Author Topic: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.  (Read 1576686 times)

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9000 on: 07 July, 2017, 09:00:49 am »
I'm with Pedaldog on this one, mouthbreather is a disablist insult and like "Retard", "Lame" and similar is a term I'd prefer not to see becoming acceptable in YACF. At best it's unexcellent.

Exactly how I feel. I think mouthbreather has some reference to people with developmental disorders and learning difficulties - so it leaves a really nasty taste in my mouth (or ear? Seeing as I avoid using the term...).

To be honest, I don't feel hugely comfortable with any term used to insult those deemed to have a 'lower intellect'. The pomposity of the educated classes is exactly why we move forward at a snail's pace as a society and civilisation.

Often when we call people 'stupid' we actually mean that they are acting in a stupid manner, or possibly unthinking. Or indeed just being a twat - which is NOT THE SAME THING. Why not just call a twat a twat?*

* Okay, so maybe there is an issue with gendered insults... maybe we should just be excellent to each other.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9001 on: 07 July, 2017, 09:10:52 am »
Funnily enough, I don't have a problem with terms like moron, cretin or idiot, probably because I think they're now so far removed from their very specific historic definitions that they're now a mere insult.

Anent cretin:

[18c: from Swiss dialect crestin, from Latin christianus Christian, human creature, emphasizing their humanity in spite of their physical and mental deformity.]

Curious how language evolves.  In future I shall be careful about calling anyone a Christian.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9002 on: 07 July, 2017, 09:49:11 am »
Same root as Russian for peasant.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9003 on: 07 July, 2017, 09:59:41 am »
Insults are – well – supposed to be insulting. OMG, I just insulted someone and they're like so offended!

I'm sure 'mouthbreather' is purely a reference to the slack-jawed gormless look that people who, for instance, appear in crime photos have. James Smith, 47, of Cudchew North appeared in court charged with exposing himself in Sports Direct. And there he is, jaw hanging wide like a broken lantern, staring at the camera. Say cheese, James, say cheese. Don't worry, we're not asking you to spell it. And put that away. Sigh.

I know it's a thoroughly modern pastime to define words in such ways as you can then find them offensive (bonus points if you can tweet about it) but I also think that words like idiot, moron, and cretin have moved far beyond specific medical references.

Retard is pretty high on the generally offensive list mind (though pretty generic in the US, like spastic, where it doesn't really resound with the sense it has in British English, though I still cringe), and I don't think anyone who wasn't an idiot would use words like spastic and mong. Of course, I grew up during the era when every school playground was filled with the chant of 'Joey! Joey! Joey!' Don't ever let it be said that 99% of children are little more that miniature sociopaths (and if you think yours are better, they're probably not, you're just hormonally programmed not to realise).

Mind you, I'm a non-nasal breather, with a speech defect, and a lazy eye (I made the rest of me lazy so as to avoid making it stand out).

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9004 on: 07 July, 2017, 01:11:18 pm »
I'm just thinking of the time I was out with my son walking through the weekly market.  He was carrying on one of his sensory things, breathing heavily through his mouth with lost of resultant spreading of saliva. Two old biddies "that's disgusting, you're a horrible child".  I confess my reply was less than excellent
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9005 on: 07 July, 2017, 02:07:24 pm »
It's just not okay.

Mouth-breather, window-licker... sure, one person's definition might be innocuous. But not everyone's is. So it's not okay to use them. If you list all of those insults they very quickly become a vile stereotype so I don't think we can pretend it's reassigning origins of words. The impact of language is far, far wider than people seem to accept. It's why rape jokes are not okay. Why white people should never say 'nigger'. Why 'stupid woman' is perpetuating misogyny.

Externalities. You don't have to care. But you can't deny they exist.

Sometimes this stuff comes out of our mouths. And no one is suggesting your genitals should be tasered every time you use one of these insults. But maybe we should think about why we are insulting someone. Most of the time our insults bear little relevance to the reason we're insulting the person.

