January 3, 2007

Offensive Words

It is my purpose to make sure this Blog site is agreeable to all. This won't be as easy as some might think. What one person finds offensive another might find flattering.

For example, I have a friend who didn't want to be called Mrs. Smith (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). She felt that calling her Mrs. made her sound old. "That's my mother-n-law, not me." She said.
I've also known women who were offended by the title "Ma'am" for the same reason. They thought it made them sound old.

Forms of names can be considered unexceptable by some. If you called a person by a form of their name they didn't like it might be offensive to them. Here are a short list of common names and their derivatives:
Randolph- Randy, Rand, Dolph
Richard- Rich, Rick, Ricky, Dick
Charles- Chuck, Charlie, Charley
Patricia- Pat, Patty, Tricia, Trish
Elizabeth- Beth, Liza, Lisa, Eliza

Current definitions of names can make them offensive when a few years previous it was considered acceptable. For example the man's name Dick or the woman's name Gay.

In the south it isn't uncommon for women to call people "Hon", however, I've heard some non-southerners say they didn't approve of being called "Hon" by someone they didn't know.

Here are a list of words that I find offensive but are considered compliments in certain circles:
whore
slut
pimp
the "F" word (can't bring myself to print that one)

Hopefully I can successfully post unoffensive entries on my Blog that will be acceptable by all.

Oh, and any variation of my given name is acceptable and you can call me Mrs. if you want to. ;0)