The Student Room Group

"Gammon" - the new slur of the left

Some articles on it:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/gammon-not-racial-slur-change-conversation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-44108080

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/the-gammon-insult-is-typical-of-corbynista-intolerance/

It's a nasty slur in my view not so much due to the racial issues that have been raised but because many people suffer from psoriasis and rosacea. This is encouraging abuse against such people who now have to contend with being associated with being pro-Brexit and right-wing? If you are an older white male with rosacea and get heckled "gammon" in the street, is that something these purveyors of "gammon" are proud of? I thought the left would be against bullying on the basis of what is in effect facial disfiguration?

Why has a term been adopted that is essentially picking on people for their appearance? Has politics really reached that level?
(edited 5 years ago)

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Reply 1
You seem to be attempting some Olympic level mental gymnastics here to equate ruddy cheeked old tub thumpers and some intent to offend people with a skin condition.
Thanks, adding it to my vocabulary.
Reply 3
If I choose to find it offensive, How can you argue against my lived experiences?
Ban it.
There isn't really a need to make up insults for Brexiteers. Calling them a Brexiteer should be enough.
I can see why the right-wing media would want to ham this up but it's not that much of a pig deal.

kevin thats a thing.jpg
(edited 5 years ago)
You have to be an exceptionally special snowflake to be offended of this.
so its basically the liberal version of cuck/soy-boy?
Snowflakes
Original post by Iridocyclitis

It's a nasty slur in my view not so much due to the racial issues that have been raised but because many people suffer from psoriasis and rosacea.


What does 'gammon', a word related to pigs and that also means 'humbug' or 'nonsense', have to do with sufferers of skin conditions? You seem to be inventing one new meaning to complain about a new usage. You might as well complain that 'Kipper' is offensive to people with BO.

I'm glad to see that Mr Corbyn's nice supporters are finding new ways to carry on his 'new way of doing politics'. I presume, though, that they take what he says and reverse it before actually doing it. They must have read 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.
(edited 5 years ago)
So what? Nobody thought that the left somehow higher moral or better overall than the right. Don't care.
Original post by Iridocyclitis
Some articles on it:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/gammon-not-racial-slur-change-conversation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-44108080

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/the-gammon-insult-is-typical-of-corbynista-intolerance/

It's a nasty slur in my view not so much due to the racial issues that have been raised but because many people suffer from psoriasis and rosacea. This is encouraging abuse against such people who now have to contend with being associated with being pro-Brexit and right-wing? If you are an older white male with rosacea and get heckled "gammon" in the street, is that something these purveyors of "gammon" are proud of? I thought the left would be against bullying on the basis of what is in effect facial disfiguration?

Why has a term been adopted that is essentially picking on people for their appearance? Has politics really reached that level?


I've seen people commenting that 'gammon' is racist and/ or ageist- don't really see how it can be though.Yes, the people its directed at tend to be middle aged/ older white men but the emphasis is on their attitudes & how they express them rather than their appearance- people who fit the same physical description who don't spout right wing, reactionary views don't get labelled this way. As for the word itself, OK its a bit silly but the people complaining about it are probably the same ones who label anyone with liberal/ left wing views as 'SJWs' or 'snowflakes'.
gammon.jpg
It's clearly discriminatory and somewhat racist as the insult could not be applied to a black, middle-class, man. It's a mildly amusing metaphor but ultimately it is **** slinging and doesn't progress any conversation.
Charles Dickens used the word "gammon" to describe a large, self-satisfied, middle aged man who professes an extreme patriotism in large part to disguise his essential selfishness and corruption. 180 years ago! It's part of our culture.


Ok. Am I still allowed to use that word? Or are things going to get awkward in the butchers.
UKIP should be ranamed to The Gammon Tendancy :rofl:
It's not new. Charlse Dickens was using it 180 years ago.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5368520&p=77657622#post77657622
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
It's not new. Charlse Dickens was using it 180 years ago.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5368520&p=77657622#post77657622


It isn't new but Dickens was using it in a sense not used much now, but previously used to mean nonsense or rubbish. It was not an attempted personal insult, just a comment on what was being espoused.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gammon

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