Racial Slur Left Up

[BarbaraHoward]

Hi MN

I reported this post shortly after it was made this morning for using the slur "throw a paddy". I received an email saying it was being looked into, but despite a follow up email and then another report it's still up.

I've reported this phrase many times over the years (I'm sure you're sick of it, but I do think it's important to challenge racist language when we come across it) and it's usually taken down straight away. As I said in the email, I know the poster probably isn't aware of the phrase's origins which is why I didn't want to derail the thread. I also, frankly, don't have the energy today to have that row yet again.

Is there a change in moderating standards that means racist language is now left to stand? Should we be challenging everything on the boards?

Absolutely we all screw up. I remember getting into an argument online in the 1990s about the politics of black hair (about which I knew sod all) and having my ass deservedly handed to me. All you can do is apologise and learn from it. Rather than repeatedly insist that you're right and everyone else is wrong to be offended.

I hadn't realised the origins of this at all! I think when you grow up with words, that just are, and you don't feel like they really came from anywhere, it's really hard to see when you are using something offensive. Honestly it terrifies me as I dread to think what I have said or may say they I haven't realised the origins of.

Anyway, I'm glad I saw this thread.

‘Thickos’?

Do you have an issue with people who don't grasp that 'Can someone from the Home Counties pronounce this name?' isn't everyone's main criterion for naming their child, deny that anti-Irish prejudice continues to exist, and continue to insist that Hiberno-English is a 'wrong' or mistaken version of the dialects of English they consider 'standard' being described as 'thick'?

I have an issue with using the term ‘thicko’ or ‘thick’ to describe anyone. Doing so makes the user stoop to the same level as the very people they are calling out.
I can agree that the things you have listed show a degree of ignorance, overt racism or just plain lack of education whilst still thinking ‘thicko’ is an unacceptable slur.

I think you're confused. The slur @BarbaraHoward reported was a slur against a specific ethnic group. I am not calling any specific group 'thickos', unless it be a group consisting of the type of person who persists in denying their own prejudices and/or prejudicial language once they've been pointed out to them. It is in no way similar to using an ethnic slur which is directed against a specific ethnicity.*

(*And yes, Ireland no longer consists of a single ethnicity, but I'm not sure the kind of people I'm thinking of would be likely to have the slightest awareness of this.)

I’m not ‘confused’. The use of insulting language to describe anybody is unacceptable.

I thought 'mick' in taking the mick was short for micturition. The posh word for pissing!

This is just unpleasant. If people don’t know the origin of something I don’t see why there is the need to call them names. I know the origin of paddy and why it is offensive but I had never heard of ‘Irish twins’ before until I saw it on here not that long ago. I would never have used those words as I didn’t even know it was a thing, and as I know it is offensive and why I wouldn’t use it for that reason also.

@KoalaCalledKevin i didn’t know uppity was offensive… off to look that up now.

ETA. For those that don’t know uppity was used by racist southerners towards black people who ‘didn’t know their place’. The article I read said it is racist when used towards black people because of this. I don’t think it is that commonly known though.

Paddy isn't offensive. Paddy is a name like John. It's a shortened form of Patrick/Pádraig.

'Have a Paddy' is offensive because it is making a reference to the stereotype of Irish people (Paddy), being aggressive and short tempered or having tantrums.

ETA and before anyone jumps on me referring to Irish people as Paddys is offensive similarly Micks.

Wtaf MN. Made it to the thread to delete @FierceQuiet 's duplicate post but haven't managed to comment or reply to my messages.

Seriously?

I know it is a name and I also know about the Irish stereotype and the having a paddy being about that. I didn’t think I needed to write the whole thing out as that is what the thread is about

Fwiw I interpreted your post in that way @MagentaRocks .

Another poster wrote P.... for Paddy as though you can't say it. I just wanted to clarify that the name of many people in Ireland, is not offensive.

Too lazy to scroll, but I think that poster didn't want to type "paddywhack", not paddy.

Agree with all of that. You don't know what you don't know, as they say, and in this day and age it can inadvertently trip you up and cause offence where none was intended.

Pointing out why something is unacceptable can be helpful, and even if the poster in question argues about it, at least other people can find out something they didn't know before.

We're all learning something new today. I just looked up paddywhack and it's a derogatory name for an Irish person. Never heard of it.

Cockney rhyming slang I always thought. Taking the Micky Bliss (no idea who he was though!!)

No need for offence to be taken on that one, although I am sure that won't stop some from trying.

Paddy is an offensive slur yes, but it's not racist. Irish people are traditionally white are they not? Racism doesn't affect white people.

🙄

In the Equality Act, race can mean your colour, or your nationality (including your citizenship). It can also mean your ethnic or national origins, which may not be the same as your current nationality.

Yes, anti Irish slurs are racist.

That's another row I'm sick of having.

Shall we do haitch, gotten and Halloween while we're at it?

I just followed the link to the post and can see it’s been edited now.

It is anti-Irish sentiment

Aye just took seven hours, two reports, an email and a thread in site stuff. And they still haven't responded to me. And edited it rather than deleted. The poster probably doesn't even know.

Seriously pissed off, I thought we sorted this one years ago.

That's not racism though. People shouldn't call it something it isn't. It is absolutely anti Irish but please don't call it something it's not.

Racism affects people that aren't white.