OT: Starter for 10, bonus of 15

[Parish]

Serious question:

Why is it considered "inappropriate" for a Police Officer to use the phrase/term/expression "nitty gritty", as in "let's get down to the nitty gritty...."?

[Lurch]

I get the 15 then? You'd have found those yourself typing 'nitty gritty' into google and pressing enter, but if that's too difficult.... ..

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.

[Parish]

No, you cheated ;-)

Did you know *without* Googling for it?

The reason I asked was that a friend of mine has just signed up to be one of Wiltshire's Finest. I was having a pint with him the other evening after he'd done his first week of basic training where they are beating Political Correctness into them.

Lots of the stuff he told me made sense (in that I understood it, not that it was necessarily sensible) but the "nitty gritty" threw me. I frowned and said "huh?". I didn't believe him whem he explained it (as per the first link you posted).

I asked half a dozen friends the same question and they all reacted like I did.

The point is that it is yet another example of PC got mad. It may well be that that is the origin of the expression (although the first link you posted disputes this) but it is so old (>300years?) that almost no-one knows it for anything other than "let's get down to the basics".

I start to wonder if the Police are employing people with a first in English just to drag this shit up?

[Lurch]

Erm, it's initiative!

Who doesn't. (That'd be a no)

I did exectly the same thing after reading your post, first thought was what's wrong now.

No, they just like coming up with stupid things to make it look like they've done something, obviously policing the UK would impress me more but you can't have everything. I can't believe the amount of things you can't say because of PC, it's just getting to the stage whereby opening your mouth can end up with you being outed as racist\sexist or anythingist really. I don't believe in any of it, being Northern and all that! If people didn't over react all the time there wouldn't be a problem. Most of the time both sides of whichever two are insulting\being insulted are as bad as each other. Pot, black, kettle etc.. springs to mind. To be able to tell someone they can't say something means you have to be perfect yourself, who is? I could go on, but i'll run out of bandwidth uploading it all! ..

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.

[Parish]

Yes, it's to much to ask really, isn't it?

Ah, a fellow Northerner (although I live in Wiltshire now I'm Lancashire born 'n' bred), we tell it like it is :-)

Another friend of mine is a bi-sexual female who works for the LA. They have a "committee" that meets monthly to, in essence, discuss PC and bring everyone up to speed on the latest PC craze to ensure that both internally, and externally with the public, they are above reproach (I was going to say "whiter than white" but that wouldn't be PC, would it?).

This "committee" comprises representitives for/from all the minority groups; my friend is the gay/lesbian rep and they also have reps for black, Asian, Muslim, women[1], disabled, and probably a few others I've forgotten. Anyway, whilst talking about this I asked if they had a rep for white, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied men. To my utter amazement (NOT!), they didn't. DISCRIMINATION, DISCRIMINATION!!!

This country is going down they pan I'm sure (perhaps this is a result of our (alleged) "special relationship" with the US?).

Regards,

Parish (a member of the oppressed majority)

[1] How the hell women can be classed as a minority is beyond me when the male:female ratio in the UK is 0.95, 28.6m:30.2m. Source, 2001 Census ..

[John Rumm]

Perhaps that ought to be Pot, Cooking Implement of Colour, kettle... ;-)

(Bo**ocks to PC I say!)

[Lurch]

going on about how they are a minority. If you just got on and stopped being so sensitive there wouldn't be a problem. It's only the people in the minority groups drawing attention to themselves thst's causing a problem for the minorities, although the minorities now have more rights than us most of the time but won't admit it. ..

SJW A.C.S. Ltd.