Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to find this name offensive?

159 replies

Snowleopardsspots · 15/09/2026 15:46

Blindness is a serious disability. Not some word to be chucked around for marketing attention. There are a lot of other words that could have been used - mystery box, suprise box.

AIBU to find this name offensive?
OP posts:
FreddysFingers · 15/09/2026 21:22

Sorry but this is what I categorise as being snowflakey 😆. It's just a name for a mystery box, no more no less.

Sam1000 · 15/09/2026 21:28

Get a grip

Dollymylove · 15/09/2026 21:31

What about the Blind Beggar pub? One of the haunts of the Kray twins IIRC

BillieWiper · 15/09/2026 21:34

Backedoffhackedoff · 15/09/2026 16:48

Where were you in the 2010s?!

goggle summary

The phrase "black sheep" is controversial because some critics view it as reinforcing a negative association with the color black, while historians and linguists trace its roots to animal husbandry. 1, 2]
True Origins of the Phrase

  • Fleece value: The idiom comes from real sheep that are born with black wool instead of white. 1, 2]
  • Lower quality: Black wool was historically worth less because it could not be easily dyed different colors. 1, 2]
  • Standing out: A black sheep looked very different in a standard white flock, which led to the metaphor for an outcast or a family member who does not fit in. 1, 2]
  • Superstition: In 18th- and 19th-century England, a black sheep was sometimes viewed through a superstitious lens as the mark of the devil or bad luck. 1]
The Nursery Rhyme Debate ("Baa Baa Black Sheep")
  • Slavery rumors: Some people claimed the classic nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep was linked to the transatlantic slave trade. 1, 2]
  • Historical consensus: Scholars widely agree the rhyme has nothing to do with slavery. Most historians tie it to the Great Custom, a 13th-century wool tax imposed by King Edward I that split wool profits between the king, the church, and the farmer. 1]
  • Toy modifications: Some modern toy makers and nurseries altered the lyrics to phrases like "baa baa sheep sheep" out of what critics call over-cautious or misguided political correctness. 1]
Modern Linguistic Controversy
  • Racial connotations: Some modern anti-racism educators and trainers argue that phrases using "black" to mean bad, unwanted, or inferior (such as black sheep, blacklist, or blackmail) carry negative psychological weight tied to historical colorism. 1]
  • Counter-arguments: Many linguists and everyday speakers counter that the idiom is completely non-racial, grounded strictly in agricultural reality, and that trying to sanitize it creates unnecessary controversy over everyday words. 1]
  • Personal reclamation: In family and social contexts, many people who feel like outsiders now wear the title of "black sheep" with pride as a symbol of personal independence and authenticity. 1]

I did not know that! Thank you. I certainly wasn't aware of this.

The colour black has long been associated with night, death, the occult, decay, dirt, the underworld. Black magic, Like the 'black' market etc. and having a 'black mark against your name'. I did not know it was to do with racism.

TwinklyAmberSloth · 15/09/2026 21:43

Unsurprisingly the OP didn't come back, so I assume this is just one of those troll threads trying to cause offense for no reason whatsoever...

WordOfTheDay · 15/09/2026 22:21

I have blinds on my window to keep out the blinding sun in summer. I didn't choose them blindly, but it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference if I had.

AquamarinePearlGold · 15/09/2026 22:38

Are you Professionally Offended?

Cotopaxi · 15/09/2026 22:44

lilacpetals · 15/09/2026 15:47

That's a normal name for mystery boxes.. seems you are singling out m&s for no reason

Is it? I've never come across the term before, and I'm in my 60's.

RobinEllacotStrike · 16/09/2026 16:32

my DD's are 18 & 15 & as long as I can remember they have used the terms "blind bags" and "blind boxes" for what I would call "lucky dips"

New posts on this thread. Refresh page