Sunny_01
12-06-2007, 02:25 PM
Jeremy Clarkson has been rapped for calling a car 'gay'.
The Top Gear presenter said the Daihatsu Copen was "a bit gay" and "a bit ginger beer" - rhyming slang for 'queer', reports the Daily Mail.
Ofcom said use of the word "gay" was not necessarily offensive, citing the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word as "foolish, stupid and occasionally inappropriate, disapproved of and lame".
But Ofcom added: "In this edition of Top Gear, the presenter's use of a Cockney rhyming phrase made clear he intended to give a particular meaning to use of the word gay . . . ie, not to restrict its meaning simply to foolish or stupid, but clearly linking the reference to homosexual people.
"This, in Ofcom's opinion, meant that the use of the word became capable of giving offence. In the context, there was no justification for using the word in this way."
from www.ananova.com
The Top Gear presenter said the Daihatsu Copen was "a bit gay" and "a bit ginger beer" - rhyming slang for 'queer', reports the Daily Mail.
Ofcom said use of the word "gay" was not necessarily offensive, citing the Oxford English Dictionary definition of the word as "foolish, stupid and occasionally inappropriate, disapproved of and lame".
But Ofcom added: "In this edition of Top Gear, the presenter's use of a Cockney rhyming phrase made clear he intended to give a particular meaning to use of the word gay . . . ie, not to restrict its meaning simply to foolish or stupid, but clearly linking the reference to homosexual people.
"This, in Ofcom's opinion, meant that the use of the word became capable of giving offence. In the context, there was no justification for using the word in this way."
from www.ananova.com