Facebook fans fuel faggots firestorm

"Worse than that, they allow comments ... like "would of gone""

Well, of course they do. That's what happens when your ban on all Nazis extends to the grammar Nazis. The internet needs the SS [1] if it's going to stay readable.

[1] Sentence Structure.

Re: I would be interested to see if their censorship guidelines can be found online

Far worse for bad grammar is Stackoverflow, though to be fair a large number of developers on there have broken English, not to mention no clue about software development. I'd suggest a typical location they come from too but I'd be accused of being racist. Well, those and students looking for the answer to an exam question, and candidates for jobs likewise for interview questions.

Re: Two countries divided by a common language

>>>Oh what a Gay Day! (attr Larry Grayson)

Another word that has had its original meaning hijacked.<<<

In fairness I'm pretty sure Grayson knew exactly what he was saying ;)

Re: Two countries divided by a common language

"Wilkes insisted he was innocent, however. 'It may have a different meaning in America but I used it in a food context,'"

I believe I speak for all of us when I say "Chinny reck-on."

Re: 'Twas ever thus

Yep, 'smoking a fag' is apparently also a euphemism for performing oral sex on a homosexual man's phallus. Cue red faces all round.

Another culture shock I hit once was crossing the road at a junction before the pedestrian lights turned. I made it to the island and was waiting for the red light to mean I could cross the last bit when the traffic stopped. People were screeching to a halt dramatically tens of yards away and shaking fists etc. I wasn't familiar with this idea of jay walking. In a country where it's legal for people to carry concealed handguns you're not allowed to cross the road on your own... Bizarre!

I can't agree with jay walking laws, why does the automobile get precedence just for its size? I mean before cars it was horses, and just plain pedestrian walking before that. When did the right of way get stolen from environmental self-propulsion and monopolised? It seems a far bigger interference in personal freedoms than the NSA have ever done.

Re: Could've Been Worse

Worse than that, if he says he's about to roast faggots...

Or do you boil them? I've never been tempted by them. Despite that advert, "Brain's Faggots. So good, you'll wish you tried them years ago." It took me a while to work out that Brain's was the trade-name, rather than the ingredient... And while we're at it, you can keep your mushy peas as well!

I want proper, honest, food like toad-in-the-hole...

Re: #IAMNOTAMERICAN

"They" are more powerful than "We". 'Twas ever so.

Re: This is disturbing

>>>Note for visiting Americans: You must not use the word 'pardon' when in England. <<<

And every Friday Night is singalong night at the Opera Houses.

Re: This is disturbing

Since English is in general of French or German origin :

Fagot : Un fagot est un faisceau de petit bois, de branchages. Translated it becomes "a bunch or bundle of small sticks."

It is difficult to know the etyomology of the American adaptation.. Was it maybe to suggest - "a group ( bundle) of men having small penis(sticks)" ?

By the way I notice that there are two spellings Faggot and Fagot......What are the correct spellings for the English food and the American slander term ?

Re: This is disturbing

Actually the full online OED at www.oed.com does have an entry for the meat(-ish) product, it's in section 5 (out of 9).

Re: This is disturbing

I followed the link to oed.com and found this:

5. (See quot. 1851.)

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 227/2 He..made his supper..on ‘fagots’. This preparation..is a sort of cake, roll, or ball,..made of chopped liver and lights, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig's caul.

FWIW I just hoiked my copy of the "Shorter" off the shelf. That's the one that comes in two large and heavy volumes. Neither of the meanings under discussion is listed in the main body of the dictionary, but both are in the Addenda at the end.

Re: This is disturbing

From the online Oxford English dictionary

From practical experience.

I used to eat these frequently in the 60's (the Brain's factory that made them was just a mile or so away) and I have eaten them in the last few years too.

They were served up for dinner at Frenchay Hospital (2 years ago), and my Dad looked forward to them when they were on.

www.oed.com does know about edible faggots was Re: This is disturbing

Aksherly:

The full Oxford English Dictionary has an awful lot of definitions for "faggot", including (from http://www.oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=faggot&_searchBtn=Search):

5. (See quot. 1851.)

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 227/2 He..made his supper..on ‘fagots’. This preparation..is a sort of cake, roll, or ball,..made of chopped liver and lights, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig's caul.

1858 G. A. Sala Journey due North 308 The curious viands known in cheap pork-butchery..as Faggots.

1881 in Oxford Gloss. Supp.

I've gained some considerable entertainment thinking about what our cousins over the pond might make of the OED's definitions under "faggot". Such as:

7. A person temporarily hired to supply a deficiency at the muster, or on the roll of a company or regiment; a dummy. Obs.