This is minor. It doesn't really matter. But I've worn glasses since I was three. I used to get called four-eyes. It used to make me cry. Even as an adult I still get called a four-eyed cunt on occasion by actual adults*. It took me until I was 28 before I ever liked the way I looked wearing glasses. I still feel sick when I hear people use four-eyed as an insult.

We may not have the right not to be offended. But we do have the right to be offended and we do have the right to tell people why and ask if they perhaps, perchance might be more considerate around their choices of language in the future.

* I know, right, WTF?

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9006 on: 07 July, 2017, 02:17:29 pm »
Agreed, and I think it's important to think about the implications of language, especially when it's punching down against a group who are already disadvantaged or indeed perpetuating horrible and damaging stereotypes.  People with learning difficulties are some of the most disadvantaged in our society and some of them can't fight back or are horribly vulnerable to domestic and public abuse.

Research specifically attributes the worsening of disability hate crime from increased use of scroungers and shirkers style language in the media and indeed by our sodding government. DLA became an insult for the first time in my life after the Coalition got in. I'd never heard that before!

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9007 on: 07 July, 2017, 02:25:28 pm »
My not-teen stepkids chuck around 'retard' casually. It makes my hackles rise. I was in 'the spazza class' at school, being one of them disabled kids (yes it was called the spazza class. I can call it that, just like that african american can call themself 'nigger'. You can't call it the spazza class, unless you were in a spazza class).

So when I was at school I was a four-eyed pommie spazza. Never mind that I just had a bone disease that was temporary, I'd been in the spazza class, ergo I was four-eyed pommie spazza for the remainder of my days in that school.

Language matters
<i>Marmite slave</i>

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9008 on: 07 July, 2017, 03:37:04 pm »
I reclaim spack and spazz (and indeed crip and cripple) in certain circumstances but am mindful that it's not entirely my term to claim and that sometimes it may not be clear I'm using it in a reclamatory politicised sense.

I don't buy the "everyone is offended these days" as the reality is that most of us have enough privilege not to use words which hurt others.  I wonder if those of us without experience of disability ourselves, or close family members have any idea how often nasty language is used to and about us.

It's like how I am perhaps no longer shocked, but saddened to hear how often say racist comments are used against against BME friends. And like disablism, the type and extent of the abuse (which is what it is) varies by nature of the impairment and how it is perceived - just like variation by ethnicity etc.

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9009 on: 07 July, 2017, 03:51:28 pm »
It's not about words being offensive, it's about appropriating words, de-contextualizing and re-defining them, and publicly declaring yourself thusly offended by your new definition. Bonus points for being offended on behalf of someone else, of course.

Children, of course, will be mean about everything but like I say, they're motherfucking evil psychotic mini-Hitlers intent on making each other's life hell. Childhood is an exercise in damage limitation. Demons don't possess children, I suspects it's vice versa. In Hell, demons tell horror stories about human children. It keeps them awake at night.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9010 on: 07 July, 2017, 10:02:15 pm »
Run away.  Get off the roads.  Hide.
Loony contract hay makers.
 >:(
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9011 on: 08 July, 2017, 05:41:48 pm »
This is becoming tedious.  Not to mention expensive. 
Two weeks ago when fettling some extraneous sharp bits off the arm cups of my tri bars my beloved B&D powerfile slowed to a stop in a couple of seconds.  Motor totally seized even once cooled.  Expletives issued forth.  The new equivalent appears to come sans case and I'll bet somehow it doesn't fit in the old one.

Today I set about a small cleaning job for Mrs Tween that involved my Bosch Professional angle grinder.  I'm barely getting going but far enough in to know my method is working nicely and not damaging that which I am cleaning when there's a loud pop from the motor and that's another dead tool.  The new equivalent appears to come sans case and I'll bet somehow it doesn't fit in the old one.

One is not amused.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9012 on: 09 July, 2017, 09:39:16 am »
This is becoming tedious.  Not to mention expensive. 
Two weeks ago when fettling some extraneous sharp bits off the arm cups of my tri bars my beloved B&D powerfile slowed to a stop in a couple of seconds.  Motor totally seized even once cooled.  Expletives issued forth.  The new equivalent appears to come sans case and I'll bet somehow it doesn't fit in the old one.

