To ask about the weird things you only learned from MN?

[Blanchedupetitpois]

It seems like in MN world there are all kinds of rules that I swear I’ve never seen expressed or followed in real life. What have you been most surprised by? I’ll start:

1. Adults don’t celebrate birthdays, and if you expect any recognition of yours, you’re being childish.

1. Halloween is exclusively an American import with no history in this country, and celebrating it is therefore tacky and meaningless.

1. Trick or treating is glorified begging.

1. Absolutely nobody other than you or your DP is remotely interested in your pregnancy, and even telling another person that you’re pregnant is akin to riding a donkey down the high street while calling for palm fronds to be laid at your feet in recognition of the impending miracle of your unborn child.

@WhirlyGigWhirlyGig It isn't something I wanted to say. However if you are told a word is offensive, and you spitefully continue to use it, it says that you are spiteful and won't learn from what you've been told, that you have no problems continuing to use a slur that you know people find offensive. If a person is that determined to use one offensive word or term, who is to say they don't use another?

You've been told a term is offensive. Instead of acknowledging that and deciding not to use it, out of courtesy, as any other tolerant person would do, you defiantly say you will continue to use the term. That speaks volumes about a person imo.

@VisitorsEntrance
"This is like someone standing staring through my bathroom window and then complaining they can see me naked."

Now you are being ridiculous. I suppose I could use your analogy for POC on here who get upset about the N word. It is the same thing. What you are saying is, that gay people from outside the UK should not come on here. A site that allows the n word used could also blame a POC for going on a forum that allows the n word.

It is called victim-blaming.

It is about common courtesy and being a decent person. I don't understand why it is so difficult for you. Is the 'fag' term the ONLY term you have? Can't you find other words? What is with the possessiveness over one word? It's bizarre.

I’ve got the perfect example for you here Salam.
I get toilet paper from Who Gives a Crap. They are an Australian company.
The word crap in the UK is a mild swear word, you wouldn’t use it in front of children.
I work in a primary school and usually I take nice big boxes into school for craft and the colourful paper wrapping of the rolls would be perfect, but they have a swear word on them. So I can’t. However I accept that crap is not a swear word in Australia.

You need to stop now Salem, seriously. I am sat on my sofa in the uk using language that is used daily in the uk. I'm sorry if you find it offensive but there you go, that's your problem not mine. I owe you no courtesy when you repeatedly tell me I mustn't use a word because it offends you,when you have repeatedly been told by numerous people and had articles supplied demonstrating the use and origins of the word. This is your problem, not mine.

That loads of people think you can actually change sex, and the politicians are too scared of harming to their careers to disagree.

@VisitorsEntrance Crap is also a mild swear word here, too.

I fail to see the relevance of your analogy as A) crap is not an offensive slur and B) this is an international forum, and not everyone on here is from the UK. I think you believe because many people on here are from the UK, that makes it ok for you to use terms you use in the UK. You don't seem to understand that it does not make it ok. Not at all. Because it is an international forum. The N word is mainly relevant to America, not to the UK or to Australia. Yet you in the UK and we in Australia, don't seem to have a problem no longer using the word. And since there are alternatives, like cigarettes, cigs etc, I don't see why you have a problem with no longer using a term that is a slur (REGARDLESS of the many definition it has in the UK) when there are alternatives. What's the problem?

@Salem please go and be offended elsewhere

@WhirlyGigWhirlyGig You are either pig ignorant or willfully stubborn. AGAIN, it is IRRELEVANT whether you use it in the UK. You are on a global web forum. What is it about that concept that you cannot seem to grasp?

Oh, sorry, it was about not having salads and healthy stuff at an evening do, which is a bit rich because you've not even in the fucking UK so why care what British people do at their weddings.

But did everyone go out for a fag after the buffet?

@WhirlyGigWhirlyGig You are just not getting it. Let me put it this way, because nothing else is sinking into you. You seem to think this is a UK-only site. THERE is the problem. Let me re-write your post to really show you:

You need to stop now, seriously. I am sat [sic] (sat is past tense, you mean you are sitting) sitting on my sofa in the uk using a term that is offensive in America, not the uk. I'm sorry if you find n-gg-r offensive but there you go, that's your problem not mine. I owe you nor any other people of colour courtesy when you repeatedly tell me I mustn't use a word because it offends you. If you are offended by n-gg-r and you are in America, this is your problem, not mine.

Go and boil your head somewhere else Salem, you are just being deliberately obtuse.

@dontalltalkatonce Er, no, I never said anything like that.

@WhirlyGigWhirlyGig You are the one being obtuse. You cannot get it through to your head that not everyone that comes on this site is from the UK, and most people would be considerate when conversing with others. You're either willfully obtuse, or plain nasty. One or the other.

So anyway. My links to right on left leaning newspaper The Guardian using ‘fag’. Are you composing your email now?

There is a lovely BBC radio comedy called Fags, Mags and Bags. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bgrs9n

Make sure you tell the BBC about your complaints too.

@SalemBlackCat4 isn't 'sick cunt' a term used in Australia to mean someone has done something nice for you or as a compliment?
If I am offended by this and the whole of Australia do not agree to stop staying it, does that mean they are all ignorant too?

I am an extremely tolerant person usually but you are something else Salem.
And for the record I tend to say things after years of being married to my husband and being around his family,they are northern. Sorry if my incorrect use of tenses also offends you.
Now please go away.

Are you going to write to Cressida Dick, the chief of the Met Police too? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46068013

@agirlhasnonameX Yes it is, in some quarters. The difference is, it is not a known slur with a history behind it. However I think many Australians like myself save our colloquialisms for when we are talking to each other. I would not use 'sick cunt' (not that I've ever used it, as I don't think I ever have) on a general web forum. See, that's the difference. 'know your audience' as the saying goes.

But did everyone go out for a fag after the buffet?

Probably! I'd gladly blow smoke if a guest like Salem came by just to fuck them off.

Well you do not appear to know your audience @Salem, otherwise you would have left a while ago.

Oh Whirly, I love you. I haven't heard "boil your head" for years. I must start using it again.

Anyone just want to say fag fag fag fag now?

Sorry Salem you need to look at other forums. Really weird telling a whole nation off for a word they use and .

Love this thread - yes to everything.

@WhirlyGigWhirlyGig Really? I am something else? You are the one who stubbornly and spitefully and defiantly defends using an offensive slur on a global forum, cannot see anything wrong with it, REFUSES to see the difference in using something at home among yourselves and using it on a wider international forum, and you say you are an 'extremely tolerant' person? All evidence to the contrary! Someone who is extremely tolerant would not be upset and so spiteful and stubborn when told a word is offensive and reminded that you are on a GLOBAL forum. I would never use the n word, even though it isn't really a thing in Australia and has never really been in usage here anyway, but because I recognise how hurtful it is and when I am on the internet, I realise there is a chance I could be conversing with someone from a country where it is a term that was in general usage and has an offensive meaning.

It really isn't that difficult to moderate your language and adjust it to suit the circumstances. You are on the internet which is not based just in the UK. You simply cannot see that important distinction. If anyone was remotely tolerant let alone extremely, it wouldn't even be an issue to argue about. They would realise they are likely to come across people from all over the world, all walks of life on here. And adjust accordingly. It's called being a tolerant and decent person. But that is a concept you simply will not come to grips with, because for you, you being in the UK trumps the risk of conversing with people not in the UK and perhaps affected by the term. It is all about what you want. Stuff everyone else.