Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
Convention appearances:
Calgary Expo Calgary, AB: April 26-28
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Multiplex
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Tags
amber
animated
batman
botcon
conquest
conventions
dark of the moon
david willis
dinobot
drew
duncan
ethan
faz
galasso
generations
gijoe
guest strip
hamsters
homosexuality
jacob
jesus
joe
justice league
ken
leslie
malaya
megatron
merch
mike
ninja rick
nipple
optimus prime
politics
religion
robin desanto
ronald reagan
roz
sdcc
sg ravage
shattered glass
star wars
tni strips
transformers
transformers prime
ultra car
©2005-2013 David Willis | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑
And by heart, he means penis, so they can never breed.
The rare Living Darwin Award!
I’m pretty sure if it’s driven through his heart, he won’t be able to breed either.
it’s best we don’t risk it
Clearly what we should have discussed here, going by the gravatars, was impaling him through the muffin.
If he’s that concerned about a kids show pseudo-curse, and note I’m a huge TF fan myself, I think nature is going to handle that just fine.
.. And now I cringe. Thanks.
Also, aren’t they just making a conscious decision to not use it going forward? So this is more like Mark Twain’s great-grandchildren writing a follow-up to Finn where they don’t use the n-word?
No.
It is, however, like if Mark Twain had written Tom Sawyer with the N word in it, but then decided to write Huck Finn using a substitute word, assuming neither word had ever actually had any out-of-context offensive meaning known to 95% of the target audience, because he found out, somewhere along the line, that it was an offensive word somewhere, and decided that political correctness was more important than a very minor issue of linguistic continuity in a fictional world with only superficial relation to the real one.
Frankly, I prefer the linguistic continuity, on the basis that pretty much everything is offensive to SOMEONE, and people shouldn’t be so easily offended by such coincidences.
Because when someone tells you that a word you’re using has an offensive meaning and you continue to use it anyway, it’s only a coincidence that they’re offended.
Well, in a way that’s actually correct. It was indeed a coincidence that English viewers were offended, much as they were when Tiger Woods said he “turned into a total spaz” when he reached the green on a particular hole (“spaz” in Britain means a person with cerebral palsy, while in America it more refers to a character from the movie “Meatballs” and anyone like him).
But language is not static. It’s malleable; it modulates and grows. Whether a particular word is dropped from a person’s vocabulary is always a judgment call by that person based on (a) how many people claim offense, (b) how worthy their claim appears and (c) how crucial the word’s unique connotations are to the way in which the person communicates. Anyone who grew up calling things “gay” before they had any awareness of homosexuality can probably identify with this sentiment – the word means something to you that has nothing to do with sexual preference, and no other word is quite like it for what you might use it for. The choice then gets made: are there enough people with good cause to be offended such that they counter the word’s utility, either ethically or pragmatically? Everyone has to make this choice for him/herself. Many folks have shifted away from “gay” and started calling things “lame” or “dumb” instead – and one day, perhaps they’ll make a similar shift when disabled people attract enough mainstream attention to demand a stop to the kind of ableist language that they find demeaning.
Apologies for the wall of text – I just find this subject immensely interesting.
I agree that it’s interesting, but in this case gay is a shorthand, neutral term for homosexual, its use as a slur is context based rather than it mainly being a slur that gets repurposed, unlike the N word in Twain and the British use of slag, which is equivalent to the american term “dirty whore”. Having been raised in an american home with a british family member and now living in England, in my opinion it is definitely a priority that the term not be used in a children’s show.
It would be somewhat different if the language in question would require retranslation of the show to broadcast it in the native country, as it stands Transformers can and does often just get ported to other english speaking countries as-is. There is a difference between a common cultural misconception among a populace, such as using “gay”/”retarded” before understanding the cultural ramifications, and a highly derogatory slur in modern British English being OKed by professionals and used in an American English program intended to teach/entertain youth.
Besides that the version of Huck Finn they had my class read in middle school english was the one with the N word edited out – there are versions available for older audiences that don’t edit it out, but I still wouldn’t give one to an 8 year old, who may quite enjoy the book but does not yet understand the weight of such words. Kids are natural mimics, you really want to avoid teaching them words that could cause them serious problems before they’re old enough to understand the broader meaning.
While I can see your point, I don’t agree.
The term “slag” in America, and a number of other (non-British) english speaking countries, and indeed in the dictionary as well, means “Stony waste matter separated from metals during the smelting or refining of ore.” Certainly an appropriate Transformers curse word. Not using a word just because someone turned it into a slang term in another country is ridiculous.
