Shocked at my friend.

balletshoes

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Why would he/she need to know exactly who? I'd just say "I drove past xxxx this morning and an incredibly sexy guy waved at me". Why would I even need to mention his skin colour? It's irrelevant.

If pressed further I'd probably refer to a significant item of clothing they wore which might identify them.

what if they wear a similar uniform, and your friend knows of them too?
the conversation might well start as PasturesNew intimated, so then what do you say when your friend asks "which one"? I'd say "the white one" or "the black one". Because its relevant in this context.

Feral_Moon

balletshoes wrote: »

what if they wear a similar uniform, and your friend knows of them too?
the conversation might well start as PasturesNew intimated, so then what do you say when your friend asks "which one"?

Are you so dim that you can't think of a hundred or more redeeming features a person might have other than their skin colour??? I'm truly shocked at these responses.

In a crowd of Caucasian people, how would you distinguish one from another? Is everyone identical other than skin colour!?

balletshoes

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Are you so dim that you can't think of a hundred or more redeeming features a person might have other than their skin colour??? I'm truly shocked at these responses.

In a crowd of Caucasian people, how would you distinguish one from another? Is everyone identical other than skin colour!?

you're truly shocked that I would, for example, in the scenario I described, use skin colour (either white or black) to distinguish someone from someone else? Really? How is that any different to saying, if it were 2 Caucasian people with dark hair and in similar uniform, "the one with the freckles". I'm still commenting on skin to distinguish am I not?

Feral_Moon

balletshoes wrote: »

you're truly shocked that I would, for example, in the scenario I described, use skin colour (either white or black) to distinguish someone from someone else? Really? How is that any different to saying, if it were 2 Caucasian people with dark hair and in similar uniform, "the one with the freckles". I'm still commenting on skin to distinguish am I not?

Who would you class as white or black?

balletshoes

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Who would you class as white or black?

i don't class anyone as white or black at first glance, and I agree with you that in most cases there is no need or relevance in referring to skin colour at all. I was just following on from PasturesNew's example, where in my opinion, and going on from her description, it wouldn't be irrelevant to distinguish by skin colour.

Feral_Moon

balletshoes wrote: »

i don't class anyone as white or black at first glance, and I agree with you that in most cases there is no need or relevance in referring to skin colour at all. I was just following on from PasturesNew's example, where in my opinion, and going on from her description, it wouldn't be irrelevant to distinguish by skin colour.

As far as I'm concerned, only the police need to specifically refer to a person's skin colour when seeking criminals. In normal life I don't see any need for it. There are a thousand different ways to describe a person without referring to skin colour. I'm not saying we should avoid it at all costs, but that it's not a priority, nor does / should it define a person.

I guess I'm playing Devil's Advocate a little here by making you look beyond a person's skin colour. At least on the internet, that particular element is void.

We could be conversing with bright blue aliens covered in pink spots for all we know lol

barmonkey

Loz01 wrote: »

For anyone asking, yes coloured is an offensive word, at least in my world anyway. If you look back at racism in by gone years, coloured was always used as a segregating and negative word. Time to let it die now methinks. I understand older people still say it but... what can you do. If you call people out they just rant that "IN MY DAY WE COULD SAY WHAT WE LIKED!" so there we go.

I know many black people who couldn't give a crap about being called colored or black, but they arnt the professionally offended like most seem to be.

barmonkey

cavework wrote: »

So calling someone black is racist but referring to people who you describe as white in a derogatory manner in your opinion is acceptable?

Calling someone black is not racist, I have had the conversation with black colleagues and they dont care.

stclair

Birdie85 wrote: »

You might want to be careful about using 'Coloured' to describe people from a different heritage to yours.

Sadly, racism is still the norm for a lot of people. I'll bet your friend is a follower of 'Britain First' on FB too!

My mom still says coloured and half caste 😀

Feral_Moon

stclair wrote: »

My mom still says coloured and half caste 😀

I'm sure you're quite able to educate her against using such offensive terms. Unless you share them, of course!