in fact, have you unionised his elf-workshops?!
no anagallis, the fact that you say it grates, yet haven't even raised it with him is what makes it worse.
sorry dont agree, I find in a small way someone being derogatory abaout my origins offensive and I'm worse than him because I dont challenge him on it I'm worse. How? Why? Can I go round calling people a **** and unless they take offense consider them worse than me?
Ok, twist it round. If I used a word that was derogatory about someones origins, and they took offence, yet freely admitted they could have a word with me and i'd stop, you know what, I'd hope that you'd have that word with me. It doesn't sound like it's this chaps intention to offend, if it was, you could have him for all sorts under employment law.
The north / south thing has long been a stalwart of british humour - watch pretty much any panel comedy show these days and you'll get mention of it. Therefore if you're not prepared to at least raise it, when you freely admit that it will fix it, and you'll get an apology, then I really think you need to grow a spine.
i think there are 2 issues here
harry obviously doesnt mix much with asian people, have a few asian friends and have been out with them when people have called them ****, some seem to brush it off some are visibly upset and hurt for that reason i would never use the word
the other issue is that the army is surely the last bastion of bigotry and testosterone fueled boisterousness in the land and how can u ask men to go out and blow the cr@p out of other soldiers and the innevitable civilians etc and also say by the way u cant swear or be offensive in any way or can you?
I just watched the vid of Harry making the remarks the way he says it..My Little **** Friend doesnt sound like hes talking about a mate. He obviously cannot admit to it being racist being a royal, I am sure Grandad will give him advice on how to ride out the storm and how not to refer to his oriental friends.I suppose Harrys argument will be he gets ribbed about being Ginger which could also be offensive, perhaps racist.
oh yeah and '**** shop' just shows that someone is very ignorant or very racist
as for mocking harry where to begin...
how about "wheres your mother gone?"
the obvious ginger jibes
and dont even start on the fact that everyone in the entire country knows that his dad aint his dad
I see his step dad's entered the fray now as it turns out he calls one of his Asian polo pals 'sooty'. No info yet as to if Sooty calls Charles 'Big ears'.
IanMunro - very good.
I'm suprised they didn't manage to Sweep this under the carpet. Perhaps the asian polo guy will Sue HRH now.
I blame the ****stanis.
If they hadn't chosen a 4 syllable word to describe themselves in the first place, they would not have a problem now.
.
Anyway, is the term 'Pak' ok to use ?
After all it's a term which ****stanis themselves use, eg [url= http://www.pakchat.net/****-chat/ ]Pak Chat[/url] and [url= http://www.pakbutchers.co.uk/ ]Pak Butchers[/url]
Perhaps it's time now for ****stanis to reclaim the word '****'. In that way it will cease to be an insult.
Calling someone 'black' was once a huge insult. But when black people started to call themselves 'black' (because being black was nothing to be ashamed of) it ceased to be an insult.
Calling someone a **** to their face is, without a shadow of a doubt, highly offensive. But is saying to your mate, "[i]I'm popping down to the **** take-away, want something?[/i]" unacceptable ? Nah - get real ffs.
As is often the case in life, "common-sense" dictates what is, and what is not, acceptable.
Surely the term '****stani' refers to a nationality rather than a race, so therefore not 'racist'?
...of course I ment the abbreviated version of '****stani'...
'meant',even...
(Time for bed, methinks...)
Surely the term '****stani' refers to a nationality rather than a race, so therefore not 'racist'?
But it's applied to a race when used to refer to brown people.
Is Harry a racist or an idiot?
How about he's neither? He's a young man in the army, and hopefully has better things to do with his time than bother about the usual groups of professional victims queuing up desperate to be offended.
tj (and myself) are hardly in the frozen north,
there's miles left of scotland above us.
so i would say your from the south, not the midlands...
its from perspective really...
and as for the original topic, its just an abreviation of ****stani, as said.
its how the word is used.
kennyp; I'm not a 'professional victim'. I am of part Asian origin, however, and am offended by the use of the word Harry used, when applied to me in a derogatory or abusive context. As I have gone to some length, to explain.
As I've said numerous times, now, I don't believe Harry was being 'racist', but his casual use of such a word, towards an Asian person, reveals his ignorance and naiveté. To me, his attitude towards the sleeping 'victim' did seem a little condescending, but I would expect that from someone who believes he is in line to the throne (he surely must know Charles is not his real dad?). I suppose a certain arrogance and aloofness comes with such 'privilege'.
If Harry had referred to me as his 'little **** friend', I would not have been particularly happy. However, I am not the soldier in question, so therefore cannot speak for him.
I reckon Harry is guilty of far more serious crimes.
Masquerading as royalty, for one...
Just a thought, but how come some people get away with calling Afghanistanis 'Afghan' ?
Not that I would obviously.
Well ..... not to their face anyway.
RudeBoy, I wasn't meaning you, but there are people in this country off all colours, genders, whatever, that seem increasingly keen to be seen to be offended.
The young man referred to be Harry was a trainee officer being prepared to go off to war. The fact that a friend and fellow officer had called him what some people think is a rude word was probably not of the slightest interest to him. If he's been accepted for officer training then he's almost certainly got far greater things to think about.
As far as I can tell he's never claimed to have been offended. However there are lots of folk keen to be offended on his behalf (and unasked).
I'm Scottish and British. It doesn't bother me in the least being called a Jocko or a Brit or whatever, even if the person calling me the name is trying to be offensive. As far as I'm concerned they are more than likely jealous. I just laugh it off, which I'm sure is what this young officer did.
An inexcusable term and Harry was foolish to use it.. but the media's appetite for this kind of [/i]Daily Hate[i] non-story is by far the most crass thing. I mean, perhaps the tabloids will lead tomorrow with some insightful analysis of how the ****stan/Afghan border is more complex than negotiating spaghetti junction on acid - or maybe not. I'm not disputing various "institutional" (read: bullying of any kind) issues in the army, but FFS, it's an operational environment incredibly far removed from most peoples' lives - with all the black humour and (whisper it) bad language that implies.