Do you think comments such as those of MP Anne Marie Morris should be overlooked because they were once typical parlance?

[VladmirsPoutine]

I haven't come across a thread regarding this and it's made me wonder.

She was recorded using the N word in a conversational manner.

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/10/tories-urgently-investigating-after-mp-uses-n-word-at-public-event

She's apologised for the offence caused, oddly enough not because she actually caused it. And May is looking to suspend her.

But some of the comments I've read have said that the term she used is a typical idiom that used to be common parlance. Does that render it ok? I mean it was once acceptable to also own slaves and for men to rape their wives... so surely that's no excuse.

Lots of racial slurs and abusive words were common parlance once. I don't see how that is any form of 'defence' at all.

A highly offensive and inflammatory phrase. What's wrong with 'the fly in the ointment' which has the same meaning and is totally inoffensive (except to the fly, naturally, which might be a bit pissed off).

The whip has been suspended. Wondering why such a fuss has been made of this when keith vaz ''breaking in'' a vulnerable and easily exploited young sex worker was a private matter

No. She is unfit for office and should be sacked.

People who don't have a generally racist attitude just don't use language like that. Ever. Even by accident

And she apologised for 'any offence caused' which suggests she doesn't regard that phrase as automatically offensive, and never acceptable in any circumstances.

I've come across the specific phrase before OP, but never from the mouth of a person in real life. Only occasionally in old novels. Like pre Second World War old.

I'm generally in favour of giving people the benefit of the doubt in regards to old fashioned idioms, where the meaning / historic connotations may not be clear - not that it should be overlooked, just dealt with firmly and moved on from - but there is no way she could ever have thought this one was an acceptable thing to say. Ever.

No.

There is absolutely no excuse for using such disgusting language. I had never heard the phrase before (born in the 80s). I honestly doubt it was ever 'common parlance' i.e an idiom commonly used. Perhaps in the American Deep South...

I'm very old. Heard what op calls "common parlance " when I was younger. It was shit then and it is shit now. Only difference is, it is rightly jumped on as shit now.
Bloody disgrace.

Yy BadPolicy. Unbelievable.

No

My MIL says there's absolutely no excuse and she's "an ignorant young lady and should wash her mouth out". MIL is nearly 90 so if she thinks common parlance is no excuse then I don't dare disagree :)

If she's about 100 and has been unable to hear or read or otherwise take in information for the last 40 years, then possibly. But then it is debatable whether she is really fit for politics anyway. Otherwise, no.

I don't think it's acceptable at all. I knew of the phrase though because I read it in the original Bridget Jones' Diary and looked it up. That was fiction and used by Bridget's Mother to convey what sort of person she was.

It's an utterly horrific word and the fact it has been used by an apparently educated woman casually makes it even worse. That word has no place in any society.

I came on the thread as a mother of a black child and looking for a way to express myself. But then I saw this:

People who don't have a generally racist attitude just don't use language like that. Ever. Even by accident

That sums it up perfectly. She needs to escuse herself from her position. Our black children have a right to grow up without this bullshit.

Sorry my quote was from op annperkins.

Ffs not op, pp

She is local to me and this language is not common at all. I was horrified to hear that she would consider using it ever. She needs to be sacked.

My mother is 97 years old and knows better than to use such a word. There is absolutely no excuse for an MP!

If you don't swear in private you're unlikely to accidentally swear in public.

Likewise if you're not racist in private you won't accidentally say something racist in public.

It's obviously an expression she uses and for that alone she should be sacked.

No.

I grew up in the 60s so am close to the MP in age and this was a common phrase then as was referring to a particular shade of brown as N*** Brown and calling little black children piccaninnies. The fact that they were in regular use then does not make them ok now and any elected representative of multi-cultural Britain should be aware of that. If they aren't they deserve to lose their position.

I am 58 and the expression was in common usage when I was growing up. I was clearing out my parents house last year and found a copy of Little Black Sambo. That made for an edifying read. And my mum used to sing a lullaby to my dd 'Go to sleep my little piccaninny'. The second verse of 'The sun has got his hat on' takes some beating.

She is an idiot for saying it.

Oh yes. N*** brown.