Primark

[roversdude]

WTF is wrong with some do gooding gits
Eeny meeny miny mo t shirts removed from sale because one person complains wrongly citing that it is racist
Guess he never watched this

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ7BoKzVqZM

[idler]

We used to have a different rhyme when I was young.
It would be considered as not PC or racist now.

[Donnywolf]

Strange .... I have seen the story doing the rounds but not actually read it. Only saw what the supposed problem was on this thread nd thought why is that TShirt deemed as racist ?

Even though Idler and I are from very similar year my recollection of Eeny Meeny is just one of a "counting" or deciding who would go first or last in a street game and was just :

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo
Put the baby on the Po (toilet)
When it's done
wipe its bum
Eeny Meeny Miny Mo


Obviously there must have been many versions even at the time I knew it from

[StocktonRover]

The version I knew had the n word in It and it certainly would be deemed as racist in modern times.

Eeny meeny minee mo
Catch a n***** by his toe
If he squeals let him go
Eeny meeny minee mo...

I'm sure that only people of a certain age knew that version.

[wilts rover]

I seem to remember Jeremy Clarkson bring that particular version to public prominence a couple of years back Stockton.

Obviously Primark (and roversdude) dont watch any news outlets or read any newspapers so would have been totally unaware of this. Lucky them.

[idler]

I heard that one Stockton and also instead of the n word, b**** m**.
We also used to play a game called I draw a snake on a black m**'*.
A variation of block 1,2,3.
Life was great before tellies. One of the lads had a dog as well that shared the name of Guy Gibson's dog.
You could never go out now and call it in without getting arrested.

[ballysbackin]

Strange .... I have seen the story doing the rounds but not actually read it. Only saw what the supposed problem was on this thread nd thought why is that TShirt deemed as racist ?

Even though Idler and I are from very similar year my recollection of Eeny Meeny is just one of a "counting" or deciding who would go first or last in a street game and was just :

Eeny Meeny Miny Mo
Put the baby on the Po (toilet)
When it's done
wipe its bum
Eeny Meeny Miny Mo

Yep JT this is the  one we were taught in Dunscroft, just over the bridge


Obviously there must have been many versions even at the time I knew it from

[Donnywolf]

I heard that one Stockton and also instead of the n word, b**** m**.
We also used to play a game called I draw a snake on a black m**'*.
A variation of block 1,2,3.
Life was great before tellies. One of the lads had a dog as well that shared the name of Guy Gibson's dog.
You could never go out now and call it in without getting arrested.

Aye now your talking - I draw a snake on this mans back !

Again though we are of the same era and were just a few miles apart I had never heard that version of "draw a snake" - always on this mans back for the PC people of Stainforth !

Also as posted earlier it was always "put the baby on the Po"

In these days of Social media there would no doubt have been a universal one like 24/7 doing the rounds in no time flat

I did used to sing a song re Bradford whenever we went to Valley Parade with Rovers and used to think it funny but it would get people thrown out of the Ground these days and rightly so !

[idler]

My daughter's mother-in-law and brother-in-law were doing a Spanish course. When the teacher was doing the colours she got to negro and a dark  lady said, "You can't use that word".
The teacher had to patiently explain that as it was Spanish for black she could.
The problem is that words and their context can change, also the way a word is used. It does seem these days that there some folk just waiting to jump in saying they are offended or even someone else could be offended.
Nitty gritty is a case in point. Most people used it without knowing it's origins and not meaning offence. Likewise most people wouldn't be offended because they didn't understand the implications.

[roversdude]

Wilts I am usually up to speed with news, my point was that these t shirts are produced under licence from "The Walking Dead" part of this is a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire also depicted on the t shirt
As far as I am aware there has not been an outcry in America or U.K. after the show aired
One Methodist minister who was obviously brought up in the era where the n word was used decided it may cause offence (even though it ultimately hadn't)

Growing up - we played lots of games such as drawing snake etc as mentioned by wolfie, if mum was out it was common to say she had run away with a black man (she hadn't by the way) and so on
There were lots of dogs with same name as Guy Gibsons
No one took offence

[Donnywolf]

Another blast from the past - run away with a black man. Totally forgot that former ex common phrase too !

[ballysbackin]

Tell me...Coloured people use the "N" word to and at each other" problem is ????

Just tell me can someone what the hell the problem, next it will be Politically Incorrect to cal People from Scunthorpe a Scunny Bunny and people from that County Yellow Bellies. But they can all call us "Yorkies".

I am Fecked if I know.. now   before   you  start. The word "Fecked is not a swear word in Ireland it is also allowed to call someone an ejiot not idiot, and their targets are "The Kerry Man"

Now the word F (uniform) c k ee d is a swear word as it was created by the British to be just that.

I was pulled up or an attempt was made to pull me up when I saw a "Golly" being sold on Fantasy Island market about 4 years ago, I asked for the "Golly Wog" the young lad serving who was about 22 said "You can't call it that" so I asked if he wanted to sell me it and ge did so I bought my Golly Wog - someone near my age then said "What is the problem with calling it a Golly Wog it is what were were brought up to know them as and not a term to insult. We used to save small gollies (black) off Robertsons jams and send them away, I believe in totals of 7 and we got an enamel badge of Golly wogs in various guises. I had a dog called "Blackie" and a later one called "Prince " too for God's sake..oh Sorry being a Catholic I just used the Lord's name in vain but non Christians amongst us will not care.

[i_ateallthepies]

That surprised me Idler to read that Nitty gritty had such an origin, I certainly had never understood any such association.  This http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/nitty-gritty.html  throws a very different light on this belief and offers an explanation that the unsavoury association only originated in 2005.

[IDM]

When I was a small child in the mid 70s my grandmother had to take me to the local library and read me a short story..

These were either from the Ant and Bee range, or from the Rev Awdry - not yet known collectively as the Thomas the tank engine books.. part of one of the stories featured little boys dropping stones on passing trains.  The engines got revenge next time by blasting them with soot "sending them away as black as n.....rs"..

This was still there in the 70s and I expect has long since been reprinted to say as black as coal or something similar..

[roversdude]

When did the term p*ki become offensive- to me it is the same as calling a man from Scotland a Scot etc

[idler]

Another blast from the past - run away with a black man. Totally forgot that former ex common phrase too !

That was used in Balby as well in the late 50s early 60s.

[Donny Dub]

I saw a tray of chocolate buns with chocolate sprinkles on them in a french patisserie last Summer the sign read:
'Tete de negre'.
They're not so PC in parts of France are they?
Good luck.

[roversdude]

Idler being a Balby lad I can confirm this was still being said into 70's

[RedJ]

When did the term p*ki become offensive- to me it is the same as calling a man from Scotland a Scot etc

When people started using it in malicious ways.

[idler]

When did the term p*ki become offensive- to me it is the same as calling a man from Scotland a Scot etc

When people started using it in malicious ways.
[/quote
I think that you are spot on there RedJ. The brother-in-law is a manager and only white person at a factory in Bradford.
The workforce think the world of him and their views on life and the world are usually very different to what is written in the papers.
He once asked if they were insulted or annoyed if someone called them a paki. The ones he asked laughed and said no as long as it wasn't in a threatening way.
Their views on the radicals are very refreshing as well.

[Glyn_Wigley]

When I was a small child in the mid 70s my grandmother had to take me to the local library and read me a short story..

These were either from the Ant and Bee range, or from the Rev Awdry - not yet known collectively as the Thomas the tank engine books.. part of one of the stories featured little boys dropping stones on passing trains.  The engines got revenge next time by blasting them with soot "sending them away as black as n.....rs"..

This was still there in the 70s and I expect has long since been reprinted to say as black as coal or something similar..

Do you go far back enough to remember the Sambo books as well..?

[RedRover45]

One of my favourite Enid Blyton books as a child in the late 60's and early 70's was The Three Golliwogs whose names were Golly, Woggy and Nigger. Very rare to get hold of a second hand copy these days in an antique book shop.

[roversdude]

We seem to have people kicking off in case it causes offence, yet the people who would supposedly be offended aren't

[glosterred]

We seem to have people kicking off in case it causes offence, yet the people who would supposedly be offended aren't

You can also say the same for banning Christmas decorations as it might offend none christians, or not flying the English flag as that might offend people as well

[DonnyOsmond]

I blame generation snowflake.

[roversdude]

Never particularly liked Fight Club but would never have thought it would lead to this

[Glyn_Wigley]

We seem to have people kicking off in case it causes offence, yet the people who would supposedly be offended aren't

You can also say the same for banning Christmas decorations as it might offend none christians, or not flying the English flag as that might offend people as well

Has anybody ever banned Christmas decorations? It's been maintained that its just one of those myths that keeps going round.

[Dagenham Rover]

We seem to have people kicking off in case it causes offence, yet the people who would supposedly be offended aren't

You can also say the same for banning Christmas decorations as it might offend none christians, or not flying the English flag as that might offend people as well

Has anybody ever banned Christmas decorations? It's been maintained that its just one of those myths that keeps going round.

Christmas decorations have been banned in numerous places, however on Health and Safety grounds the one that caused the most publicity was in Bradford for pretty obvious reasons

[roversdude]

Not sure Glyn but definitely cases where our flag has not been shown just in case it causes offence

[roversdude]

There are also a great deal of myths blaming health and safety whereas it is in fact ill informed  people carrying out a risk assessment
I think the Christmas decoration ones involving lights that were deemed not safe was easily resolved- get lights replaced or PAT tested