Well, Who Knew??

[Kangaroo02]

I love moon pig. Com for personalised cards, there's a great choice and you can ad photos or whatever, it's cheap as chips too and quick delivery!

Nice advertising jen

[Rockerman]

You forgot "If you fall of that wall and break your leg don't come running to me !" Jenny.

And indeed I would walk a million miles to see me Mammy's smile just one more time.

Me too man.

Nice post.

[Thirdage]

Americans sadly live in their own bubble as only about 10% of them have a passport, so their vision is limited to what they see and hear on their own media. The outside world views things very differently, so it is not surprising that they should consider stupid things offensive due to their limited perspective. There are Americans who see the bigger picture and just laugh at the stupid suggestions which their lesser traveled countrymen make. What we need if a group of Irish Mammies to head over there and knock 7 shades of sense into them.

[Bruce 4play]

Everyday's a schoolday on Twitter and today I found out that some perpetually offended Americans have taken offence to the word 'Mammy'.

Took me a while to find out why but according to Wikipedia, this seems to be the problem:

" A mammy is a U.S. historical stereotype depicting black women who work in a white family and nurse the family's children.[2] The fictionalized mammy character is often visualized as a fat, dark-skinned woman with a motherly personality. The origin of the mammy figure stereotype is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States, as black slave women were often tasked with domestic and childcare work in white American slaveholding households. The mammy caricature was used to create a narrative of black women being happy within slavery or within a role of servitude. The mammy stereotype associates black women with domestic roles and it has been argued that it, combined with segregation and discrimination, limited job opportunities for black women during the Jim Crow era, approximately 1877 to 1966.[3]"

Who knew? And I guess these particular offended Americans can't fathom that there are other cultural connotations with certain words and the U.S,A. Is not the centre of the universe!

I need to update Wikipedia!! I'm thinking something like:

"A Mammy is an Irish stereotype depicting a loving woman who will light candles for you or feed you with pots of stew but woe betide you should you cross her. She is likely found in her natural habitat on the landing checking that the immersion is off, sweeping the slates on the roof, looking out to window to see who's "after passing down the road" or on the couch checking "RIP.IE" for the 42nd time that day.

She is most like to be heard saying "if you make a show of me at mass there"ll be wigs on the green", "did ya hear who's dead" or "if you dont stop whinging I'll give ya something to whinge about"

Taken from the Irish "A Mhamaí" which sounds like "Wom -my" it is also used in Wales and part of England.
Dont mention the wooden spoon or the first aid kit of flat 7up, lucozade and supocream

Have I left anything out?!?!?!

Pink

[FredBiscuits]

Americans sadly live in their own bubble as only about 10% of them have a passport, so their vision is limited to what they see and hear on their own media. The outside world views things very differently, so it is not surprising that they should consider stupid things offensive due to their limited perspective. There are Americans who see the bigger picture and just laugh at the stupid suggestions which their lesser traveled countrymen make. What we need if a group of Irish Mammies to head over there and knock 7 shades of sense into them.

Firstly, almost 40% of Americans have passports.

Secondly, is it really that big a leap to see that words with historical connotations in one country can be out-of-place where as in another country that uses the same word in a completely different context historically can find it strange that anyone would find it offensive?

In Ireland would you ever refer to the colour of an outfit combination, or the colour of a particular type of dog as "Black & Tan"? Probably not. Would someone in a far away country do it? Yes, absolutely.

Would you refer to your Uncle Thomas as Uncle Tom? Yes, you would. Would someone in the Southern States of America do it? Probably not.

I also doubt that anyone really finds it offensive in the States. It is just a word that was only really used there for one particular thing, and that context is thankfully long since ended, so it is just a word that is out of place, and anyone using it is likely doing so intentionally to make quite a nasty point. Like referring to someone here as a tinker. You aren't doing it to say someone fixes pot&pans, despite that being it's original meaning, because that context has long since gone. You're doing it to make negative reference to someone or some trait associated with the travelling community.

[UnFulfilledScott]

[Thirdage]

It would appear that my 10% figure was out of date by about 20 years, it now is about 37% of American Citizens have a passport, so on that point I stand corrected. I stand by my point that Americans do not see far outside their own country. Their view is based on what affects them and not how their actions affect others. In Ireland most people would refer to an outfit as black and tan (the British rule context has long left the building except for a few). If you look at any middle eastern countries where the population are tanned skinned or darker where their history goes back 1,000's of years while America's is measured in 100's, they look at how America treated people of colour up to the 70's and beyond and they identify with the people of colour and in large part they do not trust America. One just hast to look what America has done in the last 40 years in the middle east, their support for Israil and ignoring the plight of Pallastine, their invasion of Iraq to depose Sadan but no plan for what happened after and Lebanon to name but a few. I have been in the states and their views and outlook does not impress me at all. Am I biased no I have seen with my own eyes and made my decision based on what I have see.