Mary Jane Clement (Parker)

[Guy Etchells]

You can't get around the fact that this word was once used to describe people.  And, in terms of genealogy, it is useful information to have since it gives some information on the ancestors of the person so labeled.  It appears on US censuses  -  I have one individual who was variously labeled as 'mulatto' or 'white' from one census to another.  Similarly, 'mestizo' is used to describe persons of mixed race in Latin America.  It is a term used on the census in Ecuador and most people put themselves into that category - being mixtures of white and Native American and sometimes black, too.

Absolutely, I am not advocating rewriting history. I think Pat's point and my defence of it, is the context of using the term today. My daughter and her partner have four children but have never married. A few years ago my grandchildren would have been described as bastards. I'm not sure that I would be comfortable of them being described as such today. Maybe its just me then...

Calling them a bastard (the previously legal term) is far better than calling them illegitimate in my view.
A bastard simple means the mother and father were not married to each other when the child was born, illegitimate means the child is not a lawful child.

In the first the smear is on the parents, in the new term the smear is on the child.

PC is not always a good thing.

Cheers
Guy

[Guy Etchells]

If everyone is so concerned about PC and not offending people why is the offensive term "Brits" bandied about on these forums?

Cheers
Guy

[Jamjar]

If everyone is so concerned about PC and not offending people why is the offensive term "Brits" bandied about on these forums?

Cheers
Guy

I thought Brits was simply a shortened term for British, as we are the Aussies and the Kiwis over these here parts.

Jamjar

[Guy Etchells]

If everyone is so concerned about PC and not offending people why is the offensive term "Brits" bandied about on these forums?

Cheers
Guy

I thought Brits was simply a shortened term for British, as we are the Aussies and the Kiwis over these here parts.

Jamjar

No it is a term of abuse coined by the Irish Republicans used against the British Army who risked their lives during the "troubles".
Ask any family who had members serving in the forces at the time particularly those who lost loved ones.

However like many of these PC/racist slurs anything used against white British is not conceived to be racist or non PC.

For example, I was born and brought up in Scotland having English parents, even so I had to deal with racial abuse everyday at school as I was looked on as having an English accent and had to endure anti English slurs most days. The racial slurs against the English were deemed acceptable in a school which had pupils of many different races and colours in the 1950s and early 60s but any type to racism against other nationalities was clamped down on instantly.

It is this upbringing that made me realise that the words do not count what counts is the way the person uses the words or the meaning they put on them.
The worst offenders are the holier than thou PC brigade who use stars instead of letters when they use an offesive word.

Cheers
Guy

[Wiggy]

What a beautiful woman, and lots of interesting restores. 

Well done folks!   

Wiggy