I am aware language is fluid but I asked who decided it and why

Really?? :joker:

Heres a test for you - tell a black person that he has a chip on his shoulder and see how he responds.. I'll pay your hospital bills for you :thumbs:

Just cus you aint heard of it dont mean sh*t to anyone.

40years rears ago word like electricity were hardly used. You seem to accept the new words but have a real problem letting go of the old offensive word.

A chip on the shoulder" comes from the ancient right of shipwrights within the Royal Navy Dockyards to take home a daily allowance of offcuts of timber, even if good wood was cut up for this purpose. The privilege was instated as a prescriptive right from 1634.[1][2][3] By 1756, this privilege had been abused and was costing taxpayers too much in lost timber for warship repair and construction. The decision was then made by the Navy Board to limit the quantity a shipwright could carry home. A warrant was issued to the Royal Dockyards to reduce the quantity of chips by ordering shipwrights to carry their bundles under their arms instead of on their shoulders, as one could not carry as much timber in this fashion. The specific incident from which the expression derives is as follows:
“ Master Shipwright and his Assistant, Chatham Dockyard, to Navy Board, 17 June 1756.

On Tuesday a petition was brought to the Honourable Thomas Cooper, Esq., Commissioner of this yard, by John Bissenden and Robert Woodriff, shipwrights, in behalf of the whole body of shipwrights, relating to their carrying chips out of the yard on their shoulders. The next day the Commissioner sent for them in the presence of the Master Shipwright and the First Assistant and represented to them the ill consequence of such proceedings, and read to them your Honourable Board's warrant of the 4 May 1753 on which the said two men withdrew the petition and said they would talk to all the people and believe everybody would be satisfied with what had been said to them. And in the afternoon the Master Shipwright sent for all the foremen and quartermen and read the Order to them of the 4th May 1753, and give every quarterman a particular charge to tell all his men separately what the order was relating to their lowering their chips and carrying them under their arm out of the yard.

This day at twelve of the clock some few of the workmen about one hundred and fifty came up first to the gate without any chips, afterwards about twenty more came and lowered their chips agreeable to the Board's warrant. Then came John Miller, shipwright, about thirty feet before the main body of the people, on which the Master Shipwright ordered him to lower his chips. He answered he would not, with that the Master Shipwright took hold of him, and said he should. He, the said Miller replied, 'Are not the chips mine? I will not lower them.' Immediately the main body pushed on with their chips on their shoulders, crowded and forced the Master Shipwright and the First Assistant through the gateway, and when out of the yard give three huzzas.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_on_shoulder


Hopefully a black person that you speak of will be a bit better educated and not some aggressive oaf who attacks people for figures of speak like in your myopic world

:idc:

again no

i just asked why and who decided (3rd time)

and electricity 40 years ago?

i think you may mean 100 years:joker:

Do the test. See what happens.

I know where the origin of the word comes too but back in the day it was an expression that was often used like uppity to describe a black person who was not behaving in the way that others wanted him to behave.

Perhaps you need to look at your peer group and reassess?

Maybe 50 but defintely not 100.

Who decided that we use the word troll or meme? You find out on your own but you dont want to know.

No need to reassess I speaking from personal experience.

Wow.........looks like I stirred up a hornets nest by using the term "chip on the shoulder"

We are moving through the age of racism into the age of equality in race,religion,colour and sexuality but I agree we still have a way to go.

But racism is a two way thing, if non black people see a black person and actually see a person (with a slightly darker tone to their skin) then that's fine ,BUT the black person has to see a person (with slightly lighter blanched skin) also.

Not a closet colonial slave master intent on subjugating or oppressing that person. Black people especially young black people need to step up also and see that most people now don't give a fig about a person's skin colour.

The chip needs to come off the shoulder now, and all sides need to move on and not be offended when an innocent word is taken out of context and the user suddenly facing accusations of racism.

ridiculous really...........






.

So who exactly has the chip on the shoulder? The person who refuses to accept the evolution of language is equally guilty IMO.

I agree he should not have used this word, as it is now outdated and not used.

By using it now though, does it become offensive ?
Who decides when a word is deemed outdated and therefore potentially offensive ?

