From sexual politics to actual politics, language is changing fast and dividing us not only by generation but also by education. It’s easy to trip up, even if you mean well
It had to happen, I suppose, in this era of self-identification. Lately, I have come to identify as the Duke of Edinburgh, a man famous for barging around the world insulting the locals. I also say the wrong things, although I try to avoid out-and-out racism. To a visually impaired woman with a guide dog, the Duke once said: “Do you know they’re now producing eating dogs for the anorexics?” He is lauded as the don of the Clarkson-Littlejohn truthtelling variety rather than a rude git. Can I say “git”? I love the word git.
As I live with a social justice warrior (a teenager) I feel increasingly Dukey. I am in constant trouble for the things I say. When referring to somone as gay the other day, she yelled that I was “biphobic”. It all ended badly, with me informing her that the difference between a straight man and a gay man was half a lager. I shouldn’t have said that. I should have said craft beer. We made up with a takeway. She ordered a potato curry with her masala dosa. When I said: “That’s a lot of potatoes,” she called me racist, because she is half Irish.
Continue reading...from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2Fzjo1g
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