And in not giving it to that hypothetical 8 year old (assuming they’re capable of following the archaic style of a nineteenth century writer in the first place) and including as part of that a discussion on exactly why the word is considered bad you’re shortchanging the poor child. Most kids aren’t idiots and if you explain why a particular word is currently considered bad they are largely capable of the needed understanding to not use it unduly. Mind you the needed understanding of the English language to follow the style of any nineteenth century writer tells me we’re really talking about 10 or 11 year olds, rather than 8 year olds, who are quite a bit more likely to have been exposed to the word from one context or another.
That aside, retaining the word is a bad thing because we are talking about something that is considered by definition kids programing and parents do tend to go on the offensive when they have to explain terms whose meaning they’re already uncomfortable with to their kids, and I doubt most of us want to return to the days where kids programing felt a need to just talk down to kids.
Funny, when I was reading my copy of Nights with Uncle Remis, and they used the “n”-word, it didn’t offend me. Mainly due to when it was published. Saying words should not be a death sentence on tradition.
>people shouldn’t be so easily offended by such coincidences.
>people should stop having feelings that I don’t want them to have
But what about choosing the right word? When you write something, you want to use a word that won’t take your audience out of the story. I.e., a word that won’t distract them.
FWIW, I haven’t heard anyone claim the word, as used in TF, was offensive. Also, I haven’t heard anyone at Hasbro say that the use of “scrap” and the dropping of “slag” was because anyone was offended.
What I suspect is going on is that Hasbro wants children (who, depending on their age and upbringing, are likely to have heard a few words they shouldn’t have) to focus on the show. If a child gets distracted by an unintentional meaning, they (and their parents) are less likely to buy Hasbro’s toys.
Obviously, the use of “slag” in previous incarnations of the brand didn’t seem to distract from it’s popularity to much, but why take the chance? I suspect that “linguistic continuity” is less of a priority to Hasbro than regular continuity.
One last thing: no government seems to have told Hasbro to not use “slag”. Nor is Hasbro telling other people to use slag. Shouldn’t people be able to choose for themselves what words to use? Why does it matter what went into their choice? As long they, and not the government or some other entity, is the one making the choice, I’m going to stand by it.
Er, no, the point is that it’s utterly unlike anything to do with the N word because nothing in the Transformers franchise has that kind of gravitas, nor should it.
It should also be pointed out that swear words change over time.
If I was to go back in time 20 years I would hear a different set of swear words then I do today.
As I remember, slag is molten metal, and that character originally had some sort of plasma flamethrower that could reduce an enemy to said state of being. What does Scrap have for a weapon? A car crusher?
There isn’t a dude named Scrap. “Scrap” is replacing “slag” like the fake robot curse word. The Dinobot who was named Slag seems to be called Snarl these days.
Which is a problem for the Dinobot who was already named Snarl, but honestly? He’s best known for how the movie kept forgetting he existed.
That better be ash or wild rose wood. Best to not take chances.
Hawthorne for when you mean business.
These ain’t Harry Potter wand references by any chance?
Er, I thought those were popular wood choices for stakes, actually. I dunno much about vampires, but I hear the word ‘hawthorne’ being bandied when in reference to stakes, at least..
That’s because of Hammer Films’ Satanic Rites of Dracula, where they established that hawthorne could kill Dracula. And then Christopher Lee-Dracula gets tangled in a hawthorne bush and dies. For good. At least as far as Christopher Lee was concerned.
The effect goes WAY back further than the Hammer films. Hawthorne is a medieval (and possibly pre-medieval) folk protection from witches and evil magic and demons and hey hey hey. It was part of accounts of vampire put-downs for centuries – the movies took that idea and ran with it… but vampires being killed by being caught up in thorn-wood branches is actually one of the more authentic ideas.
It just doesn’t come up much because it’s not really very cinematic. It’s that sort of practical, no-nonsense, “this is way safer than fighting vampires” folklore that people come up with that you really shouldn’t make vampire movies about
I don’t know about that guy, but I was referencing vampire legends where only certain woods work on them.
Its often legend that only a stake made of hawthorn wood would kill a vampire.
Birdie looks a lot like Ethan in that second to last panel. xD
And is it just me or Ethan started having grey hairs now?
It’s not just you, though I think its just supposed to be the light or something.
Though by this point, I’d think Ethan would be graying.
Willis mentioned in his Tumblr/Twitter last week that Ethan got a redesign to show that he is starting to gray a bit.
Didn’t this happen to Hal Jordan? Could this be Parallax?
That would be a funny swerve.
How old is Ethan at this point anyway? If he’s not in his forties, that’s probably a bit too much hair color change.
Considering I know people who were full on gray in their twenties, I beg to differ.
Honestly, I was so used to it always being Ethan in this situation that I didn’t even notice it was El Fuerte until the last panel.
Me too.
now willis is going to make Ken and Ethan related like Faz and Amber simply b/c someone noticed the similarity. on that note, it didn’t occur to me until the final panel like POSIndustries
Ken? You mean M. Bison over there?