I think his over the top apologies may also have something to do with his Oscar aspirations also.



.

HE used the word cuz he didnt know it was taken by some as offensive and his over the top apology show it was a genuine mistake but others in similar situations simply fight for the right to use a word they know is offensive. Who has the chip on the shoulder in that situation?

Out of touch middle class people seem to be the ones who use terms like "coloured". On that 'Make Bradford British' programme there was one guy who was terrible for it.

(Obviously not all do and the older folks are worst for it)

Yeah, that's how I see it. It's not a word I would use, but to make such a mountain out of a molehill when he's clearly not a racist it just daft.

Indeed :thumbs:

I saw this story and felt for him TBH. His apology was excellent and hopefully everyone can move on.

I didn't know the word 'coloured' was now offensive either Girth - and I'm 'coloured'. But I'm of the opinion that there is far more racist intent and offense in saying; "I don't like 'black' people because they're too loud and excitable", for example, than in saying; "I like coloured people because they're more laid back and cool to be with".

It's intent, intent, intent, every time.

I didn't know that the phrase; 'chip on your shoulder' had racist origins or current racial interpretation either, because I was under the impression that it originated from carpenters or 'chippies' rights to take odd lengths of spare timber home with them from dockyards when they were shipbuilding, because they used to carry such lengths home on their shoulder, and I always believed that the phrase was coined to describe some chippies resentment when the practice was stopped by the shipyard owners.

A quick 'google' after I read your post confirmed as much:

"A chip on the shoulder" comes from the ancient right of shipwrights within the Royal Navy Dockyards to take home a daily allowance of offcuts of timber, even if good wood was cut up for this purpose. The privilege was instated as a prescriptive right from 1634. By 1756, this privilege had been abused and was costing taxpayers too much in lost timber for warship repair and construction. The decision was then made by the Navy Board to limit the quantity a shipwright could carry home. A warrant was issued to the Royal Dockyards to reduce the quantity of chips by ordering shipwrights to carry their bundles under their arms instead of on their shoulders, as one could not carry as much timber in this fashion."

.
What I do know, is that all this 'political correctness, and oversensitive 'offended' reaction to words and phrases long used by ordinary people who have not got a racist bone in their bodies, is all ridiculous B.S. and has got out of hand.

It's absolute PC madness. :shrug:

The term colored was used during Apartheid in South Africa and segregation in America as an expression to describe anyone who wasn't white. They didnt offer any further distinction than 'WHite or 'Coloured' but sometimes they used 'non white'.


http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/...ps55119250.jpg

[QUOTE=GiRTh;7544558]The term colored was used during Apartheid in South Africa and segregation in America as an expression to describe anyone who wasn't white. They didnt offer any further distinction than 'WHite or 'Coloured' but sometimes they used 'non white'.




yes but this is the UK and the word has a proper historical nautical meaning. You seem to be living your life in south central LA :shrug:

I have a feeling coloured in associated with the 60s and 70s and as it was a more racially intolerant time it has just gone out of fashion and as such younger people confuse this with offence

he used a term my mom would have used so it must be bad as it was bad back then

The term is is associated with civil rights struggles in America.

in what way?

simply because it was the term that was used at that time to describe a black person?

A non white person. Please be accurate so mixed race and any in between were not allowed in the white areas.

Which leads us onto why black people prefer to be called black.

This did not happen in the UK though?

No but Benedict Cumberbatch said this in the USa. I feel for him cus it was always gonna cause a fuss.

Yes I can understand why idiots in the USA would ignore what he was saying and take to twitter to be offended but not sure why coloured would be a wrong term to use here, a bit outdated yes but nothing else.

I wouldnt call them idiots

Lol.I read somewhere that 'blackboard' was banned but did'nt actually believe it,Thought it was one of those urban myths.

pretty much how I feel about this

I wonder how Tumblr is feeling about his comment. He's like their idol and they don't like anything remotely racist. I wonder if any of them have burned all their posters of him, lol.

I don't think it's racism if he had good intentions, but it's really stupid of him to make such a mistake.

When I was a kid I was taught that "coloured" was a regular PC term, but obviously I realised it's not pretty early.