gpt

I personally think political correctness is for retards. If you learn manners and know how to be polite to people then political correctness is unnessessary.

Valid points but it is not optional! Nursery school children are now being taught 'Baa, baa, purple sheep, characters in children's literature are having name changes and offices in the UK are afraid to put up Christmas decorations.

Scenario. You work in a UK office where there is a ban on Christmas decorations, normal conditions allow you to have on your desk personal photos and sundry personal items. Your supervisor sees that you have a few Christmas cards and a miniature Christmas tree and you are told to remove them as 'they may offend others'.

If you obey, you are giving in to the PC Brigade but if you do not then you will be dismissed. Your move.

After a night out at walking street drinking someone could say that I was a visually impared, alcoholically affected flying mammal.

In Australia they would say "he was as blind as a bat".

Thanks for your input but this is not the tutorial on 'How to turn normal phrases into PCSpeak'

White = good, black = evil, this allegorical reference has been around since time immemorial and has nothing to do with race, it alludes to day and night. In the daytime, you could see predators and your enemies which is good but you could not at night which is bad. This has been echoed in the literature of all countries. Anyone remember the Lone Ranger? He as a 'goodie' dressed all in white and what colour did the 'baddie' wear?

Let's not just confine ourselves to one aspect of the topic

Thats ridiculous...the governement provides and tries to enforce the law for seatbelts in the front...why not the rear ?? Why not at least for taxis...where travelling in them you do not have the 'individual choice' to wear it or not as it is not even there.

Yes we choose to live here, yes we have kids here and yes we are faced with far more dangers here because of it than possibly in your home country. But using your arguement, then they should not have ever introduced front seat belt regulations at all, also drink driving and many more.

UK, compulsory fitting of front seatbelts in cars 1967 but not compulsory wearing until 1983

The compulsory fitting of rear seatbelts in cars 1987 but not compulsory wearing until 1989 (child) 1991 (all)

Check your countries history of when they had to be fitted and when they had to be worn, you may find similar gaps. Back in our own country, we have the opportunity to write to our MPs to get laws passed but here we do not. I assume your wife is Thai, then she can write to her MP. I admit that this will not solve your immediate problem and any law passed may take years to come into force.

How is it an individual thing when you get into a taxi and there are no seatbelts in it ?

The choice is yours, take it, wait for one that has belts fitted or get a different type of transport. If you are travelling alone, sit in the front passenger seat and belt up.

paliticaly correct, to who ? who are they ? who cares a <deleted>> what they think.

Thank you for your wonderful viewpoint, can you go back undercover now?

Let's not argue about the 'right' PC phrase. The PC Brigade also use different phrases to mean the same thing - physically challenged/visually challenging however you put it still means 'ugly'. I agree that nost people's conception of an American is a white, Norman Rockwell-esque person and the same can be said about the Brits.

This thread is a spin-off from ‘Is the term ‘yellow’ a racist one?’

The problem with the PC Brigade is that they have decided that certain groups are offended by certain terms without consulting them and as a result everyone is getting very thin-skinned and scared to open their mouths.

For the PC Brigade, I am height enhanced, hearing impaired, visually challenged, have an enlarged physical condition caused by a completely natural genetically-induced hormone imbalance and am visually challenging. I live with an unpaid sex worker who is a domestic engineer.. I am not pathologically high-spirited and enjoy ethnic cuisine Ehh?

OK, so I am tall, slightly deaf, wear glasses, am fat and ugly. I have a wife who is a housewife and I am not a psycho and enjoy foreign food.

I think I am more offended by the PC me.

All words can be used for good or bad. Call me a Farang – OK. Spit the word out at me with venom then I will not be happy but it is not unhappiness caused by the word but the delivery.

Before continuing, I wish to say that I do not wish to offend anyone by the use of certain non PC terms and I hope none is taken.

I term that I do not like is ‘African-American’, why? Your ancestors came from Africa maybe 200+ years ago, you do not have a connection with Africa, why can’t you just say American? I don’t see any of the descendents of the early settlers from England referring to themselves as ‘Anglo-American’.