So, is it a shading thing, or has Ethan started to go gray? Seems to have happened rather rapidly; no sign of it before his last three appearances.
Maybe breaking up with Drew is causing a lot of stress? Or maybe he died his hair, and stopped because he no longer has a boyfriend to look good for?
How old is he now, anyway?
33, I think. Too lazy to actually look up the reference, but he was complaining about how he was almost as old as Batman and in a few years Batman’s heroes would be the Power Rangers.
Batman’s older than 33. He started his (Post-CRISIS, Pre-DCnU) career at the tender age of 25, and it was 12 years between then and when ZERO HOUR happened (according to ZERO HOUR #0). Since then, he went thru 2 more
miniature clonesRobins and was working on a third, took a year long sabbatical, and was dead for a year. He had to’ve been at least 40 before Barry reset the world.I’d explain the Hal Jordan temples by saying that Ethan’s between 38 and 40, but that’s just me.
DCnU’s Batman is more likely to have Power Rangers as his heroes (although that’s debatable, considering the DCnU’s timeline has ‘Year One’ lasting for five years…
I’ll give you 10-12 years for the robins, depending on how “long” Drake’s run was and 2-3 years beyond that. So 12-15 years between his start and the current day.
But the statement was based on the fact that Ethan said Batman was 35, because DC and other comic companies have a habit of sticking their characters at a specific age, no matter how many years would have logically passed.
Drake’s run was 5 years. From age 13 to age 17. (Almost 18.)
Willis mentioned in his tumblr last week that he redesigned Ethan a bit after this last arc. I’d find the post, but I’m lazy.
Half a day later, and I suddenly realize that I typed “died” instead of “dyed”. I need to stop typing after midnight.
Slag means molten metal or a huge wad of spit to me.
I heard of the Bristish meaning but I am more inclined to using terms like slapper than slag.
It’s a regional thing, round my ways it’s not a word you want to use indiscriminately unless you are after a kick in the balls.
As an american in england, I can vouch that it’s a word never used in polite conversation, no matter what part of england you’re in – it has the same weight and vitriol to it as c*nt, which I doubt many would be inclined defend the usage of as a “fake swear” in a cartoon show. if it were a completely different language I’d say don’t worry about it, but british and american english are too close to really let it go.
Where on earth do you live that “slag” has the same level of offensiveness as “c*nt”? It’s not even close. I wouldn’t want either on a children’s TV show, but I’m fairly certain you’d hear “slag” on a 8:00pm showing of Holby City, whereas the other word is extrememly unlikely.
I actually agree with the fanboy on this one. PC crap is still PC crap no matter what the subject matter it affects.
It’s a cartoon being released internationally? You have to take all the release countries into account. It’s really not a nice word in England and certainly not for a children’s cartoon.
Hell I remember when both America and England got pissy about an Australian tourism commercial that used “bloody hell”. Apprently that’s a swear to some people.
It’s not been a nice word in England for a while and it never stopped them in the past. It’s their property they can do what they want, but it’s still just pc bs.
Jesus Christ you’re a piece of work. “They didn’t care in the past, why should they care now?” Are you dense?
Here are two reasons why you are wrong:
1) It’s about money. Hasbro is invested in not offending their British market, and they’re not interested in having to have two separate versions for two separate markets that speak the same language.
2) It’s also about changing social values. “Slag” is considered an offensive word against women, and these days that’s a no-no. Whether you agree with that or not is irrelevant. It’s all about not being a dick; if you’re so damn invested in being a dick, well that’s your problem, but companies have a vested interest in not offending potential customers the same way most people have a vested interest in not making everyone hate them because they’re a dick.
Class dismissed.
Thing is, it’s actually very unlikely to offend this market. Apart from a few nitwits we’re capable of distinguishing context, and aware that words have multiple meanings depending on how they’re being used.
Besides which, it has become a pretty weak and unused insult these days. Making a controversy about it is only going to strengthen its power.
You do realise that, when you get down to it, Transformers Prime is a cartoon for children, right? “This market” can’t differentiate between different contexts and meanings of potential offensive languages. “This market” is too busy giggling that the big robot that turns into a truck called another big robot a rude word, whilst their parents look on in horror.
For the unaware, slag in the UK is a derogatory term for a woman who sleeps around. Worse than slut, similar to whore. So yeah.
I was both a kid and British when Beast Wars aired. I knew that slag was a dodgy word, but that it was being used in a different context in the show. My parents never raised any issue with it. Slag isn’t even a word that can’t air before the watershed and any child watching a show about robots who immediately thinks of promiscuous women rather than molten metal when hearing it already has problems.
