I'm not talking about beauty. I'm talking about what offends you. Two interesting situations came up recently. I'd be interested in knowing what you think. (As always comments are being moderated.)
Situation 1
I was shopping yesterday at a grocery store in the Brookfield/Elm Grove area. While waiting in line, I scanned the magazines at the checkout. I noticed that one magazine was almost fully obscured from my view by a black, rectangular piece of something like light plywood. I couldn't tell what magazine was behind it, so I pulled it out. After seeing what was on the cover, I did a quick check of the other checkout lanes. The magazine was covered up in all the lanes that it was in.
The magazine was "People". On the cover, a picture of Clay Aiken holding his new baby. The headline, printed in bold letters, was "Yes, I'm Gay".
Situation 2
The Spouse's company has been running a series of radio ads. A recent ad, written by one of the ad agency's employees, used the word "gypped." In the ad, it was used as a synonym for the word "cheated." After about a week, a message was left on the company's voice mail. The caller, offended by the ad, called the Spouse's company "idiots" and "bigots," with one or two expletives thrown in for good measure.
The problem? The word "gypped" is a racial or ethnic slur against gypsies, which the Spouse discovered after googling the word. Here are some of the links found:
Defective Yeti and Houston Chronicle
The Spouse didn't know this and, that night, asked me what I thought of the word "gypped," without telling me about the offended caller. I answered that I might have just used the word "cheated," but the basis for my answer was because I wouldn't use "slang" in the ad, not because I knew it was offensive.
The Spouse's company has pulled the ad.
Another interesting point is that someone at the ad agency flagged the ad for the reason outlined above, but after discussion, the powers that be at the agency decided that the flag was just an "overreaction".
