Coloured
A few years ago, one of my colleagues left and I had to train up another muppet colleague to do her job.

As I was explaining the job to her, I said "you need to send this form to X"
She said "Who's X"
I said "Y'know, the Theatre Manager"
To which she replied "Oh right, the coloured woman, you mean?"
After I processed what she'd said, I replied "She's not coloured, she's black"
"That's coloured, isn't it?"
"No, that's racist. X is black"
"So coloured, yeah?"

this went on for some time, with this woman basically mocking me because I took exception to her describing someone I was quite friendly with as "coloured". I even dug out my Equality and Diversity workbook, which included a list of words that were not acceptable. She still continued to make a point of calling her "coloured".

but then, this was in Manchester, where no-one seemed to bat an eyelid when someone in the office kept referring to her husbard as being "a paki" and her daughter as "a half-paki"...
(ScousersPet, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:24, 23 replies)

Was she actually black, or actually very dark brown?

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:33, closed)

I reckon that she reflects less light than a black hole.

( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:41, closed)

I don't get it
Is this a tongue in cheek jibe at the way racial terms come into and go out of fashion or did you really take exception to her use of the term?

Although I don't know the person I have a shiny pound coin that says she is neither "black" nor "coloured".

My rucksack is black, a lump of coal is black.

A pack of crayons or felt tips can be coloured.

Was she just in possession of a darker shade of meat and bone covering than your colleague?

I liked Morgan freeman's comments on how black history month in the USA was ridiculous in that the entire history of a large part of the population was being relegated to one month a year and that maybe instead of getting too caught up in the terminology involved in defining our differences we should maybe just define each other as people and get on with things..
(OTT, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:36, closed)

Please
The term is "African-American meat and bone covering".
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:55, closed)

You owe me a pound
I heard her refer to herself as "black" on a couple of occasions.

I genuinely took exception to the use of a word that is considered derogatory, in exactrly the same way I would have taken exception to her calling her a negro - a term once considered acceptable that is now considered offensive.

The crayons thing is pretty much the line that my colleague took at one point. The problem with that is: I am white, which is a colour, so I am coloured as well, so she may as well have dsaid "that human woman"
(ScousersPet, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:00, closed)

Hold on.
Are you implying that coloureds are human? Bit presumptuous.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:10, closed)

I think you're being a bit hysterical there.
These things evolve.

I'm sure 20 years ago it was quite acceptable to use the term coloured. The question is really what the intention is. Doesn't sound like she was deliberately using it in a disparaging way, from what you have said.

If the prefered term is black now, what you really should have done is told her that.

But you quietly got all pissy about it, and expect us to all get indignant too.
(username failed moderation, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:11, closed)

Doesn't sound like she was deliberately using it in a disparaging way...
I've just moved from Yorkshire where the locals all refer to the Pakistani locals as "Pakis".

After a few months I realised it wasn't intended to be offensive. I'm not sure what the local Pakistanis thought, but if you said that to someone in London you wouldn't get a happy reception.

If I'm not mistaken though, this QOTW is about ignorance. If you are using a 20year old out of date term that someone finds offensive and you didn't know... well, that sounds like ignorance to me.
(TheASK, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:29, closed)

No, ignorance means
lacking in awareness.

If you'd just said 'You do realise that's now considered offensive, don't you?", you might have got on better.

You just said exactly the same thing yourself. You realised the Yorkshire people weren't meaning to be offensive.

[edit - OK, that was a completely different poster said that. Left for honesty . . .]

What's the difference between her and them?

Pfft.
(username failed moderation, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:53, closed)

'You do realise that's now considered offensive, don't you?",
I said this a couple of times, she kept chuckling and saying "but she IS coloured"
(ScousersPet, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:57, closed)

We could keep this up all
day.
(username failed moderation, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 13:00, closed)

I read
the story as he did tell her but she choose to ignore him.
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:39, closed)

Perhaps she didn't believe a white boy
telling him what terms black people don't like? A bit like the way some local councils claim that "brainstorm" is offensive to people with epilepsy.
(ubergeekian, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 14:11, closed)

No pound here my friend
She may have referred to herself as black but I do not think there is a human being in the world (excluding carbonised bodies pulled out of house fires) that is black.

And I have another shiny pound that says you aren't white.

If however you can shave your entire body, close your eyes and disappear when standing in front of a white cyc wall then you win.

Don't bother digging out the depilator though. If you think you are white you are probably a very pale peachy colour, or red if you have sunburn, or a very light brown if you tan well, or slightly yellow if you are jaundiced.

But you are not white.
(OTT, Sat 1 Sep 2012, 18:27, closed)

Typical coons, always complaining.
Excellent dancers, though.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 12:45, closed)

Haha
racist lolz, are you related to Bernard Manning, per chance?
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 14:38, closed)

Before you get on your high horse
have you ever wondered what NAACP stands for?
( electric_goat, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 13:54, closed)

I have a dream
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
(ubergeekian, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 14:13, closed)

Black people don't really find the word coloured offensive at all. The offense comes from the fact a white boy thinks he's doing them a favour by stating that you shouldn't use certain descriptive words whilst ignoring the rape, murder and enslavement that went on for generations.

plus, many of us plain don't like white people. So will be offended no matter what you say.





bruv.
(Bushcricket, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 16:25, closed)

Meh, whites are OK, they're usually dead. It's those pink cunts I can't stand

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 19:06, closed)

How could a pleb like you possibly know what's racist and what's not?

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Fri 31 Aug 2012, 22:05, closed)

I don't see the issue
White people don't take offence from being called white especially since they're more accurately described as light pink / beige. What's the problem calling an African black. Either both terms are offensive or neither of them are.
(MagicMoose, Sat 1 Sep 2012, 17:36, closed)

some people
are equally offended by political correctness being applied in a patronising fashion.
(ianisme, Mon 3 Sep 2012, 17:46, closed)