The whole thing is an over-reaction, made worse by Hasbro’s initially blaise response to real and more vociferous concern over the whole ‘Spastic’ issue
slag in the UK is a derogatory term for a woman who sleeps around. Worse than slut, similar to whore
I always understood slag to mean “A woman akin to an aging street-walker (without actually being one.) Basically a floppy vagina with legs.”
That’s just it, a slag isn’t directly equivalent to a slut. Slag can mean everything from a woman who’s a bit ugly (who may also be a slapper) to something you do to people to put them down. Slagging off is a common accusation when you’re making fun of someone. This urge to ignore subtlety and nuance and declare a word has a single, ugly meaning is something that pisses language nerds such as myself off to extreme levels.
…Every one of those definitions sounds extremely misogynistic and disgusting to me. I’m sorry, but if somebody calls me a word that means “street walker,” I’m not going to think, “well golly, that wasn’t so bad, at least he didn’t call me a word that means ‘saggy vagina’.”
“It’s all about not being a dick; if you’re so damn invested in being a dick, well that’s your problem,…”
THANK YOU.
Whenever I hear someone whining about how “Political Correctness has run amuck – it’s just ruining everything!”, I can’t help but hear that as “People want me to stop being an asshole, and that’s mean!”
You know why you can’t help but hear that. Because that’s exactly what they are saying. It’s not just a way of interpreting it, but the exact meaning of “Waah, I can’t be politically incorrect anymore” is “I can’t be a racist/sexist/homophobic/offensive asshole anymore and it bugs me.”
If people want to keep going on doing that, that’s obviously their right. But they shouldn’t pretend it’s anything different than it is. If you’re so worried about use of language and it being toned down, why use a euphemism like ‘politically incorrect’ anyway — you should just stick with the more accurate ‘ability to openly be an asshole’.
Except at the rate this is going, you won’t be able to call someone an asshole soon. They’ll be an insensitive American.
I kind of want to +1 the three preceding comments
I dunno. Whenever I say stuff like that – and I do – what I’m referring to are primarily situations where it starts becoming an intricate tap dance of doom to avoid stepping on any of the billions of toes in the world. The fact is, there are so many dialectic, cultural, and personal differences in the world that almost anything will be offensive to someone, and there comes a point where you just have to say that the offended party ought not be so easily offended by a coincidental, unintentional, or simply ignorant slip-up. I’m not saying that people shouldn’t take any effort to keep things clean, just that sometimes, those who are offended should accept that no amount of cleaning will remove every particle of dust.
>what I’m referring to are primarily situations where it starts becoming an intricate tap dance of doom to avoid stepping on any of the billions of toes in the world.
Slippery slope, straw man.
Actually, sometimes it actually is running amuck. Sometimes it’s just mildy irritating. And sometimes the person complaining really is a dick. The last one is most likely, I admit. Like in this case.
I thought Slapper was more offensive than Slag…
It is, and as far as I am aware, the term ‘slapper’ doesn’t have an additional normal nonoffensive meaning the way ‘slag’ does.
I must admit I’m unaware of the slang meaning of ‘slapper’, but of course the word has a non-offensive meaning: one who slaps
I think this is less about being PC and more about not shrinking your market.
The two go hand in hand. If they weren’t worried about shrinking their market, they wouldn’t be pulling a PC move.
Oh just stop before you hurt yourself.
For someone who talks so much about not being a dick, you don’t do much to avoid being one yourself do you?
Because I’m calling you out on your bullshit, that makes me a dick? Okay then!
I don’t see how you’ve called out anything? I stated my opinion that I believe Political Correctness affecting media is a load of bs. You disagree with that opinion. Your opinion is different than mine. So how did you call me out? You’re not going to win any arguments against me nor I on you cause we’d be arguing against each others opinion on the matter, which goes nowhere.
At what point did “whether you agree with that or not is irrelevant” not get through to you?
Give up. You’re wrong, and you don’t get to call me a dick because I’m telling you you’re wrong.
“You’re not going to win any arguments against me”
Sorry but… he kinda did.
dethtoll is completely right. People who get mad about things being “too pc” are people who are either 1. bigots 2. idiots 3. have never been discriminated against in their life. Seriously, the “too PC” argument isn’t a real argument. “Why are people getting offended?” Who are you to tell people whether or not they should be offended? Let’s do the non-asshole thing and make everyone feel welcome, yeah?
What’s “B.S.” is referring to this as “political correctness,” and “B.S.” is a very kind description. Zelder’s was far more accurate.
No, that would be the condescension.
It is entirely possible to have a valid point and still be a dick about it, and being right doesn’t excuse dickishness, no matter what Hollywood says.
Eh, you’re the only dick, and in the wrong, and I want there to me a counter on this website that says “Days Shortpacked has gone without a stupid flamewar in the comments.”
