Thursday 26 November 2009

It's a bit like 'S*** My Dad Says', but less funny

My Dad 'phoned me last night. We had a lovely conversation. We generally do. But at the end, he said possibly one of the most hilariously politically incorrect things I have ever heard him say. But before this, you must understand that my father is one of the most genial people you will ever meet. I've never seen him get angry (aside from one bird-flipping incident to another driver, which now I think about it, is also hilarious), hardly ever heard him raise his voice, and never heard him be rude to or about someone.

So we were discussing going out for a meal on Friday, which I'm looking forward to considerably. We were trying to work out somewhere that's easier enough for me to get to by public transport, and him to get to by car. We struck upon a Chinese buffet in West London. As we closed the conversation, Dad came out with this little gem:
'So, do you know the way from the Tube station to the chinky place?'
Now, in my Dad's defence, he thought that the word 'chinky' was a suitable slang term for a Chinese restaurant but never for a Chinese person.

I suppose it just goes to show the culture I was brought up in - almost every potentially offensive term has been eradicated from my vocabulary, because someone, somewhere has taken offense to it. I shan't go off on an anti-PC rant, because I think, at least for this, it's probably best.

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