[Moogs]

Just... wow.

http://community.comcast.net/comcast...ge.uid=1012977

Apparently no name, no matter how harmless and well meaning, is safe. "If you are offended, you should be placated or else sue." The new American motto.

Feel free to post your own...

[Windswept]

I think Pork Chop is a cute name.

To change it, you'd have to be a pasty-faced, lily-livered, yellow-bellied, spineless wuss. Grrr.

[tomoe]

I want a PorkChop...NOW!!!

[Souflay123]

Oy vey..... a jew writing about pork... i wonder if that is kosher? hahah

[ghoti]

Wow, Ferrous sounds like "ferocious", which will scare all the little kids. I say sue them.

[thegeriatric]

Wasn't their a puppet sheep named lamb Chop? Big deal what's the problem have we really become that petty?

[thegeriatric]

Just checked, it was a sock puppet, created by comedian and ventriloquist Shari Lewis.

[Moogs]

Save Ferrous? Not.

Not only should Pork Chop be reinstated, but they should add a side-kick called Brisket. Or even better, Biscuit. Take that hunk a dough and cook it, ya PC mo-fos!

[turtle]

I hate PC!

[Kickaha]

So do I! Get a Mac!

Wait... what?

[psmith2.0]

I saw the story about this three days ago. Seems like a ridiculous, over-the-top situation...another handwringing, perpetually-offended malcontent doing what people like him do best. I think it's obvious to anyone with a brain that the ball club - or the fans voting on the name - never intended this word to be taken that way. But that doesn't matter, does it? "As long as one person is offended...". Bullcrap. Sometimes that "one person" needs to get a life and quit looking under every rock for the stupidest things to "make a stand" over.

That's about all I'm gonna say about it, because if I get started...

[Moogs]

You mean the ball club was not secretly planning to offend all the latinos in the neighborhood with their carefully veiled name? It's not a conspiracy? IMPOSSIBLE!




You want a case of a city that deserves to be ridiculed and criticized for racist team names... look no further than the Pekin (IL) Chinks. I mentioned this once before a long time ago so I won't bore with the details but their high school named their teams... the Chinks. I don't know if this is still the case but it was the case back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Now look at Pork Chop, and tell me again how offensive that is to anyone but actual pigs. Unless you're on the meat is murder bandwagon, then I can't see how anyone would protest this. As Paul notes, this is what happens when your life becomes so uninteresting and sad, that you have to rail against [truly harmless] things that other people enjoy in order to vindicate your own pathetic existence.

[Schnauzer]

Originally Posted by tomoe I want a PorkChop...NOW!!!

Me too....... Perfect name!!!

[atomicbartbeans]

Recently some kids at my school had a rubber chicken attached to a string hanging from the door of their dorm room... no particular reason. It wasn't in anyone's way or the least bit offensive.

The RA for their floor told them to take it down because the string was tied around its neck and thus resembled a noose.

[lightning_bug]

Well, the only possible solution is to rename every athletic team something safe and cuddly and completely unoffensive...like the Rainbows! Yes! Everyone loves rainbows! All those colors, the peacefulness, the...

...what's that you say? We've tossed that mascot as well?

Oh, hell, I give up.

[Taskiss]

Originally Posted by Moogs You want a case of a city that deserves to be ridiculed and criticized for racist team names... look no further than the Pekin (IL) Chinks. I mentioned this once before a long time ago so I won't bore with the details but their high school named their teams... the Chinks. I don't know if this is still the case but it was the case back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Apparently it was changed in '67 or so.

http://pekinprattles.blogspot.com/20...hinkswhat.html

The fun part is that Pekin High's sports teams and thus their students are today known as "Dragons", actually a rather natural name given the name "Pekin" which supposedly was short for "Peking", the Chinese city which was supposed to be half way round the Earth from Pekin. In 1961....and for many years prior to that and until 1967 or so.....we were the Pekin Chinks.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

[psmith2.0]

Of course.

This "noose" shit, going both ways, is getting a bit out of hand here lately.



Idiot whites use it for some sort of symbol or threat (or signifier of their membership to the Redneck Dipshit Brigade), and idiot blacks are to the point that any rope tied in something resembling a loop is an "offensive symbol" (like this rubber chicken thing) and must be "done away with". Where does that end...hoop earrings? Hanging gymnastic rings?

Sometimes a rope/string is just a rope/string. If it's not being used by dipwad white trash types as an obvious racist antagonizer or "hate symbol", then don't worry about it.

