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Post by aquaduct on Jul 24, 2020 21:45:29 GMT -5
Wikipedia says - The Eastern Michigan Eagles are a college football program at Eastern Michigan University. They compete in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Mid-American Conference. Past names include Michigan State Normal College Normalites (1899 to 1928), Michigan State Normal College Hurons (1929 to 1955), and Eastern Michigan Hurons (1956 to 1990). And In October 1988, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights issued a report suggesting that all schools using Native American logos or imagery should drop them. An EMU committee considered the change and recommended three possible replacement nicknames, Eagles, Green Hornets, and Express, from which the Board of Regents voted to accept the nickname "Eagles". Maybe some people thought Emus was a good name. It is common in Australia. 'Normal College Normalites' is terrific if true. If I Google more, maybe I'll find different. Hmmm...., I guess you're right. Thanks for that.
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Post by Rob Hanesworth on Jul 24, 2020 22:12:26 GMT -5
It's that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of a whole class of people who just now figured out that there is NOTHING they can name the team that won't offend some aggrieved group. There are several thousand team names that don't seem to offend anyone.
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Post by Marshall on Jul 25, 2020 9:09:58 GMT -5
It's that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of a whole class of people who just now figured out that there is NOTHING they can name the team that won't offend some aggrieved group. I guess Conspiracy Theory Potters would be out of the question then.
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Post by millring on Jul 25, 2020 9:13:38 GMT -5
It's that deer-caught-in-the-headlights look of a whole class of people who just now figured out that there is NOTHING they can name the team that won't offend some aggrieved group. I guess Conspiracy Theory Potters would be out of the question then. This aggrieves me.
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Post by Marshall on Jul 25, 2020 11:17:12 GMT -5
I think you should protest then. Kinda hot today for a march, though. Is there a Chicago Bears statue you can tear down?
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Post by Cornflake on Jul 25, 2020 11:42:22 GMT -5
Reminds me...I heard an interview with a language prof about objectionable language. He said that what constitutes objectionable language changes over time. I won't start giving examples but some words that were on George Carlin's list are pretty commonplace now. Some words and phrases that used to be okay now aren't. Sensibilities change. Some of the renaming trend reflects such changing sensibilities, I think. Other than the fact that I don't like change, I don't find it particularly troubling.
(When my mother was young, my grandfather wouldn't let her see Gone With the Wind because Clark Gable used the word "damn.")
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,870
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Post by Dub on Jul 25, 2020 12:30:30 GMT -5
In the U.S., we’re still struggling with the remnants of Puritanism. Things and words that used to be forbidden and are still frowned upon here today have been a normal part of proper behavior in Europe almost forever. The Puritans came here because they were persecuted in their homeland. It’s not too hard to understand why that may have been.
An example that comes to mind is the word, fuck, and its common synonyms, bugger, and hose.
I don’t know how long the English have been using the phrase bugger all to mean zero, nil, nothing, and the like but the word bugger seems to date from at least 1590…
Since bugger means to ruin or [de]spoil, and fuck may have the same connotation, the words have become interchangeable. At big professional conferences featuring world-renowned English computer scientists, I’ve often heard them use the phrase, fuck all meaning nothing. This in a crowded auditorium. They weren’t trying to be hip, they were highly educated professional adults who were very serious about their subjects. It simply hadn’t occurred to them that such a common English phrase would be found offensive by anyone.
So we have the McKinzie Brothers basing an entire movie on the phrase, you hoser, and getting a ton of laughs. But had they used the ’Murkin version and said “you fucker,” there would have been screams of protest.
Can we say, “He needs to get his shit together?” or must we say, “He needs to have collected his fecal material?”
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Post by robjh22 on Jul 25, 2020 12:31:17 GMT -5
I had the thought that we might name all the teams by color. But we'd have to eliminate black, red, yellow, brown and white, and that wouldn't leave many colors unless you go with the "New Orleans Chartreuse versus the Arizona Burnt Sienna."
Then I thought that we might oughta just number the teams. The "New Orleans 6," "The New England 14, etc."
But then "Why does San Francisco get to be #1 and we're #13?"
"Because you're Detroit."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We drew the numbers out of the hat. You represent Detroit. You drew #13."
"Yeah, but San Fran drew first, and when it came our turn #1 was already taken."
Dominoes, anyone?
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Post by Cornflake on Jul 25, 2020 12:34:42 GMT -5
Fie, Dub, fie! Thou hadst best wash thy mouth out with soap and water!
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,870
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Post by Dub on Jul 25, 2020 13:37:27 GMT -5
Thought experiment.
Imagine a supreme being/entity with a purpose, who’s creative spirit has caused everything we know and can know to come to be.
Now imagine in all the vastness of creation, on a very tiny speck of galactic sand and water, a recently evolved biped, having been given a list of sounds he must not make, makes one of those sounds anyway. It might be by accident or purposeful but the deed is done. What are to be the consequences?
On the other hand, what if the only ones to take offense are other recently evolved bipeds. Being the primitive animals they are, they may ostracize or even kill the offending biped but, as we used to say, “Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.”
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Post by millring on Jul 28, 2020 6:42:00 GMT -5
Imagine a supreme being/entity with a purpose, who’s creative spirit has caused everything we know and can know to come to be. That's just crazy.
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Post by millring on Jul 28, 2020 6:42:16 GMT -5
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Post by jdd2 on Jul 28, 2020 8:07:05 GMT -5
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