What is wrong with using the term ‘black’? Look at your ‘white’ friends. Describe their skin tones – anything from white as with albinos, pale pink, olive, ruddy, grey, bronze. Describe – all shades from white to black, browns, coppers, silver and reds. Eye colours – different shades. Should we get offended by the term –white? But, the PC Brigade say not all black people are black. Not all white people are white.

What’s your opinion on all aspects of political correctness? I would also like to Mods to keep a close eye on this thread and if it degenerates into rants of race hate to shut it down immediately.

Oh, I almost forgot this oldie-but-goldie Colemanball, whish is hopefully new to some:

Commentator: "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willie."

Another by the great John Arlott

"He's standing in the slips, legs wide open, waiting for a tickle"

Are you Rudyard Kipling ?

No but I do make exceedingly good cakes

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.

When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

There are two men called umpires who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

When both sides have been in and all the men have out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game!

People from the north West of England will probably be familiar with Radio Merseyside and one of its DJs - Billy Butler aka Mrs. Butler's eldest son. Billy has a slot on his Sunday show called 'Hold Your Plums', it's a phone in quiz based loosely on the fruit machine with wonderful, wonderful prizes - well cheap BBC crap. The person who phones in is given an easy question and if they can't answer it they are given an easy set of clues by Billy to help.

For example:

Billy "Who was Thailand's prime minister?"

Caller "I don't know - give us a clue"

Billy "What do you pay to the government -income mmmmmm?"

Caller "Tax"

Billy "If you are not out then you are?"

Caller "At home?"

Billy "No - out and mmm?"

My favourite one went something like this:-

Billy "Which famous movie actor was known as The Duke?"

Caller "I don't know"

Billy "Come on, missus, cowboy and war films"

Caller "I don't know, Give me a clue"

(Few more clues given out with blank responses from the caller)

Caller "Help me, Billy, Help me"

Billy (In a long, slow, John Wayne type drawl "The he11 I will"

Caller "Oh, Billy you're so mean and 'orrible, you helped everyone else!"

or make the baby seat loose

Sorry but I think that is very bad advice. The child seat is loose, gets hit by the airbag then what will happen to the child?

Duhh, I didnt say to make the baby seat loose what would be the point of that. The OP asked why he needs to switch off the passenger airbags and i told him that if the airbag goes off it will either crush or make the car seat loose, which would result in the babyseat flying around the car. Maybe I could of restructured my sentance better but anyone with half a brain would know what i ment.

That is what it sounded like, I'll put it down to bad grammar and I apologise but did you really have to use that half a brain insult?

A boy goes into a butchers and says "do you keep dripping? .......

Make up your own punchline, its still crap, but funnier than Libya.

Do you have a sheep's head?

No, it;s just the way I comb my hair.

You beat me to it! No interview, no references amd the wording. especially "with a resumption date of". Surely start date would be used and not resumption.

Not really but does anyone find the 'joke' funny?

Quote from gpt:

The Italian word for Orient is Oriente, French - Orient, German - der Orient

later he adds

English - An oriental country

French - Un pays oriental

Spanish - Un país oriental

Italian - Un paese orientale

Portuguese - Um país oriental

German - Ein orientalisches Land

So do you still maintain that it is only the English who add a suffix to orient to make it oriental?

So which is correct gpt, is it the first batch of names or the second?

Contradictions anyone

Or do all countries add an -al suffix?

As the -al suffix is latin, it doesn't surprise me to see them used.

Anyways similarity in related languages is not unheard of or strange in anyway. 

Do the chinese also use the suffix -al? 

So at least we agree oriental and occidental are not chinese words.

Do you deny the use of the word occidental and oriental in the english language. You say others use them, well others also use english words like computer. does that change the origin of the word. Many people in the world use the word doctor. does usage denote ownership?

So if you think I am brit bashing, I believe you are mistaken.

And roll your sleeves back down, it's getting cold in the LOS.

