition of neutral. And yet that's somehow an issue? We've always used they/them.

Q "Somebody walked past" A "What did they look like?"

Also "Look at the state of his (or her) hair, what made them do that?"

The more modern and more frequent use is an attempt at inclusion, and people, have an issue with it. Tedious.
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Well firstly I'd say there's a difference between having an issue with something and not like hearing yourself referred to as something. I had no issue with anyone.

Also it's context. Obviously saying things like "I wonder what made them do that" is a bit different as it's natural to say. This is more purposely avoiding "he" and "she" to use "them". No issue with it, but to my ear it strikes as rude and unfriendly. Wondered if anybody felt the same about it. I don't see why I keep getting replies like this.
 

Using F-word at work is no sacking offence in the north, rules judge​

Overseeing a tribunal in Manchester, Judge Jetinder Shergill has backed a claim from a delivery driver who was sacked for describing a female colleague as a “f***ing m*ng” during an argument about her weight.
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https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/art...ng-offence-in-the-north-rules-judge-p7hnkz927

Judge is so regionalist.
Ruling that the sacking was unfair, the judge noted that “swearing should not be acceptable in a workplace, although common everyday experience, particularly in the north, is that the F-word is used quite often, spoken in the public sphere".
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Pogue Mahone said:
What the f***k did he call her after dropping the F bomb? Are those real words?
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Oops, forgot about that word being blocked. He called her an effing four letter word beginning with M that rhymes with bong.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Ah. Ok. Weird that the judge focused on the F bomb. You’d think that the noun he used would be a more sackable offence.
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That's a fair point actually. Not sure the word has quite become the no go zone that spastic has. Saying that, Kurt Vonnegut used the long-form version of it to describe someone in one of his books and it was quite jarring to read that a couple of years ago.
 
Jippy said:
That's a fair point actually. Not sure the word has quite become the no go zone that spastic has. Saying that, Kurt Vonnegut used the long-form version of it to describe someone in one of his books and it was quite jarring to read that a couple of years ago.
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It's always been a fairly unique word/insult, because of the association with ethnicity as well as disability. Dunno in which context it became unacceptable first?
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It's always been a fairly unique word/insult, because of the association with ethnicity as well as disability. Dunno in which context it became unacceptable first?
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I went down a weird mini rabbithole earlier and bizarre to think Mongolian idiot or imbecile was an accepted medical term.
 
Jippy said:
I went down a weird mini rabbithole earlier and bizarre to think Mongolian idiot or imbecile was an accepted medical term.
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Cretin too. Specifically for people with an underactive thyroid.

Spastic (spasticity) is still in common use,
medically, in the context of muscle spasms.

EDIT: At least it was when I last studied neurology. Which probably wasn’t all that long after all those other words were still fair game!
 
"fecking m*ng" is a term of endearment in the north, I got called that often when walked down a Lancashire street.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Well firstly I'd say there's a difference between having an issue with something and not like hearing yourself referred to as something. I had no issue with anyone.

Also it's context. Obviously saying things like "I wonder what made them do that" is a bit different as it's natural to say. This is more purposely avoiding "he" and "she" to use "them". No issue with it, but to my ear it strikes as rude and unfriendly. Wondered if anybody felt the same about it. I don't see why I keep getting replies like this.
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I really struggle with the they/them pronouns.

For me it's a cultural thing and probably embedded with age.

Might be hard to understand but we (culture/nationality South Asian) have always used they/them in English from a very young age.

English not being my first language (as in didn't learn it first, it is the main language used), we have separate pronouns for elders and people we show "greater" respect to. So I would never refer to my mum or dad as he or she. It was always they or them. Similarly with a teacher or Imam/priest etc.

I used to get told off as a kid in school for saying stuff like "they told me" when having a conversation about say my mum to the teacher. In essence we used the plural for elders.

I briefly taught him a high school and even second Gen kids from my neck of the woods were using they/them for parents etc. I often explained to teachers that this wasn't a kid struggling with English but a respect thing.

Our language has specifics whereas English doesn't in many cases. So it's not just aunt and uncle for us. Dad's older brother is a different word meaning uncle, younger brother is different word meaning uncle. Mums brother is a totally different word meaning uncle and same for sisters.

When addressing my younger brother I would use "tuu" meaning you but older sister or parent/teacher/ grandparents etc it would be "tuusaan". This when using English makes the plural, if that makes sense?

For example, When relaying a message to a sibling from mum I wouldn't say "she said...". I would say "they said..."

If a younger Asian person came out as trans or wanted certain pronouns using nobody would use they/them for that person. Yet an older person would be they/them irregardless.

So from being told off from using they them as a kid now it's the other way around
 
I’d have thought that calling someone a fecking Ihni binni dimi diniwiny anitaime would not only see the second half cause more offence, but that it would in fact be a sackable offence.

If I got sacked for that, I wouldn’t even appeal it.
 
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