It is possibly indicative of your strength of feeling that 
this topic brought you out of lurkership.
When it first brewed I was casually unbothered and the 
video suggested to me that he was merely using a friendly 
term - but that was before I considered all the history to 
the term and to the racial integration in Britain - your 
comments and others have changed my view to a polar - it 
is potentially offensive and therefore inappropriate for 
anyone to use. People in a position of setting examples as 
the Royals have even more responsibility, whether they 
wanted it or not, it comes with the life and as such Harry 
should be disciplined - or at least he should have been 3 
years ago when it occurred.

KT

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:56:07 -0000
  Dr Joegy K Shah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hmmmmmm......
> 
> A bit of background first - I am of Indian origin and 
>consider myself British.  My family moved to England when 
>I was a mere babe in arms - I was 7 months old.  Brought 
>up in Manchester by forward thinking parents, I was 
>taught English before my mother tongue - gujarati - so 
>that I would 'fit in' more easily.  I never did get round 
>to learning my native tongue.  They must have been so 
>concerned about me 'fitting in' that I was given a first 
>name that could be shortened to a British-sounding name 
>if I chose.    The first time I visited India was 2 years 
>ago when I was 43 years old.  I am married (to my darling 
>who originates from Bury, Lancashire) and have 2 
>beautiful 'mixed race' children.  All-in-all, I think 
>that I can call myself British without confusion or 
>unease/embarrassment (?right words).  I am proud of my 
>parents, family, background and heritage.
> 
> I will refer to the allegedly offensive term as the 
>P-word if I may.  Surprisingly, we received a call from 
>my son's school a couple of weeks ago regarding a 
>complaint that they had received from another parent. 
> Amazingly, my son (nearly 13 yrs old) called a white boy 
>on the school bus the P-word!  Obviously we reprimanded 
>him and demanded to know the circumstances behind this 
>out-of-character outburst.  Especially as it was a 
>totally odd thing for him to say to someone who was not 
>of Pakistani origin!  He told me that he said it in utter 
>frustration and anger - the word just popped into his 
>head.   The boy in question had been going round school 
>mocking those of Pakistani origin with another boy 
>chanting the P-word frequently in a derisory manner and 
>my son had just had enough. 
> 
> I have been called the P-word many times in my past 
>(usually by thugs who have nothing better to do) and it 
>still leaves a very bitter taste.  Not because I am of 
>Indian origin and not Pakistani, but because of the 
>feeling of racial inequality....sometimes hatred the term 
>invokes for anyone who is either Indian or Pakistani.  I 
>have not been called the p-word for many, many years.  In 
>my experience the term was used mostly in an insulting 
>and derogatory manner which sometimes occurred just 
>before you got your head kicked in for no apparent reason 
>other than you were racially different.  The p-word has 
>history and remains a hurtful and sometimes fearful term 
>for many people (as some other terms which have since 
>become socially unacceptable).  As our wise Fay has said 
>during this thread - " No it is offensive generally. And 
>people are conditioned to suppress exhibiting offence in 
>order to fit in and avoid further discrimination."
> 
> I will shut up now and will carry on lurking....   ;-)
> 
> Joegy Shah (lurker extraordinaire - since approximately 
>1998!)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>From: GP-UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dr 
>Peter von Kaehne
> Sent: 13 January 2009 19:04
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Politically correct identification of 
>ethnic minorities - and others
> 
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> John Clegg wrote:
>> The term is only offensive when somebody takes offense 
>>at it. And I
>> would wager that the gentleman in question was not 
>>offended. As with the
>> "Sooty" label that has been revealed today.
>> 
> 
> I would second that. As teenage boys and later as 
>students  we had all
> "flattering" names for each other, which if not given in 
>the spirit of
> friendship would be extremely offensive. They were not 
>offensive because
> we were friends.
> 
> 
> Peter
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