Or Offensive Offending Naming Offenses?!? OOFO! Gewurz Grain (a dealer in grain?) Radish Rindskopf (a dealer in Radish?) Getreide Spice (a dealer in spices?) Horse Pisoheles (someone who sells horse piss/urine?) Schmetterling Ladstockschwinger (someone who inflicts a swinging blow with a rod)?
In the 18th to to early 19th century when registration of names and family names became mandatory for European Jews, petty governmental officials assigned uncomplimentary and ludicrous names to those who occupied a "comparatively low status in sane communities". The rich bought the most attractive names derived from flowers, precious stones and gems (Rosenberg, Goldberg, etc.) The penniless were given unflattering names designed to disparage and to inflict more needless ridicule and suffering.
Names of viruses...Influenza A H1N1. I am sticking to SWINE FLU - no offence to the pigs but just easier to pronounce and it's easy to relate why the virus was named so in the first place. When pig farmers get upset over the name, suddenly the words "SWINE FLU" has become a brand.
May be I should add my own term for it - the "Mutated Swine Flu" (similiar but not 100% same as 1976's Swine Flu). Or patent it as MWF!! lol
In order to appease interest groups offended by "pork associations" for the virus, Team Obama started referring to the Swine Flu as 'H1V1'. Erm....too late?
The Christmas Disease (Hemophilia B) is named after Stephen Christmas, there seems to be little complaint from religious groups who subscribe to the holiday.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (another mouthful) was conveniently named the Mad Cow disease.
Hand-Foot-And-Mouth Disease (even more of a mouthful) is referred to as HFMD in Singapore.
The names of some MRT Stations in Singapore. Eg. Redhill MRT is not really Redhill (or Bukit Merah), it's actually in Henderson Road area (quite a distance away from Bukit Merah Central). (Tourists here often get lost and quite confused even when holding a map!)
There are also 'new' names for terrorists, Osama bin Laden and Mas Selamat. Over the internet in forums and in joke sites, Osama has been called "Osama bin Dustbin" or "Osama bin Sardine". And Mas Selamat is named Mas Alamak ("Alamak" means "Oh my God" in the Malay language), for he was caught just recently hiding in Malaysia. No one had publicly opposed to such "name-calling" and so I assume no one got offended....yet! Gulp!
A person's place of birth or education can also make a strong impact on how he/she communicates. Take for instance the man who said COCK to a Macdonald's staff who was frowning and trying his best to understand the man's order. I gently told the bewildered service staff,"He meant COKE! The one with phosphoric acid!"
The Malaysian government has banned all images and photographs of the pig from advertisements and what-not. Malaysia also bans anyone whose business or personal name has a ZHU or CHOO ("pig" in Mandarin). Ironically ZHU or CHOO in the Chinese language can mean "bamboo" or "to reside in". Hearing someone say the words though, is not an offense.
Meat Industries tell media CHICKEN WILL STAY NUMBER ONE. And media DID write what meat industries told them to write. On May 4th 2000, Pamela Bowers wrote this in the MEATing Place, "Americans will buy an average of 82 pounds of chicken per person this year,far outpacing consumption of beef at 66 pounds per person and pork at 51 pounds, John Bekkers, president and chief operating officer of Gold Kist Inc. said Monday at the National Chicken Council-U.S. Poultry & Egg Association Food Media Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada."
Well they forgot about the possibility of the Bird Flu. Sales of chickens dropped when SARS was then the "number 1 killer virus".
And has it ever occured to you why they didn't use the term "CHICKEN FLU" instead of "Bird Flu" or "Avian Flu"? What exactly has BIRD FLU to do with the innocent wild birds and pigeons?
If these wild birds could talk, they may just walk up to the Subordinate Court and say I WANT TO PRESS CHARGES AGAINST THE ABSURD PERSON WHO SAID I AND MY SPECIES KILL PEOPLE!
I often wonder if mainstream media has a brain (with the exception of journalists - and brave photographers - who write the truth despite risking their lives and careers to do so). I used to believe everything of what mainstream media says. At worst, you're left confuser and confuser!
The UK's law (s.6(2)(e)) about names (because it is easier found than Singapore's law! lol ) :
A name can be considered offensive if it is considered to be capable of giving offence to persons of average sensibility. The question will arise infrequently but when it does it is most likely to be because
the name is considered:
* to be vulgar;
* to show contempt for a religion or deity; or
* to be discriminatory or show contempt for persons on account of their ethnic or racial origin sex disablement or other disadvantage or to be discriminatory or show contempt for any other individual class or group within society (whether disadvantaged or not). Other examples of what might be considered offensive include:
* names whose initial letters form a vulgar word or words (ie a vulgar acronym) or abbreviations which look like offensive words; (Eg. Edison Florence Featherling E.F.F., Fu King Restaurant - this is a real restaurant name!)