We spend entirely way too much time on the kinds of silly stuff cited in this thread...things that aren't meant in an offensive, mean way at all. But all it takes, apparently, is "one person" - one hypersensitive, self-styled activist with no sort of life who "lives to be offended" (and we all know the type, it crosses gender, race and cultural lines) - to raise a stink. And these days, many organizations (and dorm RAs) just fan those flames and make something out of nothing. And many targeted groups (ball clubs and dorm residents) are only too eager to bend over and give in to any demands because they certainly don't want to appear a certain way, even when nobody else thinks they are (except for a handful of misguided twats who should be doing something better with their time than looking everywhere for something to offend them).

That is a wasted life.

It's obvious when something is meant in a particular (hurtful) way. And I've got no problem when those things are attacked or made an issue of. But a mascot named "Porkchop" and a rubber chicken hanging from a string don't, in my mind, meet those requirements. People are making those two things into something they're not, and it's just silly.

[Luca]

I've said in the past that I'm not easily offended, but actually, I am. Just not in the same way that "easily offended" people are. It's this sort of thing that offends me the most. I'm offended that some people bitched at them for calling a pig "Pork Chop." I'm offended that the people in charge caved to those people. And I'm sure a lot more people are offended in the way I am than are offended in the way those other people are.

Maybe we reasonable people need to start playing by their rules. Whenever something like this happens, overwhelm everyone with a public outcry.

[colivigan]

This really doesn't surprise me.

Forget the Puerto Ricans, just look at that name! "Pork" - the other white meat. Serious racial connotations there, not to mention offensive to fat people everywhere. And "chop", a subtly veiled reference to the infamous tomahawk chop which is a heinous slur against Native Americans.

What were they thinking?

[Banana]

Hmmm.... pork chops.

[Taskiss]

Originally Posted by Luca I've said in the past that I'm not easily offended, but actually, I am. Just not in the same way that "easily offended" people are. It's this sort of thing that offends me the most. I'm offended that some people bitched at them for calling a pig "Pork Chop." I'm offended that the people in charge caved to those people. And I'm sure a lot more people are offended in the way I am than are offended in the way those other people are. Maybe we reasonable people need to start playing by their rules. Whenever something like this happens, overwhelm everyone with a public outcry.

So, you acknowledge you're just representing the other side of the same coin and yet you still feel you're a reasonable person...

That's the thing, wouldn't you say? Is "being reasonable" only reserved for secular or non-pc thinkers, or is "being reasonable" in this kind of issue the act of not being extreme or excessive when judging others?

I'm thinking it's the latter. If someone thinks everyone should stop trying to project their belief system on others, perhaps they should start with their selves. Ignore this crap, don't advertise it when it happens, and it will go away... 'cause I believe it's the media making a dime off this stuff that keeps it going.

[Luca]

That's not really a fair assessment of me. I don't get offended when I hear the word "Christmas." Some non-Christians do... as soon as they hear about their kids being in a "Christmas concert," they go nuts and try to get it changed to "Winter concert" or some dumb thing like that, and ban them from singing any songs that ever refer to Christmas. That's the real counterpoint that you're referring to, and it's not me. If the people getting offended and ruining things for everyone are atheists, then I'd side against them. I can totally understand why a lot of Christians think that they're being singled out. There are a lot of cases of secular people trying to ban any references to holidays, and it's just stupid.

What I'm saying is that excessive political correctness does offend me, because it's an insult to my (and most other people's) intelligence. There's a totally separate issue that is the PC vs. non-PC debate, and it has nothing to do with your religion, race, or anything else. I don't care one way or another whether they call a pig mascot "Pork Chop" or not. I wouldn't even care if a team named their mascot "Tony the Dago," even though I have an Italian ancestry. But it does get on my nerves when this sort of thing happens. Thin-skinned people make the world a less fun place for everyone.

[Kickaha]

QFT.

Alright, I'm not going to *quote* it, but you can figure it out.

Originally Posted by Taskiss Ignore this crap, don't advertise it when it happens, and it will go away... 'cause I believe it's the media making a dime off this stuff that keeps it going.

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Irrational people tend to have this 'gift' of spreading a meme unless countered. Countering in *kind* isn't palatable to most rational and even-keeled folks, but 'ignore it and it will go away' never seems to work. Even (especially?) the most insane looking beliefs seem to get a foothold and turn into actual movements. And here I invoke Godwin's Law as proof. I'm sure others will have their own examples.

