Some of you noticed that The Backer had been a little slow in adopting his new, cardinal-and-gold look, pursuant to our bet. Some even thought he might be “welching.” But no — he was just otherwise occupied, sick, and having Internet connectivity issues. Hence the delay. However, the changes have now been made, and for the next week (i.e., until next Tuesday afternoon), “The Backer” will remain “Traddies.” It’s beautiful! :)
I still think sometime you should change your colors on this blog for a bit there Brendan. I think the cahnge would look pretty decent.
Maybe alternate colors from SC to ND every so often?
Ooh! ooh! Better yet: set up the site to be in either ND or SC colors depending on what the reader chooses on his/her browser! That would (maybe) rock!
Well, my site doesn’t really have ‘SC colors as it is. I mean, the left-hand sidebar has a very ND-ish navy blue, and most of the rest of the color scheme is gray or white. The only red on the page is the title and the hurricane box, and that’s not an ‘SC shade of red (cardinal), but rather a straight-up red.
I actually think the ND color scheme looked rather ugly, to be honest. It looks good on The Backer’s site, but on mine, it was a bit busy…
Sean - whether the PC crowd likes it or not, those “racial slurs” are all for the same race … and, rather than slurs, they are expressions of sweeping-generalisation characteristics of many examples of each group … they have acquired less than positive connotations, yet remain statistically accurate …
Those with historical knowledge also recognise that accompanying the negative connotations are related positive connotations, too … the most common of the latter being “… and they get away with it, successfully, too” …
A minor detail, yet not wishing to be considered anti-semantic … none of the three you stated refer to untrustworthiness - each of the three convey precisely that the one described can be trusted to act in the way described …
Alasdair, does it hurt when you twist logic beyond all recognition? They’re slurs originally used to describe the Welsh, Gypsies, and Jews, meant to convey that you can’t trust them. Nothing you say will change that.
Sorry Sean (which Sean are you btw, the good Sean, formerly of Newington, or the evil Sean of Kelly Green), but just because its origins *might* have racial conontations does not make it a racist comment.
When I used the term welching on a deal I in no way was implying that the Welsh (if it even pretains to them, etymologists are unsure) are somehow untrustworthy.
And um, in case you were unaware of it Gypsies in many places actually ARE untrustworthy. Go to places like Budapest and you will find Gypsy pick pockets taking advantage of tourists. Now we could go into a deep and long discussion about the social and economic forces at work, but the point is that some times stereotypes do have a grain of truth.
Isn’t “welching” on a deal what one does when one breaks open a bottle of unfermented grape juice to celebrate the completion of a deal ?
As opposed to “welshing”, which referred to the ability of a certain non-trivial %age of a certain ethnic/cultural subgroup tending to escape from following through on commitments if pretty much the slightest technicality would allow it … but you could trust such individuals to welsh on things consistently - so they were by no means untrustworthy …
Gypsies by their traditions had a code not unlike the Muslim codes, whereby Romany were to be dealt with by the rules, and non-romany were considered a fair-game resource if they allowed a Romany to get away with something … and, again, they could be trusted to do so …
Jews, equally, gained a reputation for canny financial dealings … in which, one the terms were spelled out, they could not only be trusted, more importantly they could be trusted to do well financially … to most Scots, being associated with Jew is NOT a slur … as a Scot, I am basically biased in favour of giving such a person his Jew …
So … is this a good time to point our that it’s actually Sean who apparently believes that these terms are derogatory, and that the specific ethnic groups cannot be trusted …
Then again, it seems I can trust Sean to be Sean …
Alasdair, speaking of stereotypes, from one Limey to another, did you ever get your teeth straightened out when you left Scotland? Surely you didn’t rely on the Queen’s NHS for your dental health…. :-P
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October 18th, 2005 at 7:22:26 pm
Looks great!!
October 18th, 2005 at 7:27:49 pm
I’m a fan…
October 18th, 2005 at 7:57:12 pm
I still think sometime you should change your colors on this blog for a bit there Brendan. I think the cahnge would look pretty decent.
