English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Anyway the tempest over this choice of words seems to be confined to the UK (though the consequences are global, since Lego changed their wording globally)

Presumably whoever used this word was unfamiliar with how offensive it is in the UK

skill patrol

3:45 PM

but "the back of the bus" certainly has negative connotations

not to mention "widow licker"

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@skillpatrol I'd say not certainly, and even if they are negative, they aren't necessarily offensive.

terdon

@MattE.Эллен Yeah, if I get of my ass and do my physio correctly.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Well, this mixel character has a really long tongue. And, e.g., lots of dogs lick windows.

skill patrol

yes, there is a gray area, no doubt :-)

does Lego have any black characters?

or asians

Matt E. Эллен

@terdon ah. all I had to do was stretch my arm. Since I could do this carrying stuff, it sorted itself out. Do your physio!

terdon

3:48 PM

Yeah, I know, I know :(

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@skillpatrol Yes. In certain themes.

skill patrol

I see.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I could explain if you want. But it's long.

skill patrol

sure

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 England is becoming crazier and crazier...what is the issue?

skill patrol

3:50 PM

10 mins ago, by Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

and LEGO released a new "mixel" character who was described as "part frog, part chicken, part back-of-the-bus-window-licker"

Hi pal :-)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Lego released a product. Their website described the character using language that, in the UK, is an offensive slur for learning-disabled or mentally retarded people. Some folks got upset. Lego changed the website text.

@skillpatrol So originally all lego people (minifigs) were yellow.

skill patrol

ok

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Then Lego introduced a line of NBA figures

Cerberus

What part, exactly? The licking?

Matt E. Эллен

"window licker"

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:52 PM

They thought it would be weird if the NBA figures were yellow so they made them skin-coloured, since each figure represented a specific human.

skill patrol

ok

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Then they licensed some movie themes and all the caucasian people in the movies were represented with yellow figures

This presented a problem when they wanted to represent Lando from Star Wars, because he's black

So they released a brown minifig for Lando

Then they realized that that meant that all their yellow figs, throughout all of time, where secretly caucasian people instead of "raceless"

(The official story was that Lego people don't represent one of the regular races)

skill patrol

just like your yellow avatar figure?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

So Lego changed their policy, and made it so that in licensed themes, where the minifigs represent real humans from movies or tv shows, they will be coloured like they are in the show. caucasian people get peachy-toned minifigs, black people get brown-toned, etc.

@skillpatrol My yellow avatar figure is using a standard, non-licensed minifig head. (and hands)

skill patrol

I see.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:55 PM

Lego now has two types of minifigs: the licensed ones, which are skin-coloured, and the non-licensed, which are all yellow.

And then there's the Friends theme, which doesn't have minifigs, but has minidolls.

They are not yellow, they are skin-coloured.

There is a variety of races represented.

But it's mostly white people.

skill patrol

but they are insulting intelligence with "widow-licker", right?

Mitch

What if the window actually tastes good?

Matt E. Эллен

@skillpatrol yes

Mitch

You don't know what you're missing

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch then you're about to be cooked by a witch

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:58 PM

@skillpatrol Yes.

Matt E. Эллен

or hit by a flying stunt person

Mitch

puts candy cane back

skill patrol

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I get the idea, thanks for the clear explanation pal :-)

interesting...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

No problem. For my next trick, I can go into excruciating detail about Lego's gender disparity problems :p

skill patrol

:D

Matt E. Эллен

4:00 PM

yeah! all women get to pretend to be men, but we men don't get even half as much chance to pretend to be women when playing with Lego. Why should women get all the fun?

Mitch

Yeah!

Hey you're not Jez.

Matt E. Эллен

lol

it was a good impression, no?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

You forgot to mention how immigration is ruining Britain.

Mitch

I know! Those people!