Today I set about a small cleaning job for Mrs Tween that involved my Bosch Professional angle grinder.  I'm barely getting going but far enough in to know my method is working nicely and not damaging that which I am cleaning when there's a loud pop from the motor and that's another dead tool.  The new equivalent appears to come sans case and I'll bet somehow it doesn't fit in the old one.

One is not amused.

Bloody hell.

I have B&D drills from 1968 & 1978, and a Bosch from 1989. They've all had intensive use and are still going strong. Ditto my 1980s B&D belt sander, although the always-on lock on the trigger doesn't work any more.

What pisses me off about most modern hand-held power tools is that you have to press in a button before you can switch them on. Back when men were men and camels were camels the button locked them on and you kept them out of the hands of fools and children. Maybe drills still do that, I haven't bought one since the Bosch.

Oh, my 1989 Bosch router still works perfectly, too.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9013 on: 09 July, 2017, 10:55:03 am »
I woke up at 05:00 & smelt a nasty burning smell.  Nothing in the flat & no smoke in the immediate vicinity so I went back to bed an hour later.   I've just gotten out up again & now feel knackered  :(
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9014 on: 09 July, 2017, 02:02:13 pm »
I woke up at 05:00 & smelt a nasty burning smell.  Nothing in the flat & no smoke in the immediate vicinity so I went back to bed an hour later.   I've just gotten out up again & now feel knackered  :(

Carbon monoxide?

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9015 on: 09 July, 2017, 02:46:00 pm »
I woke up at 05:00 & smelt a nasty burning smell.  Nothing in the flat & no smoke in the immediate vicinity so I went back to bed an hour later.   I've just gotten out up again & now feel knackered  :(

Carbon monoxide?


Just dozing off again & waking up I think.   I had the bedroom windows open, so presume the smell drifted in from outside.   No sign of any fire brigade activity anywhere. 
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9016 on: 09 July, 2017, 04:31:09 pm »
I can remember the first time I got up at 5 then went back to bed and felt knackered later - about 20 years ago. Nowadays I feel knackered every morning.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9017 on: 09 July, 2017, 10:03:50 pm »
My combination microwave/oven/grill has started misbehaving.  Either it's overheating or just plain weltschmerz, but it gets halfway through cooking my dinner then dies.  Just what I need alongside having to fork out for new glasses and my motor-car going into hospital next week.  Bah!
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9018 on: 10 July, 2017, 02:10:45 am »
My combination microwave/oven/grill has started misbehaving.  Either it's overheating or just plain weltschmerz, but it gets halfway through cooking my dinner then dies.  Just what I need alongside having to fork out for new glasses and my motor-car going into hospital next week.  Bah!

Are the vents obstructed?

Make sure there is loads of free space above, to the side and behind it...

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9019 on: 10 July, 2017, 08:59:23 am »
No, 101 call-handler, riding 50cc hairdryers offroad bikes on public playing fields* isn't 'not illegal'. It is very much illegal, dangerous and anti-social. And whilst this isn't first had, waffling on to my better half about 'not being able to arrest people who are doing wrong things' is both patronising and entirely irrelevant.

Thankfully your colleagues have a better grasp of the law and confirmed that the plod had already been dispatched and were rounding the corner.

* Rugby club fields, regularly used by dog walkers, children, and people who aren't wankers.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9020 on: 10 July, 2017, 09:33:59 am »
My combination microwave/oven/grill has started misbehaving.  Either it's overheating or just plain weltschmerz, but it gets halfway through cooking my dinner then dies.  Just what I need alongside having to fork out for new glasses and my motor-car going into hospital next week.  Bah!

Are the vents obstructed?

Make sure there is loads of free space above, to the side and behind it...

