BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

adder1969 wrote:

On Feb 6, 1:40 pm, allan tracy wrote:
Now the corporation has sparked claims it has pandered to the
"politically correct brigade" by apologising.

Yet another brick for the wall to support New Labour's thought police
Britain.

What if there was a plant that looked like a fat womans fanny? ..or
droopy tits flowers?

I'm sure more than one person has compared flowers to the vulva. (And
if they haven't, I hope they have a good excuse.)

--
Going forward at this moment in time a raft of measures
have been put in place on the ground to target and
claw back the growth of cliche usage 24/7.
Remove "antispam" and ".invalid" for e-mail address.

BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

"Frederick Williams" "Frederick
wrote in message id...
adder1969 wrote:

On Feb 6, 1:40 pm, allan tracy wrote:
Now the corporation has sparked claims it has pandered to the
"politically correct brigade" by apologising.

Yet another brick for the wall to support New Labour's thought police
Britain.

What if there was a plant that looked like a fat womans fanny? ..or
droopy tits flowers?

I'm sure more than one person has compared flowers to the vulva. (And
if they haven't, I hope they have a good excuse.)


I saw a plant at the rain forest centre near Newbury called (IIRC) the birth
wort. Judge for yourself. -

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t...Picture043.jpg

Steve

BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

Frederick Williams" "Frederick Williams wrote:
adder1969 wrote:

On Feb 6, 1:40 pm, allan tracy wrote:
Now the corporation has sparked claims it has pandered to the
"politically correct brigade" by apologising.

Yet another brick for the wall to support New Labour's thought
police Britain.

What if there was a plant that looked like a fat womans fanny? ..or
droopy tits flowers?

I'm sure more than one person has compared flowers to the vulva. (And
if they haven't, I hope they have a good excuse.)

Arum?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arum


--
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

In article , Frederick
Williams "Frederick says...
adder1969 wrote:

On Feb 6, 1:40 pm, allan tracy wrote:
Now the corporation has sparked claims it has pandered to the
"politically correct brigade" by apologising.

Yet another brick for the wall to support New Labour's thought police
Britain.

What if there was a plant that looked like a fat womans fanny? ..or
droopy tits flowers?

I'm sure more than one person has compared flowers to the vulva. (And
if they haven't, I hope they have a good excuse.)

Flowers may have been compared to the vulva, but in general don't have
names like "fat woman's fanny" or "white lady's ****". Because they're
offensive.

BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

On 9/2/08 10:36, in article
, "Des
Higgins" wrote:

On Feb 7, 10:02*am, Amethyst Deceiver
wrote:
In article , Frederick
Williams "Frederick says...

adder1969 wrote:

On Feb 6, 1:40 pm, allan tracy wrote:
Now the corporation has sparked claims it has pandered to the
"politically correct brigade" by apologising.

Yet another brick for the wall to support New Labour's thought police
Britain.

What if there was a plant that looked like a fat womans fanny? *..or
droopy tits flowers?

I'm sure more than one person has compared flowers to the vulva. *(And
if they haven't, I hope they have a good excuse.)

Flowers may have been compared to the vulva, but in general don't have
names like "fat woman's fanny" or "white lady's ****". Because they're
offensive.

The traditional "rude" names tend to be pretty quaint alright.
Maidenhair fern gets its name from the leaf shape.
Orchids get their name from their bulbous roots (Orchis is greek for
testicle). In Irish, Early Purple Orchid is called Magairlín
Meidhreach (pronounce moggerleen mire-och) which either mans big
little testicles or mad little testicles (I think the latter; I cannot
remember). These names are earthy rather than offensive though unless
you are a victorian or vote Republican in the US. As for the black
mans willy name, you would want to be pretty dense not to realise the
name would offend a lot of people. I guess what offends goes in
cycles.

Des

And then there's the weed known variously as goosegrass, cleavers and sticky
willy!
And I've wondered often what gross name was given to 'long purples':
"There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. "

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 9/2/08 10:36, in article
| , "Des
| Higgins" wrote:
| On Feb 7, 10:02*am, Amethyst Deceiver
| wrote:
|
| Flowers may have been compared to the vulva, but in general don't have
| names like "fat woman's fanny" or "white lady's ****". Because they're
| offensive.

Only since Victorian times, in the 'proper' classes of the UK. More
traditional usage was often very vulgar and, in many countries, still is.
Indeed, Linnean taxonomists often were, too - Phallus impudicus, anyone?
The French still refer to ****-en-lit.

| As for the black
| mans willy name, you would want to be pretty dense not to realise the
| name would offend a lot of people. I guess what offends goes in
| cycles.

Yes. When I was young, Little Black Sambo was popular among all races.

| And I've wondered often what gross name was given to 'long purples':
| "There with fantastic garlands did she come
| Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
| That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
| But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. "

An interesting question. A quick Web search indicates probably Orchis
masculata (search on "long purples" and look the JSTOR abstracts), and
the OED indicates that orchids were called ballock-wort.

Apparently, the name "long purples" has now attached itself to purple
loosestrife, but that does not fit Shakespeare's use, not at all. Also,
if I understand correctly, purple loosestrife was a very local plant in
his day and unlikely to be commonly used in garlands.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

BBC apologises for 'offensive' Gardeners' Question Time debate
 

On 9/2/08 11:56, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 9/2/08 10:36, in article
| , "Des
| Higgins" wrote:
| On Feb 7, 10:02*am, Amethyst Deceiver
| wrote:
|
| Flowers may have been compared to the vulva, but in general don't have
| names like "fat woman's fanny" or "white lady's ****". Because they're
| offensive.

Only since Victorian times, in the 'proper' classes of the UK. More
traditional usage was often very vulgar and, in many countries, still is.
Indeed, Linnean taxonomists often were, too - Phallus impudicus, anyone?
The French still refer to ****-en-lit.

| As for the black
| mans willy name, you would want to be pretty dense not to realise the
| name would offend a lot of people. I guess what offends goes in
| cycles.

Yes. When I was young, Little Black Sambo was popular among all races.

| And I've wondered often what gross name was given to 'long purples':
| "There with fantastic garlands did she come
| Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
| That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
| But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them. "

An interesting question. A quick Web search indicates probably Orchis
masculata (search on "long purples" and look the JSTOR abstracts), and
the OED indicates that orchids were called ballock-wort.

Apparently, the name "long purples" has now attached itself to purple
loosestrife, but that does not fit Shakespeare's use, not at all. Also,
if I understand correctly, purple loosestrife was a very local plant in
his day and unlikely to be commonly used in garlands.

Found it, Nick and very interesting, too. Thank you. That seems to make
sense. I'd wondered about purple loosestrife but couldn't see the 'gross'
connection with that, really. And thinking of crude plant name uses, the
Italian word 'fico' for fig, is Italian slang for part of the female
anatomy.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'