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Euro 2012 |OT2| of Spain celebrating victory with younger, mixed gender squad

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Mumei

Member
As a woman, I can honestly say the assumption that I'm offended by the word is what is most offensive here.

I apologize for the misunderstanding I have created, but I was not making an assumption about whether or not you would be offended by the word. I merely stated that the word was an implicit insult; whether you personally find that insult offensive or not is only something you can determine. I would not be so presumptuous as to argue otherwise.

With respect, Mumei, this is not true at all.

If it is, calling someone a "dick" is an implicit insult against all men.

Just because a word has one (of many) root meaning in the female genitals does not make its use imply that meaning at all.

Then again, I understand Americans are also edgy about the word "twat". Yet they also (anecdotal experience here) use the word "dick" more than Europeans.

It's not a case of a lack of taboo in Europe, as you assert - it's still the rudest of rude here before you get to racial slurs - but that the word literally works differently to how it works in the US. This is a global board and a Euro-centric thread. I'm not entirely sure what you're expecting the majority etiological style to be.

If you're want to explicitly make this a US-centric board and to follow US-centric manners of dialogue and discussion (whilst also being perfectly accepting of the then-hypocritical use of "dick" and "cock") then that's fine, you're in charge. I'd only ask you both update the FAQs and make an announcement/sticky explaining the decision and logic, because it wouldn't be fair to suddenly start banning people for not conforming to this.

Before I begin addressing your post, I feel I need to clarify something that may be a point of contention with my post: I am not changing rules. My post was a clarification or reiteration of existing and currently enforced rules with regards to this term. This information is covered within the Terms of Service and should not come as a surprise. And as a second point of clarification on something that may also be an unspoken objection: I am not making this post unilaterally. Moderation on NeoGAF is a collaborative process and I made the previous post, as well as this post, with the input and/or approval of both an administrator and other moderators on the staff.

With regards to your post:

"Cunt" is defined in every English dictionary I have looked in, including the Cambridge and Oxford World Dictionaries, as vulgar slang for a woman's genitalia and for a stupid, unpleasant person. The existence of the first definition is the reason for the second definition, much in the same way that "faggot" being a slur for a gay men is the reason that it exists as a general insult for other classes of people. And just as "faggot" is an implicit insult towards homosexuals, and in particular gay men, "cunt" is an implicit insult to women.

While terms like "dick" or "prick" are slang for male genitalia, they are not vulgar slang, or slurs, for male genitalia. And while I do not use them myself, they are mildly offensive at worst. Men do not have a word that functions as a vulgar slur for their genitalia or their sex generally as do women.

And with regards to other posters' concerns about other terms, though words like "bitch" and "pussy" do not have quite the same level of offensiveness as "cunt", and have more room for reclamatory, positive, or complimentary contextual uses (which near as I can tell seem mostly in use by a few members of Gay-GAF), they too are words that can and will result in a ban when combined with disparaging language towards other individuals and particularly towards other posters.

My impression of a lack of a taboo comes from the fact that the primary offenders of this rule as members of non-American GAF, and the word is seemingly thrown around with reckless abandon despite the explicit rule in the TOS forbidding the use of slurs, including sexual, in that manner. If it is as indeed rude as you say, then there ought to be no excuse for its use.

And to reiterate my earlier point: This is not a change in the rules. This is a notification that enforcement of existing rules will be more consistent in the future. And my post was precisely the warning that you have suggested. Rather than simply searching the topic for the offending language and banning all of the posts guilty of it, this topic has been given a warning so that everyone has an opportunity to adjust their language if they need to.
 

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
None of the Spanish players sing their anthem. Doesn't make a difference. Infact now I think of it not even the Spanish fans sing their anthem. Quite sad that Spanish people are so unpatriotic. For this reason I will support Italy tmrw, apart from the fact Spain are very boring, they are not proud of their nation.

Forza Italia!

spanish anthem doesn't have any lyrics afaik.

edit: bahhh

well he is right anyway, in argentina the anthem has barely any lyrics and people just hum the anthem which sounds pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sxDDeWdhog&feature=related

around the 4 minutes mark.
 

xbhaskarx

Member
BBC: Euro 2012 football fever hits baseball-loving Cuba

_61167354_messiclub.jpg

Baseball is Cuba's national sport. But a new craze is sweeping this island: football.

