*boing* said Skippidee

Thats a tad offensive!

Richard

Fair comment. Please substitute for "bloater" in the above sentence one of the following:

An individual of gifted girth

somebody whose latitudinal proportions were somewhat greater than his longitude would allow for

Spherically inclined

Overweight

Heavy

While I am at it let me state that the present owner is something of a bloater.

P.

/me finds himself hoping that Skippy didn't use to belong to Richard as personal abuse is a much different thing to impersonal speculation.

If it did then "sorry"

If it didn't then "See the above"

On or around Sun, 22 Feb 2004 19:57:55 +0000, richard.watson enlightened us thusly:

you want he should say "fat bastard"?

No - I want he should not be offensive.

Richard

On or around Mon, 23 Feb 2004 01:06:02 +0000, richard.watson enlightened us thusly:

I thought a bloater was a kind of fish?

It's not a very nice kind of fish. Maybe some people find it offensive.

P.

Twas Mon, 23 Feb 2004 09:35:12 +0000 when Austin Shackles put finger to keyboard producing:

It was driven by a fish? does it have a rust problem then? and how are the electrics?

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

In news:ba6ffd844c% snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com, richard.watson sprayed:

Remember offense is in the eye of the beholder, the only true way of avoiding offense is to look the other way!

Now there's a coincidence!

I recently heard about a couple of fish in a tank. Apparently, one was the gunner, the other was driving.

S.

Heh

Two fish in a tank. One says to the other "Do you know how to drive this thing?"

Neil

That would go down well with Commision For Racial Equality!!!!!!

Richard

It probably would. Being fat would be a very slow race....

P.

Only if you were the previous owner.

No, only if I find the term offensive - which I do, as in the context used it is clearly intended to be so.

Richard

Good grief - AFL goes PC

Si FBRRD

IGMC!

How wonderful of you to make assumptions about my intentions.

It didn't, maybe, occur that that may be a figure of speech that I used day to day with no malice whatsoever behind it and that the only thing that's made it offensive is your reading of it, not the actual statement itself.

You are perfectly within your rights to find something offensive. That's a subjective thing and everybody has their own preferences.

You are categorically not within your rights to tell me that I had obviously intended to be offensive when I had intended no such thing.

For reference, "bloater" isn't intended as offensive, "fat bloater" is. It's a small but fairly obvious difference.

P.

in article 5f667854c% snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com, richard.watson at snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com wrote on 23/2/04 8:19 pm:

The trouble with newsgroups and text messages on mobile phones is that any "humour", "just joking" etc, which can be conveyed in talking to someone or seeing them face to face, can be lost, especially if the reader has had a bad day, is tired or easily offended by such things. The context in which it is written will be interpreted by different people in different ways and each of you is entitled to your own opinion, but this thread could turn in to a slanging match, so please stop before it does.

Then I feel sorry for you if you do not comprehend that you are giving offence. There are people who use the term "split", "tart", "bitch" to describe women, and "phlid" to describe disabled people - so thats ok then, because they use them day to day??????????

ok I'll use big letters I AM TELLING YOU THAT I, AND OTHERS, FIND THAT TERM, AND SIMILAR ONES, OFFENSIVE. There, now I've implied that you're stupid, but its ok because I didn't intend offence, I was just being humourous - some would see that as a witty retort, some would get themselves all steamed up, so it's a good idea not to do it, in case the reader is of the latter persuasion. This started out with my, quite politely I believe, pointing out that some may take offence to the term used, implying that it might not be appropriate in a public forum - that's called Netiquette - perhaps a glance through one of the many sites on the subject may be a good idea. Oh, and I'm not particularly overweight, if that makes any odds.

I'm sorry, but it isn't. It may be a your part of the world, but it is an intentionally offensive term in these parts - another reason for being careful on a public forum. I'm not being PC, but I am aware that this forum gets read world-wide, and words have different connotations in different parts.

Richard

Yes, I got that. I wasn't even arguing with that. I was arguing about the phrase "clearly intended to" - that's a statement about my intent, not your perception. I'm not arguing that you see it as abusive, I'm not even arguing that it won't be seen that way, simply that it wasn't "clearly intended to" do anything rather than convey an abstract concept of somebody who is fairly fat.

Fair enough. I can take having it implied that I'm stupid, I even take it reasonably well when it's said outright. Your overall tone isn't actually of somebody who will beat up on somebody from a perceived point of superiority so I will assume that you are trying to make a point rather than give undeserved abuse.

I am. I personally don't find "bloater" a particularly bad term, and in fact rather less obnoxious than a lot of the euphemisms that are used for fat - such as "overweight" "chubby" "porky" and the like.

P.