No problems with any of that; it's been in the same spot since new, at least half a decade.  A replacement will be collected shortly.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9021 on: 12 July, 2017, 10:55:20 am »
Decabloodyathlon, keep your effing stock up to date.  I wanted some small ball-bearings of the type used in roller blades and your website said my local branch had them in stock so I went there, to find zilch. Flunky: someone probably took the last one and 'they' haven't updated yet. 

That's about three times that's happened: someone always pinches the last whatever before I get there.  Now I've ordered on line (from a real bearing supplier) and what with Friday being a holiday it'll be next week before I can get on with what I'd otherwise be finishing today. Arse. I hope their goldfish die.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ian

Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9022 on: 15 July, 2017, 12:19:48 pm »
I'm knackered after a week of mid-year thought leading which basically means I've been getting five hours sleep tops every night (yeah, yeah, my own fault for being sat in a bar at 1am, but that's very the nature of thought leading, or at least of having a generous expenses account). So, yeah, sleep, oh beautiful sleep, followed by a chilled out weekend. Maybe a bike ride or a mild hike, some tasty beer, and a decent meal. But everything in a nice low gear with lashings of soft and comfortable sleep. Sounds perfect.

So why the fuck is my mother-in-law here? 'You could at least try to look cheerful' says my wife as I bend over to pick up my face from the floor. That was me trying. Apparently she was supposed to come during the week and go to the opera but booked Saturday by mistake (conveniently inviting herself for the entire weekend). I did tell you, says my wife, evidently at a time I wasn't listening.

Although my wife used the words 'why do you go ride your bike, if you want, I don't mind' her lips actually said if you leave me alone with my mother all evening, I'm going to finish the day as a widow and your death will be the sort of long and protracted affair that I can sell the TV rights to.

So, yeah, 4pm prompt I'll be in Covent Garden with a look of painful cheer stretched across my face.

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9023 on: 15 July, 2017, 05:04:42 pm »
This is becoming tedious.  Not to mention expensive. 
Two weeks ago when fettling some extraneous sharp bits off the arm cups of my tri bars my beloved B&D powerfile slowed to a stop in a couple of seconds.  Motor totally seized even once cooled.  Expletives issued forth.  The new equivalent appears to come sans case and I'll bet somehow it doesn't fit in the old one.

Today I set about a small cleaning job for Mrs Tween that involved my Bosch Professional angle grinder.  I'm barely getting going but far enough in to know my method is working nicely and not damaging that which I am cleaning when there's a loud pop from the motor and that's another dead tool.  The new equivalent appears to come sans case and I'll bet somehow it doesn't fit in the old one.

One is not amused.

Bloody hell.

I have B&D drills from 1968 & 1978, and a Bosch from 1989. They've all had intensive use and are still going strong. Ditto my 1980s B&D belt sander, although the always-on lock on the trigger doesn't work any more.

What pisses me off about most modern hand-held power tools is that you have to press in a button before you can switch them on. Back when men were men and camels were camels the button locked them on and you kept them out of the hands of fools and children. Maybe drills still do that, I haven't bought one since the Bosch.

Oh, my 1989 Bosch router still works perfectly, too.
[ungrumble] Popped the cover off the grinder and took a guess the split wide open choke might just be the problem.  Minor complication reading the part number across the split but part found on the Bosch parts site.  £12, fitted, fixed [/ungrumble]

Modern B&D is crap, this will be the third powerfile I've taken to the tip.  They are a brilliant tool but built of pure turd.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.
« Reply #9024 on: 26 July, 2017, 06:16:55 pm »
Just got the super-soaker treatment in the eyes from an overtaking bus.  I memorised the registration number, which I've fed into google and obtained more detail about the vehicle and its operator history than I could ever need courtesy of bus spotters (can't remember who to thank for that top tip, thanks YACF).  I'll be sending a sternly-worded email to the bus company about driver attitudes and maintenance standards of essential MOT test items, and if they fail the attitude test, following up to Nobby and Vimes.

ETA: Done.  First (for it was them) have a form for it, complete with lots of useful fields for identifying the bus/driver.  I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or not.