But where would I get my entertainment. Besides the comic, of course.
I’ll gladly add such a counter for you. Here it is:
0
Come back tommorrow and see if it’s changed
.
Oh, it’s even worse in the DoA comment threads, but let’s not get into that.
Let’s face it, these issues wouldn’t be controversial if everyone agreed on them. Unfortunately, some people are just dicks, or don’t realize how they offend people. Or they’re old-school fanboys who want everything to be the same. The point is, even if something is done for all the right reasons, there’s always gonna be someone who has an issue with it.
At least flamewars around here aren’t shouting matches.
@Laura: This is the same (British) market that bans the word ninja, make that out what you will.
It did 10 years ago, because it was believed that kids would want to copy the violent kung-fu films of the 70s/80s. It was a bit of a silly idea and doesn’t exist anymore.
Being wrong about one thing does not make you wrong about something else.
From the perspective of a writer, I’d want to replace any word if I learned a large section of my intended audience wouldn’t be reading it as I intended. Keeping it the same just seems pointlessly stubborn.
But, but, ~*artistic integrity*~!
I’ve noticed that a lot of people are only against censorship when it’s idea they like are being censored.
So, red head dude is a vampire?
Yes, and Ken and Ethan are the Johnathan Harker and Dr. van Helsing of the toy collecting world.
Who is this Ken you speak of? do you mean Zangief, by chance?
Wasn’t somewhere one belief that red heads have high chances of returning as vampires after they died? Maybe this guy is one of those XD
And with this, the Jedi – Padawan relationship is born.
One day Ethan will grow more powerful than you could possibly imagine. Zangeif…probably not so much.
“Ken…you must go to the Dagobah system. There you will find a Walmart I haven’t checked for new toys in several days. If you can, bring me back a Bulkhead.”
You can just see Ryu’s hope for humanity die in the fifth panel.
On the plus side Hibiki is learning the ropes!
I can’t help but notice the gray in Ethan’s hair, unless it’s due to shading.
And oh Ken, exposed to the crazy sermons of those weirdo customers.
I’ve been noticing that too, Ethan is morphing into middle age creepy toy collector.
Ethan is becoming Reed Richards.
SO Ethan could make the world a better place but won’t for the sake of the storyline??
Hi, have you heard of a website called TvTropes? I believe you might be interested in it!
You wouldn’t happen to be talking about the Reed Richards Is Useless trope now, would you?
ETHAN!
ETHAN!!!!
I’m Batman.
This comic made me love Ken so much more.
You must do this, Dudley. It is the only way to keep his stupidity from spreading like a plague.
No it’s not. It’s not even a way at all. The trick is revoking his license to use the internet.
Ken: “Master Ethan?”
Ethan:”Yes, Padawan?”
Did the guys who name Transformers just look into a British insult book and pick stuff that isn’t common in America?
I look forward to such names as.
Autobot Pikey (really annoying middle aged guy who shouts power a lot)
Don’t be so shockwave, you trailbreaking windcharger.
It’s got nothing to do with the so-called nanny state. It’s about money. Hasbro doesn’t want to upset British consumers so they use a different imaginary curse word rather than just have an American version and a British version. It’s cheaper to just have one version and market it to both nations. It’s not all that different than World War II games that remove Nazi symbols from all German military units. In America it might run afoul of certain groups, but it’s legal. Not so in Germany and Austria so to avoid making 2 versions the game makers just use historically inaccurate markings.
I’m with you. I might be a nanny state is when the government says you can’t say something. Really, that’s just straight-up censorship.) But it’s definitely not censorship or a nanny state when you choose your words carefully. That’s just good sense.
I find it ironic that the existence of a “Nanny State” means, by definition, we’re children.
But removing Nazi symbols from Nazi military units in a historical context is Political Correctness run amok.
In German and Austria’s case it’s the law since the Nazis were defeated and considering those were the states they were most active in it makes sense. Toy manufacturers don’t do it to be politically correct. They do it to sell toys without having to make separate versions. It’s economic correctness not political.
I disagree, honestly. They’re both works of fiction, but one is recent and one is a classic. One’s a cartoon, while the other is a novel. One’s art, and one’s entertainment.
While those are pretty big differences, do they justify a different approach in censoring the two works? I don’t think so. The application of censorship based on perceived quality or artistic merit is unfair honestly, if we want to judge a work on it’s own merits.
Tl;DR The difference in censorship is arbirtary.
It’s not censorship per se if you’re not changing the content of the work, but instead deciding what content to put in there in the first place. For example, if you want to play The Hangover on TV, you have to censor certain words to meet broadcasting standards. If they made a third Hangover and for whatever reason decided NOT to swear in the script, that wouldn’t be censorship. Because they decided to do so and there was never a version that had the content to censor in the first place.
