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.

So if we’re talking about alternative words, Salem, what about faggot (as in the ones you eat with peas)? I would never call a person a faggot, but the food doesn’t have an alternative name. Should it be discontinued as a dish?

She's probably tired and emotional. After all it is the middle of the night where she is.

@CoughLaughFart I don't eat a 'faggot' with peas. I don't even know what that would even refer to in terms of food. What is that?

It's a UK dish.

Yes, I gather that. But what does it consist of? Is there an alternate word that would register with me? Like, sausage, soup, bread, etc?

@CoughLaughFart I don't eat a 'faggot' with peas.

I didn’t mean you personally. Anyway:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

Damn it, Sainsburys is shut, I want faggots for dinner now. I wonder if the local Co-op sells them. Oh wait, I'm not allowed to call the foodstuff faggots for fear of offending someone 🙄

BlueLady it's a great phrase isn't it.

Through I'm tempted to make up a little ditty with lots of fag usage in it. But first I'm going in the garden for an actual fag.

No. They're called faggots. It's not slang or a nickname. Someone posted a picture upthread.

SalemBlackCat4

It might be worth bearing in mind that in the UK we never - or rarely - use the word "fag" to refer to gay people anyway, let alone to insult them.

If the haters have appropriated a previously inoffensive word with numerous other innocent meanings, it's for them to stop using it to offend people, not us when we're using one its other harmless meanings.

And to address your "global village" argument, I genuinely believe if I were to ask a visiting homosexual from "the rest of the English speaking world" if he fancied a fag, I would get little more than an ironically raised eyebrow.

Doesn't it seem a bit strange that you are preaching tolerance whilst having a go at a different cultures use of slang or is it just me?
I think your efforts would be better spent on people who use the word in the context of a homophobic slur no?

@CoughLaughFart Oh, so they are simply meatballs. Not sure why the word meat balls can't be used, but, whatever.

They're not called meatballs because they're faggots. Sigh.

Oh, so they are simply meatballs.

No they aren’t meatballs. They are fagotts.

So now we have to rename our food to stop offending your cousin who once saw a thread.

@agirlhasnonameX No I am having a go at people using an offensive term. Would you also feel I was having a go at a different cultures use of the n word if someone used that on here and I pulled them up on it? An offensive slur is an offensive slur. I would have thought (but I was clearly mistaken on here) that pulling someone up on their usage of an offensive slur is a sign of tolerance to the suffering of others. As I said, clearly on here people think it is acceptable to use offensive slurs - as long as the term has a 'different' meaning in their country. That, makes it all ok then. Sigh.

DH has just said he is away for a fag. Should I divorce him ??

According to that wiki link, they are meat balls. That they are known by a slang term doesn't change that.

It isn’t a slang term. It’s the name of the dish.

Not sure why the word meat balls can't be used, but, whatever.

Because they're not simply meat balls. They are a specific thing called a faggot which is different from a meat ball.

Why should we have to change half our vocabulary because someone - relatively recently - decided to steal the word as an insult?

Yes, Salem, it does make it all right to use a word in your own country which offends none of that country's citizens because it means a meat dish or a cigarette and NOTHING else. When in Rome and all that.

Faggot isn’t a slang term. It’s the word for a particular type of meatball. Are you usually so one dimensional with language Salem?

Tbh I haven't heard the word in question used as a slur towards gay people in the UK, I thought that was an American thing. I have heard "poof" though, so maybe we should stop saying that too? And dyke has various meanings also? Context surely matters....

@VisitorsEntrance I am surprised it is even allowed on there. In my country the company would be told by Fair Trading they have to change the name or they would lose their licence to make/sell the product. Names like that are simply not allowed on packaging. Stuffed if I know why they can't just write meatballs on it.

DH has just said he is away for a fag. Should I divorce him ??

LTB.