* symbols which appear to be in substitution of offensive words or phrases;
* non-English words which look or which are offensive in English. (Eg. words I use myself to swear at my own bad luck like "eff" and "fark".) |
These caught my attention:
"The job of the government is to make sure that all viruses have equal opportunity to immigrate to the United States and then to try to restrict the spread of each one on a house-by-house basis. Make sense?
If a new superpathogen ever does emerge, let’s hope that it does so in a well-educated, middle-class, white, protestant, English-speaking heterosexual neighborhood so that our government will actually be able to contain it without feeling guilty.
Next up to be offended was a Rabbi in Israel who said that it could be disturbing to Jews and Muslims to contract any disease with “swine” in the name. Well then, my advice is to only contract kosher viruses, then you and your family can be much happier about your death.... The offended Rabbi’s suggestion was to call the disease the “Mexican flu,” but this would of course be offensive to anyone with a religion that regards Mexicans as unclean.
Calling a strain “The Spanish Flu,” for example, made life easy for epidemiologist who could then avoid constantly asking each other “now when you say ‘flu virus 834B’ is that the one that broke out in Spain or the one that broke out in Hong Kong?” This practice was abandoned, however, when someone pointed out that tourism to the Ebola river valley never really recovered after a minor disease was named after the place. So in order to satisfy the Chambers of Commerce of Lyme, Connecticut and Marburg, Germany, scientists started using other naming systems.
My suggestion is for the CDC to sell the naming rights for all novel diseases on the Internet. That way, the next time a nasty new hemorrhagic fever break out somewhere, Coca Cola can buy the rights and have it officially named “The Pepsi Virus” (or perhaps “The Pepsi Degeneration”). This practice would also raise badly needed funds for Barack “Spending Fever” Obama to bail out the United Auto Workers....
Next we will learn that Taco Bell has thoughts on the name of the virus, and that the Department of Commerce is taking the complaints “seriously.”
It never fails to amaze me that the BIRD FLU they're talking about actually came from farm-raised chickens. Pigeons and wild birds get the blame for the bird flu!
The media’s suggestion is to avoid all offense to anyone by calling the disease “H1N1” flu. Or, as I like to call it: H-Juan N-Juan. Oh wait, that’s offensive. Of course, other flus have had the genotype “H1N1,” so that name would be confusing for actual scientists. It makes the non-kosher Egyptian-threatening Mexican Swine Flu sound just like the Spanish Flu of 1918, which would be a boon for sensationalists, but a bit silly.
So here is a final suggestion: the next time a new flu breaks out, let’s just worry about stopping it, instead of who it might offend."
If you've laughed by now (whether because you're insane or I am), I would like to congratulate you because LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!
The writer of the above is no other than Mr. Mac Johnson (a writer and medical researcher in Cambridge, Massachusets).
Some Stuff to Think About
- When Singapore and China decided to give Mexicans and travellers from Mexico a 7-day quarantine (to prevent Swine Flu from spreading), is that a discrimination?
- When researchers pin-pointed that Blacks were more prone to Diabetes, is that a discrimination?
- When genes were blamed for Breast Cancer, is that discrimination? (See if we think alike! My personal opinions to these 3 questions.)
In conclusion about offensive or offending names, I hereby report that: - People sometimes do forget that ego can get in the way of doing the more important things, and can make you go unfocused.
- People do get offended in times of suspect-pandemics.
- People do get a little too creative for names of diseases, places, street names, etc.
- People are more forgiving for giving criminals and terrorists names.
- People use words like "swine" or "beaver" to offend.
- People do laugh (or cry foul) at offensive or offending names.
- There's no outrage from Muslims over "hamburger" and "gelatin" even when there's pork in there.
- Due to greed, governmental officials are/were capable of being corrupt.
And 4 questions for you if you should care to comment!
- Is NOOB (aka "newbie", or someone who is new to certain things) offensive to you?
- Should my best friend's baby be called Angelica or Angelika? Does LIKA (sounds like Lick-her) sounds offensive or offending?
- Fat, obese and overweight. Which is the most offensive to you?
- What's the most interesting "insult" have you heard? I saw this in a forum (I am not a member there),"It's not that I am anti-social. I just don't like you."
Feel free to talk back!
Related Info
My personal opinions to the 3 questions: #1 No #2 Yes #3 Yes