Forget the GMT argument, it has no place on this thread. Feel free to start a new thread.

My first list is the noun 'orient' and its equivalent in other languages

The second is the adjective ''oriental' and its equivalent in other languages

Do you want me to put it in tabular form for you?

What has your statement "Do the chinese also use the suffix -al? So at least we agree oriental and occidental are not chinese words." got to do with this discussion? You are now using silliness instead of logic.

"Do you deny the use of the word occidental and oriental in the english language?" Now I know you are being silly! The words originated in Latin and migrated to other languages.

The reference to me rolling my sleeves down has nothing to do with the weather, more to do with the expression "He dug himself a hole...." I won't explain that to you if you have not heard it, just look it up.

Just a quick note on my circumstances. I am English with 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren from a previous marriage. I live in Bangkok with my Thai wife who was not married before and does not have any children. We have no children and do not want any. There have been a few posters on similar threads saying "We're alright Jack, screw you, we don't care!" some posters who are in a bit of a pickle over the new regulations have complained, and quite rightly, about that attitude. We are leaving on Friday to spend Christmas with the family. I am having a few days off and I saw this thread and decided to offer a detached view, Sometimes, if you are too close you cannot see the wood for the trees!

papakapbaan said "GPT: If you had any doubt, just consider the sentence that you "conveniently" ignored in your reading above: "these person (sic) (...) has never lived as a part of the family before". No idea why they have it, but this condition and several of the other conditions indicate that they are talking about foreign children, like the children from a previous marriage. (They write: "child of his/her spouse" for example)." I did not conveniently omit that sentence - it only appears in the Sunbelt version. The Immigration version is the complete opposite.

Using Sunbelt's version "these person (sic) (...) has never lived as a part of the family before". Can one definition of family be the one parent and one child. Yes it can, we have heard of one parent families. Using Sunbelt, 'has never lived as a part of the family before' If it has not lived with either the Thai or the Farang, it must be an orphan.

Let's move away from the wood to get a better look at the trees! Look at 7/11 - I don't think that there is any doubt in anyone's mind that for consideration both conditions have to be met, have a visa and confirmation. There are other examples where two conditions have to be met.

Now, get back to 7/17 (Sunbelt), Clause (5) ends in a full stop so we will only be concerned with (1) to (5). Clauses (1) & (2) have to be met; in the case of (3), (4) & (5) the 'or' is offering options and not all conditions have to be met.

Look at 7/19, alien child, spouse, parent of an alien. Sunbelt's wording is exactly the same as 7/17 in 'Considerations'. Does your interpretation of this mean that in the case of an alien, married, under 50 and with children that he cannot bring his children into the Kingdom.

I was only trying to help, I am not joining the "I'm alright, Jack brigade" but wish you all well and I will take no further part in this thread.

My point exactly. French,German,Italian,English etc... share the same roots (latin) and are Indo European languages.

But if you look at the suffix -al,   as in oriental and occidental, the french version and the italian and the german don't use this suffix. So Oriental and Occidental are the english equivilant and this form of the word as I rightly stated was coined in england. In france,germany and italy, they don't say oriental or occidental. They have their own form of the word which you have included in your post. Ethnocentric map projections have existed for a long time as have other projections which are not ethnocentric. I found the maps you included to be a good mixture of projections. the mere fact that the prime meridian is in grenwich can tell you a great deal about ethnocentric thinking.

so if the prime meridian is in england and at 0 degrees of longitude, where will the center of my map be?

India maybe or how about japan?

You, dear Sir, would have been better to stop when you were behind but seeing that you have decided to dig a deeper a hole then I will roll up my sleeves and help you.

English - An oriental country

French - Un pays oriental

Spanish - Un país oriental

Italian - Un paese orientale

Portuguese - Um país oriental

German - Ein orientalisches Land

So do you still maintain that it is only the English who add a suffix to orient to make it oriental?

Why is Greenwich the prime meridian?

It dates back to October 1884. At the behest of the President of the United States of America 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, DC, USA for the International Meridian Conference.