You are as likely to see a young Cuban in a replica football shirt as in a baseball top these days. Street kickabouts have become as common as children playing with a bat and ball.

"Support for football has grown a lot among young Cubans in recent years," says student Manuel Alejandro as he takes a break from his own game with friends on the Havana seafront.

"It's a football revolution," he adds. "There are more fans here every day."

This month, that is clearer than ever. Euro 2012 has had people glued to their TV sets across the island.

"We're not just following the championship, it has paralysed Cuba. All young Cubans are watching and they know every detail," says Carlos Mendez.

'No football tradition'

Meantime, there is no denying Cuba's enduring passion for baseball.

Every day, a group of men lock horns in furious debate under the shade of palm-trees in a central Havana square.

It looks like a fight from a distance, with voices raised and arms waving wildly. But the men are discussing the latest game.

"There's no tradition of football here," one man explains, in a break in the shouting match. "We've been playing baseball for generations."

They say the sport runs in their blood.

But what if a big ball game and El Clasico match were both scheduled for the same day?

"People of my age would go to the baseball," says Gilberto, in his 60s. "But the young would watch the football," he laughs.

It is a big swing in allegiance.

Cuba's national sport still gets most of the official attention and funding.

But when it comes to luring fans, football has emerged as a strong competitor.
 

JiuJitsuka

Neo Member
Dictionary definitions don't describe the actual context a term is used for in certain societies.
And when you say that "dick" and "prick" are " mildly offensive at worst ", the same can be said about the word " cunt " in England.
It's a matter of norms whether a term meets the criteria defined on TOS or not. And here, it appears to me that you are implying your norms on a Euro-centric thread.
 
Dictionary definitions don't describe the actual context a term is used for in certain societies.
And when you say that "dick" and "prick" are " mildly offensive at worst ", the same can be said about the word " cunt " in England.
It's a matter of norms whether a term meets the criteria defined on TOS or not. And here, it appears to me that you are implying your norms on a Euro-centric thread.

Anywhere outside of America really.
 

soepje

Member
And then to imagine a whole bunch of Irish (and British too?) smoke fags on a daily basis..

Anyway, people give some slack to the new mod! It´s a tough job, and he´s just getting into the whole modding experience.
 

LegoArmo

Member
Language evolves. I've never in my life heard the word used as a slur.

It's a shame to be deprived of one of the greatest words in the English language. I don't think there's even a word suitable to replace it with.
 

LProtag

Member
I think the problem is that many people who use the word don't see it as a slur. The dictionary definition just doesn't even come up when thinking about it to basically anywhere but the US.

So while it's in the TOS that slurs are prohibited, many people that are going to use the word wouldn't stop to even think that it applies.

It's actually pretty interesting to think about, from an international view of language standpoint.
 
I apologize for the misunderstanding I have created, but I was not making an assumption about whether or not you would be offended by the word. I merely stated that the word was an implicit insult; whether you personally find that insult offensive or not is only something you can determine. I would not be so presumptuous as to argue otherwise.



Before I begin addressing your post, I feel I need to clarify something that may be a point of contention with my post: I am not changing rules. My post was a clarification or reiteration of existing and currently enforced rules with regards to this term. This information is covered within the Terms of Service and should not come as a surprise. And as a second point of clarification on something that may also be an unspoken objection: I am not making this post unilaterally. Moderation on NeoGAF is a collaborative process and I made the previous post, as well as this post, with the input and/or approval of both an administrator and other moderators on the staff.

With regards to your post:

"Cunt" is defined in every English dictionary I have looked in, including the Cambridge and Oxford World Dictionaries, as vulgar slang for a woman's genitalia and for a stupid, unpleasant person. The existence of the first definition is the reason for the second definition, much in the same way that "faggot" being a slur for a gay men is the reason that it exists as a general insult for other classes of people. And just as "faggot" is an implicit insult towards homosexuals, and in particular gay men, "cunt" is an implicit insult to women.

