My girlfriends younger brother wants to get his tongue pierced

Jeremy1012

Edit

Heineken Helen

facepollution wrote:

I understand about choosing to be offended, and that you don't have to give power to words, but I think context is relevant. For example one of my so called friends called me a cunt the other week cause I dared to call him selfish. Ordinarily I wouldn't bat an eyelid if he called me a cunt, becuase I know it's usually meant as a joke, but on this occassion he did mean it and I was offended by it - not by the word, but by the intent.

but why? I mean think about it!

Jennytree

facepollution wrote:

I understand about choosing to be offended, and that you don't have to give power to words, but I think context is relevant. For example one of my so called friends called me a cunt the other week cause I dared to call him selfish. Ordinarily I wouldn't bat an eyelid if he called me a cunt, becuase I know it's usually meant as a joke, but on this occassion he did mean it and I was offended by it - not by the word, but by the intent.

I definitely agree with the intent. And some words (such as racist words) automatically have intent to offend whether its intended by the speaker or not. And that should be respected.

As a nation, IMO, Irish people aren't that easily offended. Sure, there are one or two who are. The worst ye could do was call me a culchie and tell me to go grow some spuds... big woop!
But, If someone slags me intentionally about my hair, piercings or tattoos, I will get offended by peoples narrowmindedness and kick them in the face. Its up to others to respect my decision to look the way I do - not asking to understand it or accept it.

I have no idea what point I was trying to make!

Heineken Helen

Jeremy1012 wrote:

ah ok, sectarian stuff is a WHOLE other can of worms. I agree, the principal behind that sort of abuse is so ridiculous that you can't help but laugh at it, unless of course you're being dragged into waste ground and cut up for going into the wrong pub...

All I'm saying is, everyone has the right to take offense. I've been called many things intended as insults over the past including "scotch cunt", even though I have a very weak accent and have lived here my whole life, and I just laughed if off. The idea of being insulted for being scottish is pretty hilarious when the problem doesn't run particularly deep. On the other hand, the only time in my life when I have genuinely wanted to kill someone was over christmas when a guy started insulting some of my friends and then being threatening towards them. Calling them "dirty skanks" nearly angered me into doing something very stupid, especially when the guy started squaring up to a pair of girls. There are levels of offensiveness and some provoke more of a reaction than others. You are seemingly immune to that which is good for you, you'll probably never have a heart attack I reserve my right to indignation though. If people never react, guys like pjoasisrule will go about telling people not to get piercings in certain places because "lolz, that makes you a phag".

I genuinely believe that if more people had my attitude on this, the world would be a much better place and I don't see how anyone can see anything wrong with that. I mean, sure people have the RIGHT to be offended... but it's not gonna make them live longer and I don't believe it's the right answer to ignorance. And like I've said, if you take the word BACK, it won't be offensive anymore.

And I don't think sectarian stuff is any different. How is there a difference in calling someone a fenian bastard than a paki? You or I might find one more laughable... but where's the difference? Both terms come from ignorance and obviously a lack of intelligence whereby they must simply call somebody a name . It really makes no sense to me for somebody to take offense.

Heineken Helen

Jennytree wrote:

I definitely agree with the intent. And some words (such as racist words) automatically have intent to offend whether its intended by the speaker or not. And that should be respected.

As a nation, IMO, Irish people aren't that easily offended. Sure, there are one or two who are. The worst ye could do was call me a culchie and tell me to go grow some spuds... big woop!
But, If someone slags me intentionally about my hair, piercings or tattoos, I will get offended by peoples narrowmindedness and kick them in the face. Its up to others to respect my decision to look the way I do - not asking to understand it or accept it.

I have no idea what point I was trying to make!

nor do we You say Irish people are less easily offended but that if somone says something about your piercings you'll kick them in the face?

Jeremy1012

Heineken Helen wrote:

I genuinely believe that if more people had my attitude on this, the world would be a much better place and I don't see how anyone can see anything wrong with that. I mean, sure people have the RIGHT to be offended... but it's not gonna make them live longer and I don't believe it's the right answer to ignorance. And like I've said, if you take the word BACK, it won't be offensive anymore.

And I don't think sectarian stuff is any different. How is there a difference in calling someone a fenian bastard than a paki? You or I might find one more laughable... but where's the difference? Both terms come from ignorance and obviously a lack of intelligence whereby they must simply call somebody a name . It really makes no sense to me for somebody to take offense.

You're right to be honest. My previous post didn't make much sense. I haven't eaten yet...

Jennytree

Heineken Helen wrote:

nor do we You say Irish people are less easily offended but that if somone says something about your piercings you'll kick them in the face?

I did say as a nation I am not a nation I meant really, its hard to insult Irishness!

civ_eng_girl

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

makes me wonder if pjoasisrule's girlfriend would protest as much if he got his tongue pierced... I doubt it

haha.... too funny...

facepollution

Heineken Helen wrote:

but why? I mean think about it!