1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew, Faggots, Men Muster'd for Souldiers, not yet Listed.

1708 Brit. Apollo No. 105. 4/1 You may be some Faggot to pass at a Muster.

a1753 P. Drake Mem. (1755) II. iii. 75 The Adjutants..came to treat and settle with me about the Fagots (Men deficient of the Number of Workmen, ordered from each Regiment).

1756 Ld. Chesterfield Connoisseur No. 102. 618 William, a Faggot in the First Regiment of the Guards.

1802 in C. James New Mil. Dict.

8. = faggot-vote n.

1817 Sir F. Burdett in Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 1368 These faggots..returned the two members to the House of Commons.

1879 Daily News 16 Apr. 6/6 He..had not the slightest doubt he would win, unless he were to be swamped by faggots.

1884 Truth 13 Mar. 374/1 The art of manufacturing fagots.

Re: This is disturbing

"Note for visiting Americans: You must not use the word 'pardon' when in England. To do so implies that..."

...You are middle class who thinks its upper class to use French words everywhere, like 'serviette'.

Use "What?" like everyone else.

Mmmm, but apparently if they say something that's offensive to us, that's alright. It's if we say (or do) something that's offensive to them, big trouble.

Least that's what it looks like from this perspective.

SO I can't say she hasa cute fanny ?(meaning bum) or to stick it in her fanny pack.

Re: Faggots, AKA "Savoury ducks" offensive?

These things should be a source of amusement about the differences between us denizens of Sol 3 rather than offence... For example I would like to be a fly on the wall when someone tries to 'Bum a fag'!

You have however made me think of bacon and we have none in the house and THAT offends me!

Re: Faggots, AKA "Savoury ducks" offensive?

Oink to tail, regardless of name, all things pork are tasty.

Pigs are stout,

Pigs are kind,

Pigs are seldom clean.

Snout before,

Tail behind,

And bacon in between.

-- Spike Milligan

Re: Faggots? Yuck!

You might be a Brit but the American way is clearly strong within you. HOW does eating pig turn you into a cannibal???

oh....sorry. Just answered my own question...come home. Your IQ needs recharging....

Re: Faggots? Yuck!

Balls to you!

When I was a lad my Mum used to cook her own faggots, she'd often use the dripping from the previous day's roast to cook them, drop in a little bit of Bovril or Marmite and they were out of this world!

Re: Talking about Rugby can cause embarrassment as well...

Then again, we all know that you get up to some pretty odd things in the scrum...

Anyway they have a position in American Football called "tight end", so they're in no position to comment.

Re: F******G AMERICANS!

Sweetmeats? Now THEY'RE the bollocks!

Re: F******G AMERICANS!

"The F******G Americans call them Sweetmeats!"

I think you might be getting this slightly confused... sweetmeats is a term sometimes used for confectionary or candy.

Sweetbreads, on the other hand, is a culinary term referring to various glands - i.e thyroid, pancreas or, yes, testicles.

I any case, I agree with your general sentiment... if they're going to borrow and butcher the English lanugage, they can't really complain if they don't grasp the subtle humor often hidden within its phrases. Sometimes I wonder if the English lanugage was intentionally filled with multiple meanings and ambiguity, just to provide the British public with a massive joke at the expense of our foreign friends!

@Big_Boomer (was: Re: F******G AMERICANS!)

English is Germanic, and has been changing constantly for centuries. Ever read any Chaucer or Shakespeare in the vernacular?

Language mutates. Deal with it.

Re: How gay!!

I don't actually see what his intended context has to do with it.

Taken as either a reference to a foodstuff or persons of a specific sexual persuasion the statement "I like faggots" can hardle be seen as gay-hating behaviour. Here is a man who LIKES said faggots. If he had said "I HATE faggots" maybe there's room for the easilly outraged to be outraged.

We now appear to live in a world where LIKING something is a hate crime!

Re: How gay!!

I agree that the single statement "I like faggots" on Facebook lacking any other context is probably a troll.

What about Indibums, wogs, dagoes, taffs, jocks, micks, ...?

Re: Do you remember ...

"It had weird censorship - "Hello" became "****o" and "Indian" was not allowed at all!"

That tends to happen a lot with poorly designed profanity filters. They tend to filter out combinations of letters regardless of context or whether they actually form part of a legitimate word.

For example, 'sniggering' always gets filtered - for obvious reasons.

It strikes me as laziness... I can't imagine it would be too complicated to make it check whether the characters preceding and following the combination of letters are spaces or punctuation instead of other letters!

I was once told

That the Spanish for "I see the sea" sounds like a pretty bad curse in Finnish. Maybe I misremembered cos the Internet tells me that the Finnish "Katso merta" means something disgusting in Italian.