While terms like "dick" or "prick" are slang for male genitalia, they are not vulgar slang, or slurs, for male genitalia. And while I do not use them myself, they are mildly offensive at worst. Men do not have a word that functions as a vulgar slur for their genitalia or their sex generally as do women.

And with regards to other posters' concerns about other terms, though words like "bitch" and "pussy" do not have quite the same level of offensiveness as "cunt", and have more room for reclamatory, positive, or complimentary contextual uses (which near as I can tell seem mostly in use by a few members of Gay-GAF), they too are words that can and will result in a ban when combined with disparaging language towards other individuals and particularly towards other posters.

My impression of a lack of a taboo comes from the fact that the primary offenders of this rule as members of non-American GAF, and the word is seemingly thrown around with reckless abandon despite the explicit rule in the TOS forbidding the use of slurs, including sexual, in that manner. If it is as indeed rude as you say, then there ought to be no excuse for its use.

And to reiterate my earlier point: This is not a change in the rules. This is a notification that enforcement of existing rules will be more consistent in the future. And my post was precisely the warning that you have suggested. Rather than simply searching the topic for the offending language and banning all of the posts guilty of it, this topic has been given a warning so that everyone has an opportunity to adjust their language if they need to.

Thanks for the reply,

I don't really disagree with the point you're making in to, essentially, re-underline the ToS when it comes to the use of language. What I do find interesting is how your reasoning as to how cunt and dick are different; one is 'vulgar' whilst the other isn't. What exactly is vulgar about a vagina, or anymore distasteful than a penis?
 
Thanks for the reply,

I don't really disagree with the point you're making in to, essentially, re-underline the ToS when it comes to the use of language. What I do find interesting is how your reasoning as to how cunt and dick are different; one is 'vulgar' whilst the other isn't. What exactly is vulgar about a vagina, or anymore distasteful than a penis?

In the US dick and prick are casual, cunt is not. In Europe all of those are pretty casual. US standards in a Euro-centric thread, expect a lot of people to get banned.
 
Cunt is as vulgar as dick, prick. Oughta search what vulgar means.
Easier to cull all types of directed or undirected offenses/insults, than tiptoeing around on what terms may 'hit harder'.
 

Overdoziz

Banned
I apologize for the misunderstanding I have created, but I was not making an assumption about whether or not you would be offended by the word. I merely stated that the word was an implicit insult; whether you personally find that insult offensive or not is only something you can determine. I would not be so presumptuous as to argue otherwise.



Before I begin addressing your post, I feel I need to clarify something that may be a point of contention with my post: I am not changing rules. My post was a clarification or reiteration of existing and currently enforced rules with regards to this term. This information is covered within the Terms of Service and should not come as a surprise. And as a second point of clarification on something that may also be an unspoken objection: I am not making this post unilaterally. Moderation on NeoGAF is a collaborative process and I made the previous post, as well as this post, with the input and/or approval of both an administrator and other moderators on the staff.

With regards to your post:

"Cunt" is defined in every English dictionary I have looked in, including the Cambridge and Oxford World Dictionaries, as vulgar slang for a woman's genitalia and for a stupid, unpleasant person. The existence of the first definition is the reason for the second definition, much in the same way that "faggot" being a slur for a gay men is the reason that it exists as a general insult for other classes of people. And just as "faggot" is an implicit insult towards homosexuals, and in particular gay men, "cunt" is an implicit insult to women.

While terms like "dick" or "prick" are slang for male genitalia, they are not vulgar slang, or slurs, for male genitalia. And while I do not use them myself, they are mildly offensive at worst. Men do not have a word that functions as a vulgar slur for their genitalia or their sex generally as do women.

And with regards to other posters' concerns about other terms, though words like "bitch" and "pussy" do not have quite the same level of offensiveness as "cunt", and have more room for reclamatory, positive, or complimentary contextual uses (which near as I can tell seem mostly in use by a few members of Gay-GAF), they too are words that can and will result in a ban when combined with disparaging language towards other individuals and particularly towards other posters.