Well like it or not, the word 'cunt' is deemed to be about the most offensive swear word there is, thus him calling me it was his way of letting me know what he thought of me in the strongest way he could think of (not very imaginative I know!). Obviously on a semantic level it means nothing, the word 'table' could be made an insulting word if society gave it that meaning. The only way any word has any meaning, is if society is in agreeance that it has a particular meaning, you can't deny that surely? Therefore context is the central point here, by your definition, nothing at all offends you? At least that's what it seems like you're saying.

dunkman

Heineken Helen wrote:

:mad: you said 'hee' :eek: Fucker

I've heard that's offensive to swahilians

like i give a fuck about Swahilians :rolleyes:


ehhh.... let him get his tongue pierced if he wants.. who cares..

Heineken Helen

Jennytree wrote:

I did say as a nation I am not a nation I meant really, its hard to insult Irishness!

that's very very true

anyone tries and it is quite funny... it's like 'how do you think you are offending me by calling me a stereotypical Irish name?' Those ones really make no sense

Heineken Helen

facepollution wrote:

Well like it or not, the word 'cunt' is deemed to be about the most offensive swear word there is, thus him calling me it was his way of letting me know what he thought of me in the strongest way he could think of (not very imaginative I know!). Obviously on a semantic level it means nothing, the word 'table' could be made an insulting word if society gave it that meaning. The only way any word has any meaning, is if society is in agreeance that it has a particular meaning, you can't deny that surely? Therefore context is the central point here, by your definition, nothing at all offends you? At least that's what it seems like you're saying.

I've admitted I DO get offended at times... but it's against my better judgment and I annoy myself when I do because it is a much better retort to laugh at somebodys attempts to offend you than to be offended. I'm more annoyed by the fact that I'm offended than by the fact that somebody offended me

I'm not denying that a word is only offensive if society deems it so... but you should know that I hate the word 'society' and all it stands for. I try and fight against it... this is just one example of it.

urbanhippie

Jennytree wrote:

Jaysis, this thread has gone mad since I last looked.

I must be totally gay - I have two right ear piercings.

I must be even more gay cos one of the piercings is stretched to 8mm

Oh noes!

I must take out ALL my piercings to fit in with the straight society... get the fuckin boat!

I have two piercings in my right ear and a tongue piercing... what does that make me?

I go for guys... not girls.... and guys with piercings look good.

dunkman

Jennytree wrote:

I meant really, its hard to insult Irishness!

its not really ...

facepollution

Heineken Helen wrote:

I've admitted I DO get offended at times... but it's against my better judgment and I annoy myself when I do because it is a much better retort to laugh at somebodys attempts to offend you than to be offended. I'm more annoyed by the fact that I'm offended than by the fact that somebody offended me

I'm not denying that a word is only offensive if society deems it so... but you should know that I hate the word 'society' and all it stands for. I try and fight against it... this is just one example of it.

Well yeah society is stupid, that's why it kind of shocked me that people were so hyper-offended in response to this thread. Yeah it was a stupid question to ask, and perhaps I'm being naive and it was just a thinly-veiled excuse to put gay people down, but I can understand why some people may have the idea that certain fashions are more common amongst certain groups of people.

Jeremy1012

I have a question, cause like, you know, I don't know the "rules" about this ,
I have been considering getting an eyebrow piercing. Will this make me a homosexual too?

dunkman

pjoasisrule wrote:

... and somebody would probably start calling me a homophone or something along those lines.

is that what gay people use to call each other..


i didnt realise only gay men got their tongue pierced.. and i'm not a liberal or anything... but my brother-in-law has one and he's married with 2 kids... he's done well at hiding the gayness of his life... i must call him on the homophone tonight and check if he still has Liberace's jumpsuit for a party i'm going to ...

Jeremy1012

facepollution wrote:

Well yeah society is stupid, that's why it kind of shocked me that people were so hyper-offended in response to this thread. Yeah it was a stupid question to ask, and perhaps I'm being naive and it was just a thinly-veiled excuse to put gay people down, but I can understand why some people may have the idea that certain fashions are more common amongst certain groups of people.

I don't think anyone in this thread was "hyper-offended", they were just highly amused at the OP and his views. I stopped taking anything he said seriously a long time ago when he said The Smiths were a shit band because Morrissey is gay.

Jeremy1012

dunkman wrote:

is that what gay people use to call each other..


i didnt realise only gay men got their tongue pierced.. and i'm not a liberal or anything... but my brother-in-law has one and he's married with 2 kids... he's done well at hiding the gayness of his life... i must call him on the homophone tonight and check if he still has Liberace's jumpsuit for a party i'm going to ...

Heineken Helen

Jeremy1012 wrote:

I have a question, cause like, you know, I don't know the "rules" about this ,
I have been considering getting an eyebrow piercing. Will this make me a homosexual too?

the fact that you're even considering it... means you've actually been gay for 3 years 6 months and 3 days

Time to come out