Btw that was to Hooameye about PalenQ in case it's not obvious...

be gentle -- PQ is on a stronger paint formula.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-26788607

He's been told that before - he's just doing it to get a rise.>

No I did or do not remember being corrected but will now and just because a society changes its name do you think everyone used to using that word does not still at times use it? I think some do - quite a few probably but agree that it would not be appropo now to use it.

Thanks for the correction which I honestly sincerely did not remember so your charge is bogus.

Sorry Hooameye, me being lazy in my reading.

You may not feel jet lagged, but you need all your wits about you for the first few days while adjusting to driving on the left in a right hand drive vehicle — in a sudden emergency old habits take over. I have the same problem when returning to my native US after years of driving in Britain.

spastic, well off the radar now (by about 40 years) :-)

There haven't been 'Spastic Shops' in Britain for over 20 years. This is from the website -

"In 1952, three parents of children with cerebral palsy set up The Spastics Society because no one would educate their children.

The organisation grew and changed to become a household name. But attitudes to disabled people changed as well. The word 'spastic' became a term of abuse. Suddenly, The Spastics Society's name was holding it back.

We wanted to say something positive about disability. In 1994, The Spastics Society became Scope".

spastic, well off the radar now (by about 40 years)>

Yet just 20 years ago the shops were called Spastics Shops - so what you say is patently untrue it seems. Oh well I'll admit to being a little spastic about it all...

Cheers

nah, the society held the word back for years, I used to visit the local school that was supported by the charity and my goodness the "board" we old foggies. I stand by it. :-)

anyway Brits here with a high dedgeon to nit pick miss the point - that words here and there can have dramatically different meanings - like 'fag' - a cigarette in Britain but slang for a gay person here - a Brit coming here and asking someone for a fag will get quite a reaction perhaps.

and call a spade a spade - why that caused high dudgeon for the American beats me - just a benign phrase here. Curious as to what you meant?

>>and call a spade a spade - why that caused high dudgeon for the American beats me - just a benign phrase here. Curious as to what you meant?<<

You must not get out and about very much. That phrase could get you in serious trouble in some neighborhoods.

Spade a spade! I also wondered about that - do people take it to mean a Black person (or worse). I thought it just meant saying what you see ( or mean) - ironic really. I nearly got thrown out of a US restaurant (southern states) for shouting "Its a cracker" mimicking a once popular UK comic. They tried to explain the problem but the point was lost on me - they were all beating around the bush instead of saying what they meant.

Yes -- cracker is a big problem (and many from other parts of the US wouldn't get it either). In some places/groups it is a very derogatory word for a white person. . . . In other places it is just a Triscuit ;)

>>do people take it to mean a Black person (or worse)<<

Some do.

Not sure whihc neighborhoods you're walking around but no one here that I know of considers calling a spade a spade to refer to Black folks. We travel in different circles.

That said janis is right on:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/...-spade-a-spade

as Oscar Wilde has it "a spade, I have never even seen a spade?".

[ie as in shovel].

The problem PQ dear . . . is that the sorts of folks who would misunderstand aren't in the habit if listening to/reading NPR.

OF COURSE it isn't racist (!) . . . that doesn't change the fact that folks in many places THINK IT IS. . . .

I have worked/volunteered w/ two programs for offenders - the participants would 100% think the term "Spade" means African American (and a large % would not know spade is a shovel)

had no inkling that calling a spade a spade is racist-its used in Oz often.
No one here would ask for a "fag" -used to be able to buy fags -a lolly cigarette but the name was changed some years ago because her it is a derogatory term for a gay person.
Why would you use the term "spastic" PalenQ when you know its a derogatory term now!!!!
The Spastic society was set up in Oz in 1941 and changed its name to scope in 2001 -in UK 20 years ago . It was for many years before that used bu some as derogatory term and would have been considered "bullying" .

have worked/volunteered w/ two programs for offenders - the participants would 100% think the term "Spade" means African American (and a large % would not know spade is a shovel)>

Are you sure you were not in Folsom Prison instead of volunteering!

just joking - and yes unless you come into contact with groups who consider it offensive one at least up here in northern Michigan would never realize that - and this area has a lot of blatant racists here using the N word.

Thanks for your clarification.