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- 5 days
Let’s not forget that unfortunate Spongebob scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNsWbK4OkZw
- 5 days
Both boomer and gen-z pearlclutchers seem to be equally oblivious in their own ways to the fact that language changes.
- gastroglizzy@piefed.socialEnglish6 days
All this means is that the Thomas franchise has existed long enough to be publishing books since when that word was still in common parlance. I’m sure if you looked at anything from that era, it wouldn’t take long to find something that appears problematic through a modern lens.
Believe it or not, it was not “normal” to use slurs in children’s books in 1952.
There are Marvel comics from the 1940’s with characters straight out of ministrel shows and they still don’t use the word. Would you like to guess why?
Edit: not that it stopped Dr Seuss a couple times in the 30’s, mind you, but he reserved it for comics and not his children’s books, those only got racist caricatures.
Believe it or not, it was not “normal” to use slurs in children’s books in 1952.
It heavily depends which books you look in.
- PinkiePieYay2707@pawb.socialEnglish6 days
Context: https://www.scribd.com/document/899239966/Henry-the-Green-Engine-1951-Scanned-by-ThatERTLGuy#page=64 page 60 of the book, 64 of the document.
Written version in case someone doesn’t want to click on random links:
The Guard’s flag waved, his whistle blew, and they were off. Soon in the distance they saw the bridge. There were the boys and they all had stones. “Are you ready, Henry?” said this Driver. “Sneeze hard when I tell you.” “Now!” he said, and turned the handle. “Atisha Atisha Atishooooooh!” Smoke and steam and ashes spouted from his funnel. They went all over the bridge, and all over the boys who ran away as black as ####.
5 daysHenry wasn’t sorry, it was on purpose. He was celebrated. I have read the entirety of The Railway Series to my daughter twice (I do substitute in “coal” for the aforementioned slur). There is some crazy shit in there. Engine body horror.
- 5 days
My god this was probably a real problem in 19th/early 20th century England though. Fucking kids can be fucking assholes lol
fuck censorship. historical context is important when referencing historical facts. society must be reminded of why language like this is no longer acceptable in order to keep it unacceptable, lest we forget.
- 5 days
Probably, they grew up in a time when it was harder to know better but it’s still racism when most of society does it.
Okay, I need more context to this. N-word in any of these franchises feels something so far off.
- ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish6 days
Boys on a bridge threw rocks at a train, smashing windows. Next time the train made sure to cover them in soot so they were “black as n—“.
- Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radioEnglish6 days
And here I thought George Carlin was the hardest Thomas ever went. Turns out he used to roll coal on hooligans 🤣
- ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish6 days
The TV adaptation definitely glosses things over. For instance, in the show Henry has a big crash and is sent to England to be repaired. In the canon of the books, he was scrapped and swapped out for a better locomotive, who was then given the same name.
No, he’s sent to Crewe for a rebuild and returns with a new shape - mostly changes to his firebox iirc as he’s been struggling to build up enough steam with anything other than high-quality (expensive) Welsh coal.
Source: literally re-read the relevant book over the weekend.
- 6 days
They also punish a locomotive by sealing it behind a brick wall. Considering those things are sentient and basically immortal that’s some new levels of fucked up.
- 6 days
I convinced a girl to watch “Battle Of Briton (1969)” with me one time. I forgot to warn her about the dog. She was shocked to say the least.
Does the Nword have the same cultural significance in the UK?
- ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish6 days
You’re thinking of Dambusters.
And it was still derogatory, but not as weaponised as the US. More like how they used the lesser N word.
- 6 days
They still use “bugger” in the UK, which is basically the same thing but for gay people.
For years I thought “bugger” just means “to annoy” or something like that, so I would say things like “This buggers me” or “You don’t have to get so buggered about it.”
Boy am I embarrassed…
Once I used it like that at work, everyone was surprised, and so I looked it up after. I’m actually dead now. This is my ghost typing.
I’ve never encountered that word used with a homophobic intent, as far as I could tell. If you wanted to express that thought in my youth, other words beginning with B would be far more common. Naturally I found them as odious then as I would now.
- ohulancutash@feddit.ukEnglish5 days
So is “gay”. Language evolves. Being a linguistic originalist would be a hard and eccentric hill to die on.
- FishFace@piefed.socialEnglish6 days
wtf is the lesser N word can we just write them in quotes? It’s not like Voldemort.
- Zwiebel@feddit.orgEnglish6 days
Yeah this always irks me about english/the anglosphere, people act like mentioning a word is the same as directing it at someone as an insult
- 5 days
It’s hammered into a lot of people’s heads that the word is very mean, and not just “insult” but “remember, people like you used to be considered animals and treated like property, subject to difficult to fathom attrocities”.
It doesn’t need to be directed to be a reminder. While reference is likewise a reminder, it’s at least couched in terms that convey the speaker understands it has weight beyond “insult”.
Couple that with saying it as a white person can carry significant reputation damage.Since these lessons are usually imparted in childhood implicitly, and it doesn’t come up often enough to drive introspection for most people, it just lingers as “don’t say words that hurt people and make everyone dislike you”.