At the Conference the following important principles were established:

It was desirable to adopt a single world meridian to replace the numerous ones already in existence.

The Meridian passing through the principal Transit Instrument at the Observatory at Greenwich was to be the 'initial meridian'.

That all longitude would be calculated both east and west from this meridian up to 180ฐ.

All countries would adopt a universal day.

The universal day would be a Mean Solar Day, beginning at the Mean Midnight at Greenwich and counted on a 24 hour clock.

That nautical and astronomical days everywhere would begin at mean midnight.

All technical studies to regulate and extend the application of the decimal system to the division of time and space would be supported.

Resolution 2, fixing the Meridian at Greenwich was passed 22-1 (San Domingo voted against), France & Brazil abstained.

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/info/conference.htm

Where is the centre of your map? It is wherever you decide to put it!

Do I detect a hint of Brit/non-Brit friction creeping in here? The terms were not coined in England. The Italian word for Orient is Oriente, French - Orient, German - der Orient. All of these words have the same source but, according to your logic, the British coined the term and exported it!

Britain and the map. Why does Britain appear to be in the centre of the map? I can only surmise; Orient is East and therefore looking at the map at the righthand side. The Occident goes to the left, by using this layout then we do not have to cut the Europe/Asia landmass. You can get other map projections -USA in the centre of the map, Australia in the centre and at the top and countless others. Maps of the Roman Empire show Rome in the centre.

Look at the three maps attached and tell me, purely from an artistic point of view, your opinion of layout

Oriental and Occidental are not 'Brit-centric terms'. At one time, the British Empire was worldwide so how can anything have been east or west of it?

Occident - The West i.e. the countries of Europe and the Americas

Orient - The East i.e. the countries of Asia esp. SE Asia.

Both words are from Latin 'of the setting sun' and 'of the rising sun'

We English use only one term for people who are not English - Johnny Foreigner

popshirt, this is the age of Kipling. After all, he does make exceedingly good cakes!

Anyone remember golliwogs?

These days in UK schools, the status symbol is the designer label but we had the ultimate status symbol - the number of Robertson's Golly badges on your lapel.

or make the baby seat loose

Sorry but I think that is very bad advice. The child seat is loose, gets hit by the airbag then what will happen to the child?

Sicks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.

Why should we be afraid of using certain terms? The politically correct brigade have said some people are offended by the use of these terms. Have they ever asked 'some people'? Black friends of mine are proud to call themselves black. An ex sister in law said to me "You hate me because I am black." "Sorry. Margaret, I hate you because you are Margaret!"

No more blackboards in schools, they are chalkboards. Come on, my white friends, let's get them to stop calling them chalkboards. The majority of chalk is white and we find your reference to us as chalk is offensive!

In children's literature, Thomas the Tank Engine - the Fat Controller has been renamed Sir Topham-Hatt so not to offend fat people. Noddy's friend Big Ears is now Grey Beard so as not to offend people with big ears but we can offend people with grey beards! And don't get me started on the first book that I ever read 'Little Black Sambo' (Just been reprinted by the way after been banned for many years)

When I was nursing, I was reprimanded for asking a patient did he want his brown slippers or his black ones. What else could I say? I apologise to the PC members for the use of 'patients', they are now clients, users or service recipients!

Words and phrases are fashion items, they come and they go. Yellow was in common use years ago but I think it is rare today. I could take offence at the MOBO awards, why isn't there the MOWO awards? The politically correct brigade have created a climate where people are to afraid to speak in case they offend someone. What will they think of next? We'll ban TV and movies showing car crashes because it may remind people of their own car crash. Scenes in funeral homes for those who have lost a loved one. Beer drinking scenes, offends certain religions and reformed drinkers.

If I have offended anyone then I apologise but I'll give you food (can't use that word - offensive to anorexics) for thought - don't you think that you may be being just a tad too sensitive?

"Hello, this is the fridge, the answer phone is busy right now. If you give me the message, I'll write it down and stick it to my door under one of those dinky, little magnet thingies"

My ex-wife hated that one.