So wrapping this back in with TF, if they altered old DVDs (and broadcast runs) to say scrap, that would be some (mild) form of censorship. If they decide from now on never to say that word, it’s not censorship. You know, technically.
OK, I guess I used the wrong word. It still is an arbritrary distinction, though. “kid’s show” vs. “classic” is, as MLP-FiM has shown us, is entirely arbitrary.
I believe that’s classed as a low-level “chilling effect” actually. Where censorship of material A causes the makers of material B to censor themselves, to the detriment of material B. (Because lets face it, it’s pretty Goddamn unnatural to have a Hangover movie without some Jesus Titfucking Christ! obscenity.)
Art vs entertainment is arbitrary. Heck, both are based on opinion of what the word means. So the definition in and of itself is arbitrary for both words.
It sounds like Ken is making an argument about context anyways, not current vs classic. If something you “made up” actually means something offensive, wouldn’t you stop using it. Especially if it didn’t mean what you had been using it to mean?
Except they didn’t nmake Slag up. It means melted metal. There are slag hauling companies, slagheaps and slag furnaces all over. With signs. On the street. Where children could read them!
And Transformers use it in the molten metal context. And the way they use the term, grammatically, is distinct from the way the offensive slang is used. “She is a slag” is a nonsense sentence in the Transformers context– the word just can’t be applied that way.
Now, I think Slag is overused in Transformers. Horribly so. But it should remain in the lexicon of available terms, as appropriate.
As for renaming Slag “Snarl” in Transformers Animated… it’s a different continuity, I don’t mind analogs having different names. But slapping Snarl’s name on his was bound to raise ire. They should have re-named him Scorch or Smelt.
(You don’t see Prince Albert changing his name.)
I’m fairly certain I’ve managed to go several years without seeing any signs for slag hauling companies, slagheaps and slag furnaces.
(not saying that they don’t exist, but I imagine that children are far less likely to copy a sign for a factory that, say, something their favourite cartoon character has just said.)
I call this “offensensitivity.” when you’re so terrified at the possibility that you might offend someone that you cross the line into silliness. The slag (slag! Slag! Slaaaaaaaaaag!) incident is, however, a significantly less egregious example.
I say that they should change it to a perfectly non-offensive British term, such as “Spotted Dick!”
or smegma!
I would actually seek out and watch Transformers: Prime if Optimus called Megatron a smeghead.
So would I.
So we’ve had robots shouting “Slut!” over and over and over again, at the top of their voices for nigh-on 25 years, with absolutely no relevant context? …I shouldn’t be laughing, but I am. I feel like the time I saw toddler that was saying “Fuck” ad infinitum, except he’s two stories tall, can be heard by everyone for blocks and can turn into a mail truck. In the end, I feel embarrassed for everyone.
+1
Man, ethan went gray quick!
I, plus many other people, are constantly being offended by all this excessive PC crap, but is anybody ever worried about offending us? NOOOOOOO!
Seams like the only groups of people that is still socially acceptable to mock are fat people, Christians and Scientologists…
And Scientologists are sue happy.
Don’t forget Appalaichans.
Is that a fancy term for an Apple product addict?
Hipsters too.
Just white people, Christians, Scientologists, and cis straight men.
Heaven help you if you’re a cisgendered WASP man. According to the internet, you can’t complain about anything, ever.
Considering that pretty much the entire world is designed and run for the benefit of straight, white males, I wouldn’t complain so much that you can’t tell your “black people are so funny when they do this…” jokes.
I always suspected Mac users thought of themselves as an oppressed minority.
Considering how hugely iPods and iPhones are so popular are…
They are, technically, but Apple recently passed the Net Worth of Microsoft, and Apple are the ones who put limits on their users. They *are* the big face on the screen now.
Did you miss the word “oppressed”?
Great, I’ve always hoped that some day a webcartoonist would accidentally draw me in a strip and it turns out to be this guy.
Ken’s a keeper.
Also re: PC stuff. Yes, I think some people go too far, but Hasbro is trying to make money. It’s important not to offend their customers and better to err on the side of caution.
Mark Twain is a different case because the piece of literature is renowned for reflecting the time period, and editing it to make it less accurate for the sake of being PC makes no sense because in that point in American history, it was a commonly used word. Huckleberry Finn loses it point if it’s no longer reflects the zeitgeist of the time because it was censored–and then it raises the issue of us doing in to different books.
Oddly, I’m pretty sure Uncle Tom’s Cabin uses that word way more.
Anyway. Two different cases.
Is it me, or is Ethan’s Hair getting more and more gray at the bottom?
that’s what happens when you reach remedial adulthood.
You’ve all convinced me. Let’s do away with censorship, altogether – forget making up swear words that aren’t actually made up, let’s just go all the way and have them say ‘fuck’.
