commonly heard alternative, however, states the ‘rule of thumb’ was the creation of 18th-century English judge, Sir Francis Buller. He ruled (supposedly) that a man is legally permitted to beat his wife, provided he uses a stick no thicker than his thumb
This forum needs a deep clean if some of these phrases are offensive. https://litreactor.com/columns/thin...nd-phrases-with-potentially-offensive-origins
Depends if you have Britt Eckland dancing naked, first? That was a bit random, let me know if you work it out..
I was picked up on using ‘spade a spade’ by a colleague who I greatly respect at work a couple of years ago. Had no idea of the racial connotations, but suffice to say I no longer use it. I see it used all the time however. Words, phrases and their meanings change over time, best to check if unsure.
Yeah many of us have used that phrase to mean someone who gets to the point with an opinion instead of fence sitting. Sold down the river, hooligan, hip hop hooray, sold down the river, bugger and piece of cake. At some point that means I will have used 7/10 of the phrases mentioned in the link.
I have a severely disabled daughter. I don't like people using the word retard. But I'll happily use the word idiot. Idiot was the 19th Century equivalent of retard or basket case. So, where do we draw the line? I don't know myself.
My other half, who is black, uses this phrase all the time. I was curious when I read this post so went and looked it up. Turns out it’s of Ancient Greek origin, and was only hijacked by racists in the early 20th century, when the ‘ace of spades’ took on a racist connotation. I put this to my other half, whose opinion is “don’t let the racists have stuff like this, reclaim it”. Other people may disagree, but thought it was worth mentioning.
There are a lot of phrases we use that have their roots in a darker place. I use a lot of them, myself. In the case of "Basket Case", you would think that I'd take offence myself, what with me living with both physical disabilities and mental health problems too. The thing with me though is that very, very, very little offends me and I forget that others are not the same, so I have been known to put my foot in it from time to time. A phrase that does need eradicating from not just this forum, but the English language is "Man Up". What a ******* stupid phrase that is...
A phrase I heard a lot was to lose something important was like having your legs chopped off. Until after saying this a bloke held his false leg up and said like this. Thank god he was smiling. I've reflected on this since ! .
I do get the reclaiming argument for sure, but the worry is using it and people assuming you're coming from a bad place.
I hate that word with a passion. Always have done, but even more so since the internet use, forums/message boards and online gaming became widespread. Now it just feels ubiquitous. It's even worse when fully frown people use it. At least when the kids use it, they have the excuse of ignorance and not realizing the significance. Adults should know better...
See, while I understand the idea of "reclaiming" and "unarming" a word/term, I don't think it should be done. All it does is gives the dick-heads of the world an excuse to say it. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard a white person use the "N" word, and when pulled up on it argue they should be able to use it as "...black people call themselves it all the time!". They are too blinkered to understand why it's OK for a black person to use it, but not them. A big example of it is on the new Woodstock'99 HBO documentary. In it, the rapper(sorry I don't follow rap, so no idea who it was), was singing the song with the lyrics "My N****r", and because of it the crowd, which looked about 99% white were shouting it back to him. The few black people in the crowd looked seriously uncomfortable...
i would have in all honesty used that phrase as i always ( wrongly ????) thought it was because people mix spades and shovels up, you dig with a spade and throw stuff with a shovel, like coal