Posted by Lou Pilder on October 31, 2004, at 8:38:42
In reply to LOu's request to DR. Hsiung-oflang, posted by Lou Pilder on October 31, 2004, at 7:29:17
Dr.Hsiung,
It is realised in commom law and common logic that a word , in and of itself, is not offensive, but that it is {how it is used in the context} of the statement that determines whether it [...could offend others or not...]. Surly, one's refference to an animal that is in the horse family that some use to referr to a part of anatomy, has to be deemed offensive or not in relation to the context that it is used in. Standing by itself, does not necessarrily mean that the word is offensive.
So does changing a letter in a word that[... could offend others...] also change the context? I do not see the context changed in the cases that I have previously cited when the star replaced a letter in the word in question, for the word follows the context even if a letter is changed to a star in the word.
If I wrote, M*rtin L*ther K*ing jr. was a great American, would the people reading that have any trouble seeing that the person in the context is Martin Luther King jr. and that the two are the same? Is it not the same with the word having a letter replaced by a star? Would the people reading the statement have any trouble seeing that the two were the same?
One could use a word that could be deemed offensive to others if it was used in a factual context. For instance, a person in court could be asked to tell what they read on a sign, that had an offensive word written on it, posted on a front lawn of an unpopular ethnic person in a community. They would be {stateing a fact} as to the word that they saw that they were asked to say. They would not be using the word {in a context that made the word offensive.} One could look up these words in a dictionary and see their historical usage and the word written in the dictionary is not considered to be offending anyone because it is a statement of fact.
A word that has to be used {to identify} could also be deemed to be not offensive . One could write a letter to the newspaper and say that the city is not responding to complaints that ethnic slurs painted on public buildings are being left on the buildings and actually write the offending ethnic slur word, for they are {identifying} the word, {not using it}in a {context} that could offend others.
A person could have a name that is a word thatcould offend other. That does not mean that they have to change their name.
A phrase could offend others even though no words of offense are in the phrase. I emailed one of these to you , about you, and you deleted it.
Statements {directed at another person}, even with a star repalcing a letter in a word, could be offensive.
Lou Pilder
poster:Lou Pilder
thread:409477
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20041027/msgs/409489.html