Just as long as they don’t just keep using fuck all the time, that gets boring really fast.
It depends on how good an ear you have for dialogue and whether or not the characters in question are between 13 and 35.
There is nothing quite as annoying as people who use the F-word cluster as often as Valley Girls like to say ‘like totally/whateva’.
Valley girls? Greetings, strange visitor from 1986!
What are valley girls or their equivient called these days? The only high-schools I deal with these days exist only in webcomics, anime and manga.
Kardashians. HI-YO
Technically, there are still valley girls, in that there are still girls living in the San Fernando Valley. As far as subculture trends seen as vapid and fashion-oriented, maybe “guidette”? But I’m pretty sure the only people who actually use that term fall under its definition and appear on Jersey Shore. Maybe “emo”, but that’s already kind of dated.
Kardashians? Ain’t those the grey spoon-headed aliens from DS9.
While I think slag sounds better, Hasbro]s reason for changing it is a legitimate one and the change is rather minor in the scheme of things.
Sigh. And slag had such a ring to it… Beast Wars got pretty creative with their mechanical substitutes. One of my favorite involved Rattrap saying Blackarachnia was “about as female as a piston.”
Is Ken seriously still going through the store’s training program? I mean, this should have been first day information, right?
Given the amount of attention he got early on it’s really not surprising.
oh, Chun Li, you don’t want to be apprenticed to Ethan. Before you know it you’ll be whining about obscure Batman villains and then Parallax will infect you too!
So you portray a thoughtless fool speaking (inaccurately) in anti-government terms, then jokingly propose violence against him as a solution. I take it you’re not an anarchist, to say the least.
I don’t know when “it’s frustrating when people are stupid” became a political viewpoint.
When rampant stupidity became a political platform.
So November of ’08 after the Santelli rant on CNBC?
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist)
That’s funny and all, but i was in no way talking about that aspect of the strip.
Yes, let’s address the aspect of the strip where Ethan threatens violence against someone because they criticized the government. Oh, wait, we can’t do that, because you made it up.
Only because it doesn’t exist. You were certainly trying to.
Hey Willis, you were mentioned in the podcast “made of fail” (episode 47). They were talking about your page on the new Starfire. You were practically quoted like an expert witness or something.
I may or may not have had a moment of (manly) fan-squee… maybe… ^_^
Ethan! your hair! YOUR HAIR!
I thought that was Howard for a sec!
Nope, he is Blanka
Yeah, no, that’s… that’s not what I meant.
DOY! Someone said “doy!”
Also, I really like the comics where characters besides Ethan interact with dumb customers. Amber, Mike, Ken, all bring their own flavor of incredulity.
Willis, aren’t you worried about offending your English audience by using the word for “slut” as the title of your comic? It’s exactly the same as calling a comic the n word!
Completely unrelated to the actual content of tonight’s comic, I gotta say, I’m really liking Ethan with the little bit of grey in his hair. Oddly enough, it actually suits him as a character… Sadly though, it does’nt suit his job position. Aside from his seniority, he doesn’t really have a higher position than Ken or Malaya, despite the fact they just started working there, does he? He acts like he does, but in the end, he’s essentially a nobody slaving away in the retail world. I know Ethan’s commented on his career not really going anywhere, but I have a feeling that he hasn’t actually noticed his own aging yet, and that when he does, he’s going to start having a mid-life crisis. Especially after the breakup with Drew, and the fact that at any given moment he can glance at Amber and see all the different ways her life is progressing forward while he’s stuck in the same place.
despite what others might think of their relationship, I don’t think anyone who is willingly getting married to Mike could be said to be progressing.
She’s still got a promotion recently and is starting up a family. Regardless of whether it’s a healthy relationship, these are the things most commonly associated with moving forwards in life. Ethan meanwhile is aging (and showing signs of it), while his career goes nowhere and his relationship has just ended. In contrast, he’s not doing so hot.
But even in England, the word SLAG has more than one meaning, besides the idea that robots are calling each other sluts and molten metal in the same word is just too amusing.
Especially if one of them says “Dang, that Slag is hot!”…
Double Entendre are the highest form of humour after all.
So does the word “bitch” in America, incidentally.
Bitch can either be insulting or empowering when applied to a woman these days but is only ever insulting when applied to a man.
I believe the polysemy he was referring to involves canines of the female sex.
I would love to hear “bitch” used in an empowering context, without the use of dramatic-word-meaning-reversal.
It’s kinda sweet, how Ethan has taken C. Viper under his wing.
Ethen, Ken and a sex toy…
i like where this is going!
