Ok, would someone make up a list of words or combinations of words that will be allowed here?
No- don't. Please Don't!
I agree that racism has no place on this board. But does that mean that I can't talk about my INDIAN motorcycle if I put a RED led tail light on it?
The first time I heard the term "rice rocket" was back in 1967 or 1968, and applied to the Kawasaki 750 motorcycle, which was at the fastest production motorcycle on the street in those days. It was a term of awe, not disrespect.
I have seen posts here from one or more of our friends from Great Britain and/or Australia referring to Americans as Yanks. What if that offends me?
Must I not talk about "jerry-rigging" a circuit because it might offend a German soldier from WWII?
What if that circuit goes "on the fritz"? Uh oh, Now I have offended German soldiers from WWI.
I could go on- but that's enough stupid examples...
Well, one more....
If someone starts a thread here in THE CAFE talking about after-shave lotions, do I offend Jahn and Alastair when I say I don't like those limey smelling ones? (hey, I just don't like citrus scents. Nothing personal, and nothing racial about it.)
For God's sake, (Gee, hope I didn't offend any atheists there). People come here to share their passion for lights and technical information. Race, sexual orientation, political persuasion shouldn't even enter into it.
If Martin Luther King Jr. himself were to be resurrected and come to CPF wanting to know how long D cell batteries will run a Luxeon Star and how many LUX it put out at one meter***, would he be offended if I asked him if he meant a WHITE one a COLORED one?
After all, the different colors do have different characteristics. {Those lazy WHITES are just less efficient than the COLOREDS. (well, except the ROYALS (blues) which are the least efficient.)}
If the term "rice rocket" applied to a car offends someone, they are in for a really miserable life in the real world.
Ok, if the term has recently come to be derogatory, maybe the owner/builder of said vehicle might have some reason to be be offended.... But I'll bet that same person would make fun of my beat-up 4WD, call it something like a 'redneck rustbucket'; that wouldn't lessen MY value as a human being or hurt my feelings, or make the vehicle less valuable for getting me up and down the hills.
Ok, I agree that we should try not to offend anyone here due to race, creed, sexual orientation, etc. {Unless they themselves are being overtly militant about it themselves, and they attacking someone elses beliefs. THEN, "the gloves come off".}
I'm sure that you folks who are so adamant about not using any language that could offend are well meaning and trying to look out for others, and that IS a GOOD THING.
But I'll be darned if I'll be posting any more if I have to parse every sentence five times to make sure that no one could possibly be offended by something I wrote.
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***And speaking of using 1 meter as the standard distance for measuring LUX output- Well, that is just an insult to Americans (of all colors), after all, Americans predominately use the yard, and most of us un-educated, backwards hillbillies don't even know what a meter is.
Talk about a meter to one of us KKK members and we think that you are talking about a rendzevous with a female.