On 21/01/2012 09:07, Tim Watts wrote:
dave wrote:

On Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:02:04 -0800 (PST), cynic
wrote:

On Jan 20, 6:00 pm,
wrote:
It was like travelling back 40 years in time.

The labourer was called "Black Dave".

That's the last time I work in S****horpe.

--
Adam

I came across a black Joe. He was white Anglo Saxon but didn't wash
much.

The racists have put a stop to all that!

Nobody minds if someone is called Big Dave, Little Pete etc.

Perhaps the mark of a mature society will be when you *can* call someone
"Black Dave" without everyone getting upset (assuming it is not in malice of
course).

Yes. As a very young child my nephew and his parents were called into
the heads office, as he'd refered to "the black girl." It turned out
that he referred to another girl as "the red girl" - he didn't know
their names and was referring to their hair colour! Even if he had been
referring to skin colout, it is quite sensible to refer to a physical
attribute to identify someone - "he's the tall one over there; she's the
one with glasses; etc." what's so wrong with referring to skin colour.

There's an old chinese insult for whiteys - Bai Gui which literally means
"White Ghost".

I'd find it most amusing to be called that - not that anyone ever has...

OTOH, a passerby in Beijing referred to me as "American" and I was deeply
insulted...

As would be most of the world!

SteveW