4 ms·

That's offensive to people with receding hairlines. Turnabout's a bitch, ain't it?

by iamdave 10y ago

senthil_rajasek 10y ago
In popular American usage recede is not associated with hairline. People with receding hairline are not marginalized by society. Now "bitch" that's offensive. Edit: spell correct.
- iamdave 10y ago
  Words have meaning. Words have power. This much is not in debate, as far as I'm concerned (so far). Where I have to take pause is taking one usage (however derogatory) of a word and applying to every meaning and usage regardless of what the context actually is as some manifestation of virtue signalling. At this point we may as well throw out language, diction and rhetoric entirely as any word and phrase can be twisted to be offensive even when a word is used entirely and wholly in accurate and proper context. People with receding hairline are not marginalized by society You're obviously not aware with how common male baldness jokes are in sitcoms and entertainment, are you? I encourage you watch a few episodes of Seinfeld to see how much influence hair and baldness has on men and their self esteem in the dating world. They might not be marginalized, but then again I guess it depends on how one is using the word 'marginalized' to begin with, which brings us back to square one: turnabout is a bitch.
  - senthil_rajasek 10y ago
    By quoting Seinfeld you are showing that you are living in the past. You are also trivialising the real suffering and daily struggles of mentally handicapped people by comparing it to the "struggle" of bald people. Once again "bitch" is an offensive word.
    - iamdave 10y ago
      Once again "bitch" is an offensive word. FINE. Turnabout is fair play. I think you understood precisely the point I was attempting to make specifically by phrasing it the way I did. If your analysis of communication is to unpack and divine words back to one specific meaning but not others, how do you communicate[1]? How do you know which meaning to take issue with (that's a genuine question if you care to bother) and which ones are okay? Is it just words that at some point in history been taken and used abusively? Or are they words with novelty that only now are problematic because some group has taken it upon themselves to designate them as such? How do they do so? What do they use to decide this and how can the rest of us buy tickets to ride this clue(less)train? You are also trivialising the real suffering and daily struggles of mentally handicapped people by comparing it to the "struggle" of bald people By insisting that we pay a bit more respect to the precedent that language is fluid, mutable and variable and questioning the behavior of linking fringe pejorative with social vernacular (or spoken like a layperson: "What, because I said words have more than one meaning and using a word by its dictionary definition in the fully correct and appropriate context does not mean I am de facto calling someone with mental disability "retarded"?) No. Not at all. But something familiar about the accusation you've just lobbed at me, plus that utterly worthless comment about "living in the past", indicates to me I'm not going to get very far with this. So I'm gonna just go ahead and bow out right now. ---- [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-QbFaY_wU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-QbFaY_wU
      - senthil_rajasek 10y ago
        "how you communicate[1]?" My short answer is by listening. I will write a longer post if time permits about what I have learned.
- irrational 10y ago
  You've never heard the term receding hairline? I would think that hairline would be the first thing Americans would think of when hearing the word recede. I must ask, where did you learn English?
  - senthil_rajasek 10y ago
    I learned English and how not to be rude in America.
    - iamdave 10y ago
      But you're still digging in heels and refusing to entertain the notion of 'context clues' with respect to how words are used beyond carte blanche association of words and their meanings to the marginalization of social groups? I don't understand this.

That's offensive to people with receding hairlines. Turnabout's a bitch, ain't it?

by iamdave 10y ago

That's offensive to people with receding hairlines. Turnabout's a bitch, ain't it?

In popular American usage recede is not associated with hairline. People with receding hairline are not marginalized by society. Now "bitch" that's offensive. Edit: spell correct.

iamdave 10y ago
Words have meaning. Words have power. This much is not in debate, as far as I'm concerned (so far). Where I have to take pause is taking one usage (however derogatory) of a word and applying to every meaning and usage regardless of what the context actually is as some manifestation of virtue signalling. At this point we may as well throw out language, diction and rhetoric entirely as any word and phrase can be twisted to be offensive even when a word is used entirely and wholly in accurate and proper context. People with receding hairline are not marginalized by society You're obviously not aware with how common male baldness jokes are in sitcoms and entertainment, are you? I encourage you watch a few episodes of Seinfeld to see how much influence hair and baldness has on men and their self esteem in the dating world. They might not be marginalized, but then again I guess it depends on how one is using the word 'marginalized' to begin with, which brings us back to square one: turnabout is a bitch.
- senthil_rajasek 10y ago
  By quoting Seinfeld you are showing that you are living in the past. You are also trivialising the real suffering and daily struggles of mentally handicapped people by comparing it to the "struggle" of bald people. Once again "bitch" is an offensive word.
  - iamdave 10y ago
    Once again "bitch" is an offensive word. FINE. Turnabout is fair play. I think you understood precisely the point I was attempting to make specifically by phrasing it the way I did. If your analysis of communication is to unpack and divine words back to one specific meaning but not others, how do you communicate[1]? How do you know which meaning to take issue with (that's a genuine question if you care to bother) and which ones are okay? Is it just words that at some point in history been taken and used abusively? Or are they words with novelty that only now are problematic because some group has taken it upon themselves to designate them as such? How do they do so? What do they use to decide this and how can the rest of us buy tickets to ride this clue(less)train? You are also trivialising the real suffering and daily struggles of mentally handicapped people by comparing it to the "struggle" of bald people By insisting that we pay a bit more respect to the precedent that language is fluid, mutable and variable and questioning the behavior of linking fringe pejorative with social vernacular (or spoken like a layperson: "What, because I said words have more than one meaning and using a word by its dictionary definition in the fully correct and appropriate context does not mean I am de facto calling someone with mental disability "retarded"?) No. Not at all. But something familiar about the accusation you've just lobbed at me, plus that utterly worthless comment about "living in the past", indicates to me I'm not going to get very far with this. So I'm gonna just go ahead and bow out right now. ---- [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-QbFaY_wU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-QbFaY_wU
    - senthil_rajasek 10y ago
      "how you communicate[1]?" My short answer is by listening. I will write a longer post if time permits about what I have learned.
irrational 10y ago
You've never heard the term receding hairline? I would think that hairline would be the first thing Americans would think of when hearing the word recede. I must ask, where did you learn English?
- senthil_rajasek 10y ago
  I learned English and how not to be rude in America.
  - iamdave 10y ago
    But you're still digging in heels and refusing to entertain the notion of 'context clues' with respect to how words are used beyond carte blanche association of words and their meanings to the marginalization of social groups? I don't understand this.