The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #26157 Message #313761
Posted By: Bert
06-Oct-00 - 05:27 PM
Thread Name: 'Offensive' words in song lyrics
Subject: RE: 'Offensive' words in song lyrics
A Limey and a Brit is OK. but a - Scouse - I'm not too sure about.
Now Dr. John knows that I'm only kidding but I suppose someone is going to be offended.
The thing is that the term 'chink' was not a derogatory term in England when the Mr Wu songs were written. There was no offense intended, and while it was part of the culture to tease people about their origins, even that was not the intent of the song. It was just a normal part of the language and carried no more harmful intent than 'Geordy' or 'Cockney' (which was originally a derogatory term but is now acceptable) or 'Scouse' or 'Taffy'.
It might be wise to explain that, if you sing the song nowadays.
Bert (Cockney)