Couch Potatoes

[Capt_D_Bradstreet]

Isn't it ridiculous that potato growers want the Collins Oxford Dictionary to drop the term 'Couch Potato' becausethey reckon it gives the vegetable a bad name.

What next? Will racial equality campaigners be against the term 'Ethnic cleansing' as it implies that non-whites need a good old wash?

Can anybody else think of any more innocent terms in English that could be misinterpreted?

[katarina]

My husband is a couch potato. So he gives vetetables a bad name? Now I've heard everything!

[Drutt]

Isn't it ridiculous that potato growers want the Collins Oxford Dictionary to drop the term 'Couch Potato' becausethey reckon it gives the vegetable a bad name.

What next? Will racial equality campaigners be against the term 'Ethnic cleansing' as it implies that non-whites need a good old wash?

Can anybody else think of any more innocent terms in English that could be misinterpreted?

An horrendously poor analogy, as you'd know if you had any real understanding of the term 'ethnic cleansing'. Why not argue your point for its own sake instead of reducing it to the Daily Mail style argument of "what next?"? I suspect it's only a matter of time before someone mentions the term 'political correctness' and moans about their inability to say anything.

[George Brims]

"Political correctness" is nowadays shorthand for "I'm not allowed to talk like the bigot I am any more". However I don't think I'm allowed to say that...

[scotsboy]

It is possible to be bigoted against bigots.

[Alexander Rowe]

My mum used to say "I've got a few jobbys to do round the house"

[Raj Boat]

yet again Drutt is so antagonistic.

Get a life

[Drutt]

yet again Drutt is so antagonistic.

It's unfortunate that you see it that way. Don't like the message?

Get a life

I was still breathing last time I checked, but I thank you for your concern.

[DrSzin]

"Political correctness" is nowadays shorthand for "I'm not allowed to talk like the bigot I am any more".

So, so true. And it's exemplified on here several times a week, often stupidly but just as often provocatively. It is getting very tedious...

[skydivvy]

My mum used to say "I've got a few jobbys to do round the house"

That made me smile! When we were children we did 'jobbies' in the toilet!

[scorrie]

Isn't it ridiculous that potato growers want the Collins Oxford Dictionary to drop the term 'Couch Potato' becausethey reckon it gives the vegetable a bad name.

What next? Will racial equality campaigners be against the term 'Ethnic cleansing' as it implies that non-whites need a good old wash?

Can anybody else think of any more innocent terms in English that could be misinterpreted?

Well we had all better stop going to the toilet for a leek, never mind a pea!! And an apple a day is potentially robbing our poor GPs of much needed income. People need to stop pretending that they know their onions because onions are much more complex personalities than you might think and are fed up with people claiming that they know them!! And how about people not being as green as they are cabbage looking? What about red cabbages, why should they be left out of it? After all the colour of one's skin means nothing and all cabbages have a heart that can be broken.

Yours Sincerely. Irate Daily Mail Reader, Tunbridge Wells.

[Capt_D_Bradstreet]

Isn't it ridiculous that potato growers want the Collins Oxford Dictionary to drop the term 'Couch Potato' becausethey reckon it gives the vegetable a bad name.

What next? Will racial equality campaigners be against the term 'Ethnic cleansing' as it implies that non-whites need a good old wash?

Can anybody else think of any more innocent terms in English that could be misinterpreted?

An horrendously poor analogy, as you'd know if you had any real understanding of the term 'ethnic cleansing'. Why not argue your point for its own sake instead of reducing it to the Daily Mail style argument of "what next?"?

The analogy is valid. I was merely pointing out that the two phrases are structured very similiarly ie they are made up of two words that are totally unrelated but when brought together they bring on a whole new meaning. I am sure their is proper name for such things but I am not word buff.

I suspect it's only a matter of time before someone mentions the term 'political correctness' and moans about their inability to say anything.

No one prompted you, I guess you just couldn't help yourself?

