They’ll ban winking next.
Posted by Big John on April 3, 2008
Harriet Harman came in for a lot of ‘flak’ this week when she turned up on the streets of south London looking like she expected to be hit by the real thing as she toured the area wearing a ‘Met vest’, the standard body armour worn by officers of London’s police force service.
Now I doubt if the politically correct Ms. Harmanperson was in much physical danger from the people of Peckham, but she was in great danger of being called “love”, “dear” or “darling” if she came into contact with Peckham’s most famous resident, ‘Del Boy’ or one of his mates.
How would the poor dear have coped should she have been subjected to such “insulting language”? … for it seems that she has decided that the days of calling women “love” and “darling” are gone, and in the case of employees, such as bar staff, who have to listen to what is described as “sexist banter” … Well ! Yes you guessed it. They should receive … Compensation ! … which is strange as I must have been asked … “What can I get you, love?” … thousands of times by pub barmaids.
I know that foreign visitors to this country find being called “luv” or “loov” (if oop north) a bit strange, but along with “mate”, “guv” and even “cock” it’s just a friendly working class form of address, and one that I’ve used all my life without anyone ever taking offence. I suppose that it’s a bit like an American calling me “buddy” or calling a strange woman “honey”, and black “dudes” calling each other “bro”.
I remember that Horsey Anne was once addressed as “love” by one of us ‘peasants’ and retorted … “I’m not a ‘love’ … I’m Your Royal Highness”, and anyone of us who objects can do the same, so why all the fuss ?
Now our Harriet is not only the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, but also Leader of the House of Commons, Lord (shouldn’t that be Lady) Privy Seal and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but she introduced all this ‘sexist banter’ cobblers in her role as Minister for Women and Equalities, which makes me wonder … Why isn’t there a …
… Minister For Men And Inequalities ? 😕
bigjohn 
Betty said
When the political correctness fad was discovered by corporate America, all the big companies banned all kinds of heretofore merely friendly behavior. No more friendly pats on the back, no mild endearments, such as “thank you for typing this, dear.” One of the managers in my office was very gregarious and a touchy-feely type. He was likely to give one of the women in the office a sympathetic hug if she was having problems. And, on any given day, I was greeted with, “Hi, doll!” When they told him he couldn’t do that any more, it took a bit of happiness out of our days.
Creepy said
They use it to all genders down in Dorset. ‘Allo my luvver’ is a phrase used by a lot down there, whether they know you or not.
SilverTiger said
“Equality”, though a good thing where there are real inequality issues to be addressed, inevitably provided jobs for the boys (and girls) who made the most of their opportunities and went overboard inventing trivial issues that were of no concern to anyone. They should have been laughed out of court as they deserved I suppose most people were too frightened of appearing “sexist” to respond in an appropriate manner.
My favourite anecdote was told by a visiting examiner to the institution where I was teaching. He reported that under orders from their Equalities Dept, his college’s canteen had removed “black coffee” from the menu and had replaced it with “coffee without milk”.
What you call someone is not the point. What matters is the intention. For example, I have heard police officers address a man as “sir” in such tones as to leave no doubt that they were being deliberately threatening.