Matt E. Эллен

oh, right! All the women that come from Europe are making it hard for our own women to find me attractive

Mitch

4:03 PM

Why don't chicks dig me and their parents go back home?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattE.Эллен You know, I've heard a similar argument here... only it goes "All the Chinese women are attracted to Caucasian men, which makes it harder for Chinese men to get dates"

Mitch

Charity begins at home.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 lol. interesting, too. I mean, it would seem likely that women would be attracted to their own nationality, simply because people like what is like them. So either these men are wrong, or immigrants have an opposite "type" to non-immigrants

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector ] Email in title: Buy Passports,Drivers License,IDs,Birth Certs,Visas,SSN,Divorce Papers,US Green Cards( documentcompany4@gmail.com ) by ken on english.stackexchange.com

Matt E. Эллен

free spam flags!

get them in quick before I kill it with fire :D

burninated

that email address implies documentcompany1 to 3 are taken

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

4:10 PM

woo, that was close. nearly got singed.

Matt E. Эллен

Thanks for taking the time to answer the question, however this question has been thoroughly answered. Please consider answering our newer questions. Also, your answer doesn't back up its supposition with any evidence, answers about today and not to date, and is wrong. — Matt E. Эллен ♦ 6 hours ago

I tried to be nice. I don't think it's that snarky...

terdon

@MattE.Эллен Are you kidding? That's too nice. The answer was nonsensical.

> ****today is the present simple time and now in this time every day.Thanks****

Umm, what?

Matt E. Эллен

if I am generous and assume that in is meant to be is, it sort of makes sense

in the way that it's parsable, but wrong

skill patrol

It started out gentle enough, perhaps you shouldn't have ended it with the word "wrong."

Matt E. Эллен

I am conflicted in that I don't want to scare potential members off, but I don't want to have members like that. It's cruel, I know, but they have nothing to offer. Even questions they might ask would be better off at ELL

skill patrol

4:25 PM

Fair enough pal.

yesterday, by Robusto

@zespri You gotta earn Big Time English.

yesterday, by Robusto

@zespri See, if you don't get the nuances of a joke in EL&U chat, how you gonna mix it up with the big boys and girls on the site itself?

move to the "back of the bus"

but sir, the bus is taking us all to the same place

Well, you arrive LAST!

terdon

@MattE.Эллен Ooooh. OK, yes, that can be parsed.

And yes, you should be polite, you're a mod. I try to err on the side of caution on U&L as well. I'm less delicate on other sites >:)

skill patrol

as I witnessed in the math room :-)

terdon

@skillpatrol Huh? Was I rude?

skill patrol

not "rude", but as you said not exactly "delicate" for a incoming newbie

they're a strange crowd in there anyway :-)

some of them are sooo sensitive ...

even my old username "skull" scared them? like come'on its only a name???

but I can see how names mean a lot in that subject

terdon

4:44 PM

@skillpatrol Oh? That was certainly not my intent. Could you give me an example? Not disputing it, I'd like to learn.

skill patrol

I'd have to dig through the transcipt...

...it was just my impression, no worries pal :-)

terdon

I just had a look at the transcript and I don't see it at all. Man, I hope you're wrong and I'm not just an insensitive clod. :)

skill patrol

I could be wrong.

This could have been phrased without the word "grunt," don't you think? @terdon

The man worked alone for seven years doing "grunt" work.

terdon

Oh, OK, I thought you meant that I was rude to someone there.

That said, taking the rest of the sentence into account, it doesn't seem that bad:

> but was that truly original work or was it grunt work? I mean, obviously, very few people in the world would have been able to do it but was it truly his brilliant insight? Was it inspiration or perspiration?

And 99% of all research is grunt work.

skill patrol

Nah, just my general impression...

terdon

4:57 PM

I did clarify that this particular grunt work, if grunt it was, could only have been done by very few people in the world.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up :)

Cerberus

@skillpatrol That doesn't sound inappropriate towards the guest at all.

So I have to disagree.

skill patrol

@terdon np pal :-)