麻豆社

Explore the 麻豆社
This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving.

13 November 2014

麻豆社 Homepage

Local 麻豆社 Sites

Neighbouring Sites

Related 麻豆社 Sites


Contact Us

Articles

You are in: Oxford > 麻豆社 Oxford > Articles > The 'Bill' Board!

Bill Heine

The 'Bill' Board!

麻豆社 Oxford's 'Silver Fox' is never short of an opinion or two. Every Monday you can read all about Mr Heine's latest musings!

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME?

What do the words 鈥榝ireman鈥, 鈥榓ir hostess鈥, 鈥榟eadmaster鈥, 鈥榩oliceman鈥, 鈥榮alesman鈥, 鈥榤anageress鈥, 鈥榗inema usherette鈥 and 鈥榤ale nurse鈥 have in common?听 They are all sexist, according to the European Union.听 A new pamphlet issued to MEPs and their staff suggests these terms should be banned in favour of听 鈥渘on-sexist, gender-neutral language.鈥澨

That means MEPs听need to replace 鈥榮portsmen鈥 or 鈥榮portswoman鈥 with 鈥榓thlete鈥.听 Man-made becomes 鈥榮ynthetic鈥 or 鈥榓rtificial.鈥櫶 Statesmen are now 鈥榩olitical leaders鈥.

And Mr or Mrs or Miss are all verboten.听 But where does that leave 鈥楾he Ladies鈥 and 鈥楾he Gents鈥 when you want to spend a penny?听 Should we have unisex loos?听The students鈥 union did just that at Manchester University.听 But their argument was even more wonderful.听 鈥楾he Ladies and Gents鈥 not only had class overtones, but these words positively discriminated against trans-gendered people and cross-dressers, who should have their own loo.听 Since they can鈥檛, on the basis of fairness, all of the loos must be open to all of the people.

This saga could come to a cinema or council near you; because it is certainly coming closer to home.听 Weymouth Carnival Organizers have decided not to hold a beauty queen pageant on the grounds that it was sexist and did not 鈥榩romote equal opportunities.鈥櫶 Their argument was that "the carnival queen contest is a closed shop that only applies to young, glamorous women and we think it is time for a change."听 So now they have a 鈥楥arnival Community Champion鈥.

Our verbal variety is definitely under attack.听 But what could this mean for man - or woman - kind?

last updated: 19/03/2009 at 11:56
created: 18/03/2009

Have Your Say

The 麻豆社 reserves the right to edit comments submitted.

Rebecca
We should have Fair Trade Radio, that way our Licence Fee will support Broadcasters who need and deserve help to survive. I suppose that rules out the B.B.C.

nandini
BillI was checking about Isle of man today & the st conan. what do you know about it?

Greg
Gerald needs urgent medical help. 麻豆社 RADIO OXFORD is never going to be.........Sorry, I`m nodding off.

Gerald
Alan has a point. There is no good reason why 麻豆社 RADIO OXFORD does not become the best local radio station in the U.K. There is no good reason. You have good young talent, funding and a future. Why not go for it ? Look after your core listners but challenge them, challenge yourselves. This is a democracy, nobody is going to take you outside and shoot you if you make mistakes. Be Brave, be confident. You are all in the right place at the right time. Don`t be grumpy.

Alan
We folk always urge and dream that you will keep going forward.Think of what the teacher in The History Boy`s suggested. While Bill, you are broadcasting , why not let the ideas and games fly ? You have the bat in your hands, the umpires are bored...smack the ideas to the boundary..or be ...Oh no......

Answering your plea.
Bill, at the end of your thursday night show you pleaded for ways we 麻豆社 Licence Payers could put forward suggestions to cut Global Warming. I suggest the following, Cut the number of 麻豆社 TV stations (worldwide) back from 46. Cut the the number of radio stations (worldwide) from 111. Cut the number of 麻豆社 U.K. Stations back to what is was in the seventies. You won`t of course. Question. Why should my licence fee cover the cost of the new 麻豆社 satellite service beeming into Iran? I support the 麻豆社 World Service Radio. David.

David
Hold your horses Heine. Have you got a new laptop ?Your blog is like a cake with too many ingrediants, and cooks. Keep it simple for us simple Oxford folk.Deep breath and start again old boy.

You are in: Oxford > 麻豆社 Oxford > Articles > The 'Bill' Board!

麻豆社 Radio Oxford



About the 麻豆社 | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy