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Correct language

lyledunn
I was taking a group of building service engineers through the 18th. We were discussing the use of Appendix 5. One chap was very exercised about the BA3 category which is described as utilization-capability-handicapped. He claims the latter word was exorcised from common parlance years ago and would be offensive to many. I am not that politically correct but maybe he has a valid argument,.
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    utilization-capability-handicapped.





    What the hell does that mean in any case? Someone at the IET is suffering from an acute case of verbal diarrhea.


    Never, ever subscribe to the idea of PC and identity politics. Call it as you see it. A spade is indeed a spade, and a dog born in a stable will never be a horse. Equality? Of what? Opportunity or outcome?

    I wanted to be a fast jet pilot in my early twenties but my eyesight precluded the opportunity. Am I suing the RAF for my own biological shortcomings? No! I wouldn't have been able to carry out the required duties to the standard required. Indeed, I may have risked someone els's life as a consequence.

    Always take the view that offence can never be given, and can only taken by those third party apologists and offence-takers who make a nice living out of their burgeoning professional grievance industry.

    Stay true to oneself, and never doubt.

    The likes of those who jump at the merest hint of 'offence' are only in it for the money, and when subjected to hard scrutiny,  are generally found to otherwise unemployable.

    Take solace in that and move on.
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    Chris Pearson:




    Sparkingchip:




    Zoomup:

    So just what definition covers the number of strokes normally taken by a golfer above par for a course?


    Don't  presume offense where none exists. Call a spade a a spade. Refuse to speak the limited language of Oceania.


    Z.




    There’s a very strong possibility of causing offence with using words such as you just have.


    ...


    You think that is an inoffensive saying, but ever since the 1970’s I wince when I read or hear it.



    Why?


    The French call a cat a cat - is that any different? (On appelle un chat un chat.)


     




    "Spade. A tool with a rectangular metal blade and a long handle used for digging.


    Verb. Dig or move earth with a spade.


    Phrases. Call a spade a spade


    Origin: Old English."


    Source. Compact Oxford English Dictionary. 2005.


    I'm English so I don't see why I can't use English expressions.

    https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Spear-Jackson-Stainless-Steel-Garden-Spades/178983/bn_27303605


    Z.

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    In the 1970’s “spade” was used as a derogatory term to describe Afro Caribbean and mixed race people, the guy was laid out with a single punch around ten o’clock on a Saturday evening whilst out drinking for baiting another guy using the phrase “I believe in calling a spade a spade” and everyone else present thought he deserved it.


    Forty years later you see it as an innocent thing to say, as with so many words in the English language there’s not really a problem with the words themselves, but stringing the words together into a sentence then use them to intentionally verbally abuse someone is just as wrong now as it was in the 1970’s.


    So even now in the 2010’s you do actually still need to stop and think what you are saying and where; and you won’t always get it right, but hopefully your intentions won’t be misinterpreted.


    Andy 




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    “Spade. A tool with a rectangular metal blade and a long handle used for digging.”


    Another saying  is “Don’t dig yourself a big hole to fall into “.


     Andy
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    A quick internet search:


    handicapped

    /ˈhandɪkapt/
    adjective

    DATED•OFFENSIVE
    1. (of a person) having a condition that markedly restricts their ability to function physically, mentally, or socially.

      "a special school for handicapped children"



    I have also asked other people’s opinions and the general feeling is that it is dated and offensive, so The IET need to consider their use of it in BS7671 and any other publications.


    However I not quite sure how and when its use became to be considered offensive and on a scale of one to ten it has to be at a very low level of being offensive.


    Andy 

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    My understanding of a spade being a spade comes from the  "it's not a spade it's a shovel" argument. As other commentators  have said it isn't the word it is the intent.  

    Would you castigate a guy for telling a kid he wanted a spade and not a shovel? An innocent phrase demonised, yet in context is harmless. Common sense, that great historic ability made life so much easier.
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    How can the use of the work "spade" every be offensive?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spade


    Z.
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    Zoomup:

    How can the use of the work "spade" every be offensive?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spade


    Z.




    People of my age remember it being used as a very offensive term, it has however thankfully it has fell out of general usage as such.


    Language and its use changes, Read this article about the charity Scope changing its name.


     Andy 

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    Sparkingchip:.

    Language and its use changes, Read this article about the charity Scope changing its name.




    Sadly, because perfectly useful terms, which are related to disability (or one of the other protected characteristics) come to be used pejoratively. At one time, one could refer to "spastic paralysis" and "flaccid paralysis" because although the effect was the loss of movement, the cause (always on and always off respectively) was very different. I suspect that neurologists have to be very careful these days.


    Then there is the problem of ignorance.


    A colleague once got "reported" for using the term, "jungle juice" (which originated during the Vietnam war) because the snitch thought that it was similar to "jungle bunny", which has always been a term of abuse.


    I had a similar experience for using the word "ass" because an official didn't understand the difference between a small horse-like animal with big ears and one's posterior. ?

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    There is a saying 'to the pure all things are pure'


    Legh

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