Re: Argument

From: Tim Booth <T.Booth@isu.usyd.edu.au>

Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 04:55:09 +0000

MadCentral wrote:
>
> >>Because it simply isn't nasty. You're welcome to disagree, but it's
> tedious to start long, lame threads based a humorous posting. That's part
> of why we have so many stupid, lame threads in this newsgroup.<<
>
> Greg,
>
> Given that you are not British, I find it obtuse that you claim to know more
> about what our slang means than we do.  I promise you, absolutely, that the
> word ''wanker'' is most certainly a very nasty and unpleasant word.  It is not
> a quaint word, it is not a nice word, and it is not a funny word, in British
> slang.

Get serious. Oops, that might have been Oz slang ;-)
The w-word (as I shall call it) really doesn't mean that much anymore,
in the same way as the f-word and the c-word have been completely
devalued over time. Someone is going to have to come up with a new
phrase that *really* offends...
>
> If you walked up to me in a pub and called me a wanker I would, without a
> seconds hesitation, smack you right around the head.  Anybody in Britain would.

Or they'd give you a big hug, cos you're their best mate, and that's
what you call each other wqhen you're bing pleasant, perhaps??

>  It is a nasty, unpleasant word when used here. Throwing it around in this room
> is *just as bad* as using the F-word, or any number of other unpleasant words.
> Sure, we ALL use them (well, maybe not Carol) when we are out with our mates
> having a pint.  But in a public forum, its really very rude.

No longer, I'd have to say. Once upon a time perhaps...
>
> Listen Greg, past differences aside, I KNOW you don't mean this seriously.  I
> know that you think its a mild word.  I accept and fully appreciate that it was
> meant to be a humorous comment.

$DEITY, it *is* a mild word, compared to f or c... the intimation that
you may enjoy self-pleasure is so minor these days....
>
> BUT, please understand that to many British it is NOT a humorous comment and
> that there are people here who find it offensive.

But they're prolly not the same people as use UseNet are they??

Oh I guess, simply because my nick at school was 'Big W' after getting
busted
w-ing at a party might influence me - but I also woulda thought that it
would influence
me the other way (ie, being more sensitive to being called a w-word) -
but
it hasn't - but then again, I'm also a .au, and we're notoriously
thick-skinned.
[Note self-stereo-typing ;-) ]

Webko

References

Re: Argument
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Thu, 05 Apr 2001 23:10:02 +0000
Re: Argument
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Mon, 09 Apr 2001 02:08:55 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Argument
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Thu, 05 Apr 2001 23:10:02 +0000
Re: Argument
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Mon, 09 Apr 2001 02:08:55 +0000