My impression of a lack of a taboo comes from the fact that the primary offenders of this rule as members of non-American GAF, and the word is seemingly thrown around with reckless abandon despite the explicit rule in the TOS forbidding the use of slurs, including sexual, in that manner. If it is as indeed rude as you say, then there ought to be no excuse for its use.

And to reiterate my earlier point: This is not a change in the rules. This is a notification that enforcement of existing rules will be more consistent in the future. And my post was precisely the warning that you have suggested. Rather than simply searching the topic for the offending language and banning all of the posts guilty of it, this topic has been given a warning so that everyone has an opportunity to adjust their language if they need to.
I've honestly never seen anyone who thought the word "cunt" was offensive. Always felt like it's similar to calling someone an "ass". Maybe it's because the word "cunt" is similar to the word "kont" which means "ass" in Dutch.

iZaPevgoObTk4.gif
 
Surely it would be a good compromise to recognise the distinction in calling another poster a cunt in a malicious manner and using it in the same way that 'dick' 'pussy' 'twat' 'prick' etc are used on a daily basis.

I don't think you'll get many people that disagree the first use of it is totally inappropriate and would deserve a banning. However, I don't think it would be fair to ban people who are using it in the second manner for the many reasons that have already been posted.

I don't think a blanket ban is the right way to deal with this IMO.
 
What's up with the cunt-rage in the footy threads the last days? Haven't followed it at all...

It started here and just kind of went on from there. Seems crazy to start banning people from saying it to me, football is all about emotions and cunt will get thrown around for when certain controversial players yet again does something completely brain dead. Would also be hilarious as many mods used it through their post history and really it happens all the time and goes unpunished, so unless it's made clear somewhere that cunt is now banned, it would just be a unlucky small percentage getting the ban hammer because of it, there has never been any hard line on it before.

Any way to troll Inter is a good way.

Inter let him go for free, they don't even want him anymore which should speak volumes about what kind of dude he is.
 
Surely it would be a good compromise to recognise the distinction in calling another poster a cunt in a malicious manner and using it in the same way that 'dick' 'pussy' 'twat' 'prick' etc are used on a daily basis.

How do you decide if it's malicious or not? If a poster called Mumei a cunt for suggesting we ban the word cunt, but insisted they meant it in the jocular way in which it is used in many countries, are they being malicious, or are they joking around? I think it's rash to try to ban the use of words which are perfectly acceptable to a large proportion of a forum's demographic.
 
And when you say that "dick" and "prick" are " mildly offensive at worst ", the same can be said about the word " cunt " in England.

To be quite honest, this just isn't relevant.

I'm going to spell out the relevant policy issues here in bullet points:

  • The use of sexual slurs like "cunt" has been forbidden on GAF as a whole for years and years, and many, many posters have been banned for it in the past.
  • NeoGAF is an international forum, populated by people from many countries. To maintain a reasonable environment for all our users, that means words that are inappropriate in one English-speaking area are inappropriate across the board on GAF. Usage in England doesn't matter because the meaning of "cunt" in the US/Canada is enough on its own to ban it for everyone.
  • NeoGAF is a forum that welcomes and encourages a diverse community of people, and as such we're particularly sensitive about slurs that specifically target and exclude less prominent groups of users (see also: "fag", etc.)
  • Subcommunity threads often aren't monitored with every single post, but the rules of NeoGAF still apply to these threads and their contents.
  • Rather than just pop in and ban people for behavior that they thought was contextually appropriate in threads like this, we're clarifying the policy because we'd rather get people on board than play "GOTCHA!"

You're welcome to ask more questions if the policy isn't clear to you, but the rule itself is not up for debate.
 
How do you decide if it's malicious or not? If a poster called Mumei a cunt for suggesting we ban the word cunt, but insisted they meant it in the jocular way in which it is used in many countries, are they being malicious, or are they joking around? I think it's rash to try to ban the use of words which are perfectly acceptable to a large proportion of a forum's demographic.

I think they would be banned. As a poster we should know the boundaries and that would be pushing it to say the least. It's usually pretty clear when something deserves a banning and when it doesn't. Although I do see your point and agree with it.

I also agree that it's rash but I think at this point Mumei is going to accept that :(
 
To be quite honest, this just isn't relevant.