[Drutt]

Well we had all better stop going to the toilet for a leek, never mind a pea!! And an apple a day is potentially robbing our poor GPs of much needed income. People need to stop pretending that they know their onions because onions are much more complex personalities than you might think and are fed up with people claiming that they know them!! And how about people not being as green as they are cabbage looking? What about red cabbages, why should they be left out of it? After all the colour of one's skin means nothing and all cabbages have a heart that can be broken.

Cute, scorrie, very cute.

[Drutt]

An horrendously poor analogy, as you'd know if you had any real understanding of the term 'ethnic cleansing'. Why not argue your point for its own sake instead of reducing it to the Daily Mail style argument of "what next?"?

The analogy is valid. I was merely pointing out that the two phrases are structured very similiarly ie they are made up of two words that are totally unrelated but when brought together they bring on a whole new meaning. I am sure their is proper name for such things but I am not word buff.

I wasn't querying its validity, but thought that comparing the use of a light-hearted term with that of a term used to refer to genocide was desperately unpleasant and unnecessary.

FWIW, I agree with your actual point about the term 'couch potato'. I think it's a daft thing to complain about, but the potato growers are clearly still stung from the effects of the popularity of the Atkins diet (now thankfully on the decline).

When I think of a couch potato I think of slobbing out on the sofa with a pizza and at no point do I actually visualise a potato. I think the potato growers' energies could be put to more positive use promoting the potato instead of making pointless complaints.

I suspect it's only a matter of time before someone mentions the term 'political correctness' and moans about their inability to say anything.

No one prompted you, I guess you just couldn't help yourself?

See DrSzin's post above.

[Raj Boat]

Drutt - get off your high horse (another strange phrase to keep the thread going)

You are too quick to criticise everyone else's comments if you don't agree with them - what happened to freedom of speech? As for your sarcastic comments - are you aware of the link between sarcasm and wit?

The fact that people find you tiresome says it all.

I bet you sit in front of your computer after posting your drivel, pleading for a response so you can then send out more of your crap.

[squidge]

Im also with DrSzin on this

I have studiously avoided this and the chavs thread its the same peope spouting ill educated " I should have the right to be a narrow minded bigot if i want" stuff

Is there any point?

[Drutt]

Drutt - get off your high horse (another strange phrase to keep the thread going)

No problem, if you'll get off your high horse first.

You are too quick to criticise everyone else's comments if you don't agree with them - what happened to freedom of speech? As for your sarcastic comments - are you aware of the link between sarcasm and wit?

I haven't restricted anyone's right to free speech, nor would I ever try to or desire it. You, on the other hand, appear to be calling for me to shut up. Or should I interpret 'get a life' in another way?

As for your sarcastic comments - are you aware of the link between sarcasm and wit?

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, and the highest form of intelligence? Seems sound to me.

So are you a Thomas Carlyle fan? Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil.

Or perhaps Oscar Wilde? Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but therein lies the basis of all wit.

The fact that people find you tiresome says it all.

People? You mean you and... err... your army?

I bet you sit in front of your computer after posting your drivel, pleading for a response so you can then send out more of your crap.

Drivel is in the eye of the beholder.

[Raj Boat]

Thanks for pointing out the error of my ways.

I bow to the master. No woman could be so sharp.

[Drutt]

Thanks for pointing out the error of my ways.

The view is poor down here, once off our high horses. Where's that bloody horse gone?

I bow to the master. No woman could be so sharp.

Entirely wishful thinking on your part, Raj Boat.

[jjc]

What next? Will racial equality campaigners be against the term 'Ethnic cleansing' as it implies that non-whites need a good old wash?

No, I very much doubt that they will be… mostly because only the terminally ignorant believe that the word 'ethnic' has anything to do with skin colour or that 'ethnic cleansing' is something that white people are not threatened by and black people don't participate in.

Bosnia. Rwanda. Zimbabwe. Educate yourself!