Geordies

Now as people who pop over here regularly will know I quite like my 'virtual mate' Will . He has, shall we say, quite a way with words. One of the first things he said to me was that I was a prissy moralising Victorian fuckwit! So it was with interest I read an article in The Independent saying that

A council has instructed its staff to think carefully before using colloquial words such as "pet" and "hinny" to refer to women, in case they cause offence.
Bosses at Newcastle City Council have told workers to reflect before using the words, for fear they may be interpreted as sexist language. Such traditional Geordie terms are widely used as terms of endearment in the region, sometimes towards men too in the case of "pet".

Now sexism is a serious issue but this does not help . I have been to Newcastle a number of times and been called Pet by men and women. I am the first to tell someone where to go if I think they are being patronising or sexist to me . I did not feel that. It seemed a friendly term and not in anyway sexist, especially when said by middle aged women to men. Mind you if I had been called a fuckwit I might have responded differently :-)

This just gives the Daily Mail and its ilk ammunition to say political correctness gone mad. Sexism, and other prejudices and discrimination, needs to be tackled seriously and its not done by telling geordies not to say pet !!

I wonder how they would have coped with Will in that equality and diversity training course....