I'm going to spell out the relevant policy issues here in bullet points:

  • The use of sexual slurs like "cunt" has been forbidden on GAF as a whole for years and years, and many, many posters have been banned for it in the past.

You're welcome to ask more questions if the policy isn't clear to you, but the rule itself is not up for debate.

What we're debating is whether 'cunt' is a sexual slur or not. If it isn't, as so many here firmly believe, then its usage does not violate that policy. And I especially disagree that you can call 'cunt' a sexual slur, but not 'dick' or 'prick'. If you agree that 'cunt' is a sexual slur, then these two, which are slurs referring to a sexual organ, must also be considered bannable.
 

fuenf

Member
"Cunt" is defined in every English dictionary I have looked in, including the Cambridge and Oxford World Dictionaries, as vulgar slang for a woman's genitalia and for a stupid, unpleasant person. The existence of the first definition is the reason for the second definition, much in the same way that "faggot" being a slur for a gay men is the reason that it exists as a general insult for other classes of people. And just as "faggot" is an implicit insult towards homosexuals, and in particular gay men, "cunt" is an implicit insult to women.

But it's almost impossible to make this distinction if you arent a native speaker. Words evolve and you just pick up their current meaning along the way. If i see "cunt" used as a term for a stupid or unpleasant person, it might very well enter my vocabulary as such. On the Cambridge Website ( http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/cunt_1?q=cunt ) it isnt even listed as a vulgar slur, so looking it up wouldnt have helped either.

I can understand that it is wrong to use derogatory terms on another poster but if you only speak English as your second language there'll always be the the possibility of unknowingly offending someone with something you write (the Justin Lin "chink in the armor" stories come to my mind, i would've never known that something like that is offensive). At the very least their should be an explanation of why it might be offensive (like in this case) and the possibilty to apologize. A list with all the "banned words" would definitely be welcomed.
 

immy

Banned
See the thing I don't get is if we ban cunt, why don't we ban all swear words. I would be as pissed if someone called me a fucking dick as a cunt.
 
I can't imagine any female outside of the US actually being offended by the word 'cunt'. It is not a sexual slur in europe, so it's pretty funny that this argument is happening in the euro thread.
 

JiuJitsuka

Neo Member
To be quite honest, this just isn't relevant.

I'm going to spell out the relevant policy issues here in bullet points:

  • The use of sexual slurs like "cunt" has been forbidden on GAF as a whole for years and years, and many, many posters have been banned for it in the past.
  • NeoGAF is an international forum, populated by people from many countries. To maintain a reasonable environment for all our users, that means words that are inappropriate in one English-speaking area are inappropriate across the board on GAF. Usage in England doesn't matter because the meaning of "cunt" in the US/Canada is enough on its own to ban it for everyone.
  • NeoGAF is a forum that welcomes and encourages a diverse community of people, and as such we're particularly sensitive about slurs that specifically target and exclude less prominent groups of users (see also: "fag", etc.)
  • Subcommunity threads often aren't monitored with every single post, but the rules of NeoGAF still apply to these threads and their contents.
  • Rather than just pop in and ban people for behavior that they thought was contextually appropriate in threads like this, we're clarifying the policy because we'd rather get people on board than play "GOTCHA!"

You're welcome to ask more questions if the policy isn't clear to you, but the rule itself is not up for debate.

Nice and fair. But regarding your first point, how do I correlate it to this
 

Firemind

Member
I always thought twat was an innocent enough word. I guess I'll have to refrain from using the word. Twit doesn't have the same ring unfortunately.
 
Seeing as this ruling seems to be based on 1 or two posters being offended by the word despite it being used totally in jest.

Can I now say I'm offended by dick because it insults me as a Male and request that it is banned?
 

immy

Banned
I always thought twat was an innocent enough word. I guess I'll have to refrain from using the word. Twit doesn't have the same ring unfortunately.

What?

What does twat mean>

Teachers at school have called people twats. This is a stupid rule.
 

Igo

Member
This is all a bit ridiculous. The word has pretty much evolved past any sexual conotations in every country not named the United States.

Get with the times, guys!
 
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