To not know if describing a person as coloured is politically incorrect.

[WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid]

Was talking to a friend today and I mentioned I had met one of his colleagues (but I wasn't sure who). He said. Oh was she a coloured lady?

I said yes and we each knew who it was I had met. I was a bit taken aback as you don't really hear the word coloured used anymore. But it was probably the best way to describe her (kind of Mediterranean / Indian).

Was I being too politically correct for being at the way he described her?

Your arguments are ridiculous - the term 'coloured' is connected with the apartheid. So, fairly logical then that it would be viewed as offensive now and always should have been.

If you are going to call my arguments ridiculous, it would help if you knew what you were talking about.

The Coloureds of SA still call themselves coloured and are not by and large offended by the term, in fact identify themselves by it.

Coloured being offensive in the UK actually comes from the US deep south, where segregation was practiced between "whites" and "coloureds", and the 1960's Black Civil Rights movement preferred the term "black".

The UK eventually picked up "coloured" as offensive due to this (later than 30 years ago, but that is Not To Be Admitted - and explains Sarah's confusion) and used the new US term, "black"

In the US of course, "black" has now been largely replaced with "African-American"

So it is predictably only a matter of time before attempts to see "black" as offensive in the UK will start, and replaced (by "British African"?), as our hand-wringing academics take their cues largely from the US (while professing disdain at all things American, of course).

Whatever music, you obviously haven't read the thread, or perhaps you have some mixed metaphor competition going on inside your head.

OP was wondering whether a particular term was offensive and the thread then developed into a discussion about how language changes, I don't quite understand your antagonism.

It's not correct and can even be seen as offensive.

Anyway, you get some people who have loyalty cards for tanning salons. You'd think they wish they were born a different race some of the colours they get into.

I'm sure you're right, whatme, black willl be replaced by another term.

And why exactly is that such a massive problem?

Ok whatme-I suggest you go straight to "nigger". After all it's bound to become the correct term soon.......

Just call people what they want to be called, ffs!

Well I find people reading threads in AIBU and then complaining about being annoyed highly irritating.

Honestly why are you even reading this if it is annoying you (assuming you have read the whole thread)?

whatmeworry

may I extrapolate your point?

...so, as the subject is confusing/not straight forward/ likely to evolve over time.....people should say what they like. And no one should be offended?

is that it?

seeker-Just call people what they want to be called, ffs!

Too complicated for some people apparently, that or they don't believe its really as simple as that and not some massive intellectual left wing conspiracy!

Ok whatme-I suggest you go straight to "nigger". After all it's bound to become the correct term soon

No doubt you are trying to be sarcastic, but given the way semantic shifts work, as "nigga" is now commonly used by US African American kids in referring to themselves, that is entirely possible.

SarahStratton

" I didn't mean it like that Pendeen, I meant it genuinely, I'm sorry if you can't see that "

Irony not ignorance...

Just call people what they want to be called, ffs!

Just make sure you know who wants to be called what - watching hand wringing UK people getting all huffy on behalf of SA coloureds, who couldn't care less, is a case study in futility.

And that no one frothing here can/dares write down what is or isn't "OK" at any one time shows how absurd the whole PC crap shoot is.

Perceptionreality
"Your arguments are ridiculous - the term 'coloured' is connected with the apartheid. So, fairly logical then that it would be viewed as offensive now and always should have been."

You are of course entitled to your point of view, but perhaps you should tell the National Association for the Advacement of Colored People (NAACP) where they are making a mistake.

www.naacp.org/NAACP

Again whatme why exactly is the fact that language changes such a massive problem for you?

There's no list because language changes.

Make a list for today then.

The NAACP call the term antiquated and out-dated, actually, and keep the term for historical significance. Not because its a fine and dandy description.

Call people whatever you like. It's actually a really simple way for the rest of us to spot the morons easily and quickly.

Comfortable middle class women taking offence on this someone else's behalf is laughable though.

I'm a comfortable middle class woman. Is it laughable that I should take offence on behalf of my husband who has been the victim of a vicious racially motivated attack? Is it laughable that I should take offence on behaf of my best friend, whose daughter is currently the victim of racist bullying in school? Is it laughable that I should take offence on behalf of colleagues who have failed to progress in their careers because their faces don't fit? Is it laughable that I should object to certain terms being used to describe my daughter because they belong to an outdated view of the world in which she would not have been considered as being equal to a child with white skin?

Go ahead, laugh away. I don't find it funny.

Why should I make a list?

I'm not an expert in not offending people, but I hope I don't because I listen. Can't see why that's so difficult to undersatnd. Why do you want a list?

Call people whatever you like. It's actually a really simple way for the rest of us to spot the morons easily and quickly

Tut. Moron is also Un-PC, or is that a different list?

what do you want a list of?

Comfortable middle class women
Who used that old chestnut. One that is generally dragged out to belittle someone having an opionon on MN.

I am comfortable, being dressed in a cosy tracksuit with my slippers on

Middle class I am not. Not everyone on MN is and even if they were it doesnt negate their opionons. What if it was a comfortable middle class black woman posting?

Why dont people just accept that a word is offensive and stop using it? Why the insistance of carrying on even though dropping the word would have no impact on their lives whatsoever?

Using the term PC? Check. You're a moron.

Complaining about political correctness generally just means you're pissed off that you're not allowed to openly be such a dick anymore.

"And that no one frothing here can/dares write down what is or isn't "OK" at any one time shows how absurd the whole PC crap shoot is."

Whatme, can I perhaps turn this around to you?

Do you have a list of words which are not acceptable (according to you, rather than ones you disagree with) when describing somebody's ethnic origin?

Or just plain rude,Pendeen

i'm interested in the fact that no-one will tackle the right things and wrong things currently... not wishing to be controversial of course (i've never used coloured) but earlier in the thread people were being very emphatic that 'coloured' is wrong and anyone who uses it is basically a moron. so they must have some idea of what's on and what's not. paki and chinky i would say were not on, but someone posted further down that they didn't mind them in reference to takeaways and shops and if i'm not mistaken they were themselves of Chinese extraction? can't scroll back, am on phone.