Maybe alternate colors from SC to ND every so often?
Ooh! ooh! Better yet: set up the site to be in either ND or SC colors depending on what the reader chooses on his/her browser! That would (maybe) rock!
October 18th, 2005 at 8:04:37 pm
Heh.
Well, my site doesn’t really have ‘SC colors as it is. I mean, the left-hand sidebar has a very ND-ish navy blue, and most of the rest of the color scheme is gray or white. The only red on the page is the title and the hurricane box, and that’s not an ‘SC shade of red (cardinal), but rather a straight-up red.
I actually think the ND color scheme looked rather ugly, to be honest. It looks good on The Backer’s site, but on mine, it was a bit busy…
October 18th, 2005 at 9:13:36 pm
Ah, nothing like racial slurs used to express untrustworthiness. Welching, gypped, shyster…
October 18th, 2005 at 11:07:33 pm
I think the term is “welsh.”
October 19th, 2005 at 5:23:51 am
Sean - whether the PC crowd likes it or not, those “racial slurs” are all for the same race … and, rather than slurs, they are expressions of sweeping-generalisation characteristics of many examples of each group … they have acquired less than positive connotations, yet remain statistically accurate …
Those with historical knowledge also recognise that accompanying the negative connotations are related positive connotations, too … the most common of the latter being “… and they get away with it, successfully, too” …
A minor detail, yet not wishing to be considered anti-semantic … none of the three you stated refer to untrustworthiness - each of the three convey precisely that the one described can be trusted to act in the way described …
October 19th, 2005 at 7:19:23 am
Alasdair, does it hurt when you twist logic beyond all recognition? They’re slurs originally used to describe the Welsh, Gypsies, and Jews, meant to convey that you can’t trust them. Nothing you say will change that.
October 19th, 2005 at 11:55:39 am
Sorry Sean (which Sean are you btw, the good Sean, formerly of Newington, or the evil Sean of Kelly Green), but just because its origins *might* have racial conontations does not make it a racist comment.
When I used the term welching on a deal I in no way was implying that the Welsh (if it even pretains to them, etymologists are unsure) are somehow untrustworthy.
And um, in case you were unaware of it Gypsies in many places actually ARE untrustworthy. Go to places like Budapest and you will find Gypsy pick pockets taking advantage of tourists. Now we could go into a deep and long discussion about the social and economic forces at work, but the point is that some times stereotypes do have a grain of truth.
October 19th, 2005 at 5:26:34 pm
Does it help that I have some welsh in me, and Im not offended?
October 19th, 2005 at 6:59:00 pm
Isn’t “welching” on a deal what one does when one breaks open a bottle of unfermented grape juice to celebrate the completion of a deal ?
As opposed to “welshing”, which referred to the ability of a certain non-trivial %age of a certain ethnic/cultural subgroup tending to escape from following through on commitments if pretty much the slightest technicality would allow it … but you could trust such individuals to welsh on things consistently - so they were by no means untrustworthy …
Gypsies by their traditions had a code not unlike the Muslim codes, whereby Romany were to be dealt with by the rules, and non-romany were considered a fair-game resource if they allowed a Romany to get away with something … and, again, they could be trusted to do so …
Jews, equally, gained a reputation for canny financial dealings … in which, one the terms were spelled out, they could not only be trusted, more importantly they could be trusted to do well financially … to most Scots, being associated with Jew is NOT a slur … as a Scot, I am basically biased in favour of giving such a person his Jew …
So … is this a good time to point our that it’s actually Sean who apparently believes that these terms are derogatory, and that the specific ethnic groups cannot be trusted …
Then again, it seems I can trust Sean to be Sean …
October 19th, 2005 at 9:15:18 pm
Alasdair, speaking of stereotypes, from one Limey to another, did you ever get your teeth straightened out when you left Scotland? Surely you didn’t rely on the Queen’s NHS for your dental health…. :-P