Wednesday 19 December 2007

British Offendednes Level: Not Bothered Really

Which of these words offends you most?

scumbag
maggot
faggot
arse
Christmas

The good old BBC got its knickers in a twist recently when it tried to censor the lyrics of a very well-known Christmas song, A Fairytale Of New York by the late Kirsty McColl and The Pogues. But only on Radio One, the yoof-oriented channel.

"You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot,
Happy Christmas your arse I thank God it's all o'er."

The offending word? 'Faggot(s)'. Meanings:
1) A Welsh meatball - made from unspeakable bits of offal.
2) Small sticks used for kindling (lighting fires).
3) Homosexual men. Commonly used in the USA, barely used in the UK, but understood.

Some politically correct arshole at the Beeb decided that the use of the word 'faggot' was homophobic, and ordered that the word should be bleeped or faded out. An avalanche of response on the BBC's website caused the decision to be reversed in a matter of hours. I despair. This song first came out in 1987, and has been played repeatedly since then with nary a complaint. Homophobic? My bottom!

6 comments:

nzm said...

Christmas is the one that I have trouble with.

The world is going to hell with all its political correctness.

This year, Santas in Sydney Australia were banned from saying Ho, ho, ho lest they offend any passers-by who were dressed like prostitutes.

dubaibilly said...

I'm sorry, it's the bloody BBC that offend me!

leftbanker said...

My favorite part of the holidays is when the kiddies walk around and sing this song door-to-door. Or maybe I'm thinking of A Clockwork Orange?

Grumpy Goat said...

I always look forward to a Terry's Clockwork Orange in my Christmas stocking. And now I'll get my goat, er, coat.

Merry Christmas.

Jayne said...

They just DON'T know when to stop all this bloody PC business do they? Play Ian Drury & the Blockheads & give 'em somminc to bitch about I say!

Happy Crimble to you, mamaduck & The Offspring :-)

Susan said...

That's one of my favourite xmas songs!