Please kill this thread!
It seems to me that the only way that we are going to be able to avoid
offending someone is by not speaking. People take offense at many things
that would not be so obvious as others. Some words mean entirely different
things to different people. For example, in a recent post someone used the
term "oriental" in reference to a family. FYI, "oriental" refers to
inanimate objects such as rugs and is considered offensive by SOME Asian
people when used to refer to them. To SOME people from parts of the UK the
word "muffler" is an offensive anatomical reference rather than the part of
an automobile that they call a "silencer".
While we should all try to avoid blatantly offending others, we should also
be considerate enough to realize that a speaker may not intend any offense.
There are multiple meanings to many words in our language. To request that
someone not use a particular word in a particular reference is to limit our
collective vocabulary to YOUR definition of that word. The free and open
exchange of ideas is what makes Team.Net beneficial to us all. I hope we
can keep it that way.
Cheers,
George Lewis
Not offended...yet!
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