[Moogs]

Originally Posted by Taskiss Apparently it was changed in '67 or so. http://pekinprattles.blogspot.com/20...hinkswhat.html Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Odd, because the douche bags I knew in college bragged that was their HS name (they would've attended 87-91). Would be truly ironic -given the racist bents in that town- to have people bragging about a racist name that was no longer used, because they wished it was. *slaps forehead* I actually went to Pekin once en route to some big party in Peoria at Big Als, expecting I would find the rest of the "Pekinese" to be less ignorant / offensive. Sadly, I found almost everyone there had a nonchalant attitude about these things, like it was just accepted that that's how it is and the rest of the world is fucked up not them.

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Luca Maybe we reasonable people need to start playing by their rules. Whenever something like this happens, overwhelm everyone with a public outcry.

Well, Luca, I think your point is exactly right. I think all of us would be completely amazed at how much impact well-written letters and emails can have, when directed toward, say, at least *ten* of the main people involved in any issue/controversy.

(Examples are the flood of protest regarding the Dubai/US ports controversy and the drivers' licenses for illegals in NY issue.)

I have been writing a blizzard of emails for months now, to various members of the Senate Judiciary committee and to all presidential candidates *and* their campaign staffs, wrt various topics on which I feel strongly.

I honestly do believe that my letters have had some impact, but it does take a while for the letter to get 'into the system' and reach the actual person to whom it is addressed.

So, sending an email the night before an important Senate vote might simply get your opinion checked off in the appropriate 'yes/no' column; but, for your well-written 'words' to have any real effect takes awhile. Senate or campaign staffers will read your letter and then pass it on to the candidate, *if* you have written a thoughtful, well-expressed commentary on the issue at hand.

I think if people from around the country took the time to write in, in support of the cute name 'PorkChop', there is at least a small chance that the name might be reinstated.

The name 'Ferrous' is just unbelievably ponderous, ridiculous, and embarrassingly stodgy. sheesh.

[Koodari]

Originally Posted by Windswept The name 'Ferrous' is just unbelievably ponderous, ridiculous, and embarrassingly stodgy. sheesh.

You big ol' meanies, all piling on the super-cute and cuddly Ferrous.

Early costume prototype with a cheerleader:

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Koodari You big ol' meanies, all piling on the super-cute and cuddly Ferrous.

[psmith2.0]

Skootching back to the original angle of this story, does anyone know what's up with the "porkchop" thing? In my 38 years on the planet (and the past 12-15 being somewhat immersed in or surrounded by Hispanic cultures, simply from co-workers, neighborhoods I've lived, neighbors I've known, etc., especially during the decade I spent in Southern California), I've never once heard that particular word brought up or cited as something bad.

There have been others, sure. But never "porkchop".

Anyone else ever heard why or how this word is taken as a slam or causes offense?



Honestly, I've only known it as a dinner meat and the name of my cat. I truly had no idea (and I still kinda question it, frankly, on a widespread, common-use level) it was one of "those words"...one you don't call people of a certain background or whatever.

Strange to think that I've gone all this time, with all the people I've known and met, and have not been made privy to the hurt and offense "porkchop" apparently causes.

I ask again: do Hispanics (specifically Puerto Ricans) not eat porkchops? And if they do, do they go out of their way to call them something else? I'm not being a wise-ass; I'm genuinely curious. Or is this guy raising a stink just an isolated case, too sensitive for his own good (is it truly a known hurtful word, or, rather, did a classmate call him a "porkchop" in the third grade playground and he's always connected the word to something bad and he's just making a giant leap/connection all on his own?)

[Windswept]

I've never heard the word pork chop connected to anything hispanic in my life.

I think objections to this cute name are absurd.

If some isolated Puerto Rican once took imagined offense at the term, well hey, sorry, but he just needs to grow up and get over it, for godssake! Sheesh!

[ghoti]

Could this be like the Buick Lacrosse, which was renamed after people claimed that "lacrosse" was a slang word for masturbation in some parts of French-speaking Canada? As the CEO of GM said at some point, "I think we were taken for a ride there." Who knows, maybe somebody just wanted to test the team's reaction time when accused of being racists?

Oh, the pitfalls of international names. From this BBC article:

GM officials said they had been unaware that LaCrosse was a term for self-gratification among teenagers in French-speaking Quebec. [...] More recently, Mitsubishi had to change the name of its Pajero model in Spanish speaking countries, where the word is a slang term for "masturbator". [...] And Ford didn't have the reception it expected in Brazil when their Pinto car flopped. They then discovered that in Brazilian Portuguese slang, pinto means "small penis".

It's kind of silly really, almost any word can be made to mean something sexual in the right/wrong context.