Said something offensive at work today… now worried!

[JumbleBrain]

Today I was talking about my accent being tricky for people who don’t speak English as a first language, to understand, but I said the word ‘foreigners’. I have lived in multiple countries and genuinely never use that word and I don’t really know how I happened to say it, but there were a couple of senior colleagues there and now I’m really worried. The context was about my own accent being a pain, but I’m worried now that what I’ve said was worded awfully. The word somehow came out before I even realised I had said it. Am I overthinking this?

I take calls from verbally abused feint line staff for an organisation and trust me that they aren't offended in the way that racists claim they are! It's comments like yours that cause the problem by inventing fake offence over nothing!

They ask not to be told to fuck off back to their own country, to speak English, to be told they must be scammer because they are Nigerian or to be told they are a druggie because they are Romanian etc.

They would not be upset with OP at all.

Christ on a bike

That shift was 50 years ago, how slow are you?

Don’t be ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with the word foreigners
as long as you don’t preface it with “bl**dy

We’re all so worried about saying the wrong thing now, when it was never a big deal. If you say something someone thinks is wrong why can’t they just put you right instead of making it a big deal? It annoys me so much, especially as words I’d use years ago are frowned on today. There are so many different meanings!

I don’t understand the issue . ‘Foreigners’ means foreign people, it’s not a derogatory term . If I went to China I would be a foreigner

This

Is this why I keep seeing the phrase ‘abroad holiday’ instead of ‘foreign holiday’? To me it sounds awful and I judged the person as being a bit illiterate, but perhaps it’s me being a dinosaur and actually the word ‘foreign’ isn’t allowed any more?

About 50 years I'd say... I was using it as an example of how confusing the 'right' language can be, but if I'm slow then so is Benedict Cumberbatch

There is a shop in Phuket Thailand called Food for Foreigners. It sells imported foods for the foreign population.
Its not a slur or insult, its just a factual word to describe non-native people in another country.

You're overthinking 😊
I'm a foreigner myself. It's an accurate description for me as I wasn't born here and don't have citizenship.
If anyone gives you hassle about this, they're the problem.

I think you're fine as long as the people you were referring to as foreigners weren't from the UK and a different race. I've heard it used (pejoratively) as a synonym for not white irrespective of birthplace

ooh are we not allowed to say foreigner any more now ? Jesus I literally don’t know what I can and can’t say any more . Dont sweat it id not of batted an eyelid Isn’t it just crap though that were not sure what we can and can’t say grrrr 😖

one of my colleagues is Eastern European and I’ve heard her say “foreigners” - when talking about people whose English isn’t as good as hers!

Interesting. Why different race?

I'm white European, but definitely a foreigner here, even though I have spent most of my adult life in this country.

Some people use the term pejoratively, but it doesn't seem to me like the OP did.

Bad wording on my part I think. It's problematic to refer to non white people who were born in the UK as foreigners as some people do with the idea that only white people can be British.

It is not usually an issue to use foreigner to describe someone not from the UK irrespective of race

Foreigner is not an offensive word

My husband is foreign. As he has reminded me every so often, from his point of view, I am foreign too.

The word itself is essentially neutral and it's the context in which it's used where it can become seen as derogatory. You didn't mean it in that way and it would be obvious to anybody listening from the topic but it wasn't meant insulting.

I do find it irritating that anyone caring about the words they use and not wanting to cause offence are seen as woke and as if being woke is in some way in itself an insult.

The word foreigners isn't a dirty word.

It's when it's said with the intent of ostracising a group of people for no valid reason that it becomes a problem.

I have a thick yorkshire accent, and some people, especially foreigners can't understand what I am saying.

In fact, I got in trouble at work once, where an African customer called, they thought they'd found a way to game our system, and I set them straight and explained why the loophole they thought they'd found wouldn't work.

They said "Oh, so I couldn't do that then?

and I said, "No, you cunt"

If you've got a thick Yorkshire accent like me, then you'll know I wasn't calling her a cunt. I was saying no you couldn't.

She complained about me to head office, this then went to our overseas quality assurance team for reviewing, who also agreed that I had called her a cunt, and sent back to my manager who was from down south, who also thought they'd heard me call her a cunt, but agreed in the context of the call, where I was being nothing but polite, that it didn't make sense, yet I still had to go through the disciplinary procedure because of my accent and natural way of speaking.

So I think it's more than fair to say that our accents can be hard for people to understand, especially foreigners who might not have as much experience with the plethora of dialects across the UK and how they differ in such extreme ways.

It’s intent that’s important. And you used the word correctly with out harmful / offensive intent.

I’ve done similar when I said do you see what I mean to a visually impaired person. I winced as it came out my mouth.

You can use foreigner as often as you like.

If anyone wants to be offended , then may they get much joy out of being offended and blow it up their arse with a puff of smoke, which will add to their pleasure.

I don't like foreign transgender women-that is men, who were not born here-pretending to be women.

Is that racist? Is it transphobic?

Maybe, to those who have heads softer than a baked apple but we will will always have softheads amongst us and we cannot become like them in order to accommodate their wrongthink.

Foreigner = someone from a country other than your own. It's not offensive but yes it has been used in that way by some very offensive people so I think has been somewhat tainted.
I understand your discomfort but I wouldn't worry if I were you. It the context and manner I think you said it, no reasonable person would take offence.

I remember talking about a PhD submission on the Dublin Wide Streets Commission with an Irish woman.
I told her that I thought the student had missed out one important reason for the Commission namely to make shooting the peasants easier. As soon as I said it I realised that I was being classed as a English (inset own words). I rapidly clarified by adding the example of the Parisian boulevards. Phew!
Intent, and accuracy, is everything.Don't worry.

I didn't even know the word foreigner was offensive. How else would you describe a foreigner?

I don't think "foreigner" is offensive per se. If it is, what other term am I supposed to use? "Foreign national"? "Non-national?" Those sound awfully legalistic.