Nothing cures the unrequited love for a lesbian like some man-sex huh??
either way, Ken will be having sex with a homosexual
As a 26 year old Brit, I have no strong feelings on this one way or the other. To be honest I haven’t heard the word slag used in an insulting way for years. That said I don’t hang around with prostitutes, so…I dunno? If they used Slag, in the context of Transformers I think it would be fine. I can see Hasbro’s point though.
I’m presuming you’ve never seen Eastenders. Or lived in London (or anywhere in the South/South-East, really).
I haven’t heard it as much as I used to a few years back, but that’s mostly because I no longer associate with the kind of people who say “slag”, even ironically (sidenote: mostly I’ve heard slag used as a term of affection, as in “hey slag, what’s up?”, but then the same group also used bitchtits and fuckface as terms of affection, so don’t take that as normal usage).
I’ve heard it enough to get the impression it’s still a fairly common insult, though, at least in my area. I think after a brief surge of popularity when Eastenders first introduced the term SLAAAAAAAG to the public, it’s gone back to being a regional thing.
Can’t stand soaps though I have seen the odd ep (like once in the last 2 years?) and live in the North East. So your’re pretty much bang on.
Just use Frack. Everyone else does. :\
This reminds me of how DC don’t mind using the word “bollocks” in their books right now. I actually mentioned it to Paul Cornell(Demon Knights, Stormwatch) at a signing he did, and he said he did bring it up with them when he wrote it and they didn’t seem to think it was a big deal despite it being a proper swear word over here.
Nobody cares about people saying “bollocks”. This is one of the things that actually does piss me off about companies like Hasbro taking this line. People get worked up over things that we, who are supposed to feel offended, don’t actually find offensive is more offensive than anything else I can think of. It’d be like getting all hoity toity about calling a donkey an “ass” in the American market. Would you care about that?
No, but parents groups would call for the execution of whoever did it.
They didn’t seem to care about Shrek doing it, honestly.
Honestly, I think it would be better to be using it, if only because it’s “confusing” kids into thinking it just means what it, well, literally means. Worked wonders when I was a kid — some twit calls someone else a faggot, and everyone is just bewildered, saying “But they’re not made out of wood, not even a little bit!”
Best way to get rid of offensive slurs is to defang them, not to live in fear of them.
Funny you should use that example: I don’t recall anyone in Shrek ever calling Donkey an ass, even though I’m pretty sure it happened in the original book.
They do, in the first one.
“Where are you going?!”
“I have to save my ass!”
Then I stand corrected.
Because it means butt. Seriously ass/butt is not the same as slut/whore.
The problem is, everything’s a potential offensive word.
But cursing can be symptomatic of lazy writing anyway. I don’t feel one way or the other about Transformers (doy! transformers! who cares?) but revamping Huckleberry Finn? Soon enough they’ll be burning the old books because their words are too offensive.
And yet, we still have old classics filled with rape and protagonists being utter dicks, and everyone’s okay with those – heck, they see some of those books as something to base their moral codes on.
Go chimney yourself, broom.
…no. No, I don’t think that quite works.
Because bitch, crapper, faggot, bastard, idiot, moron, and dumb never had any non-offensive meanings, right?
I remember watching Transformers as a kid in England. I vaguely remember them using “Slag!”, so it obviously made something of an impact. Saying that, I don’t actually recall it particularly amusing me or anything, so I suspect that even as a pre-pubescent, I was able to understand that words can have different meanings in different contexts.
I think you must have just been remarkably mature, because trust me, when our GCSE chemistry teacher started going on about molten slag, you could have sworn Eddie Izzard had just parachuted in based on the class reaction.
Through creative feigning of deafness and “unexpected” interruptions, we made our chemistry teacher repeat the word “slag” 17 times in a row.
The whole class got detention when she worked out what we had done, but it was totally worth it.
This is the market Hasbro are attempting to deal with, people.
Oh — but I certainly remember that like all British kids, I was WAY more amused by the constant references in Merkin programmes to the “fanny”. Now that certainly has a different meaning in the UK. “Fanny pack” takes on a completely different meaning.
Oh god. I remember one show, a cartoon but I don’t recall which, where a parent showed off embarrassing naked-baby photos of his daughter, saying, ‘Look at her waving her little fanny in the air!’ that literally scarred me for some time.
Huh.
For some reason, ‘slag’ sounds better to my ear then ‘scrap,’ so I guess I’m microscopically saddened by this change…
…but I want Hasbro to make as much money as they can making kewl cartoons and toys everyone can enjoy, so I’ll deal with this earth shaking change.
I have to ask, in the UK, does slag also refer to a by-product of smelting ore, or is another word used entirely?
It does refer to both, but mostly only adults would know that (except in places with a strong mining history, mainly in the North, where you can see slagheaps here and abouts). Children tend to only know the offensive meaning, as outside of technical use it’s much more common.
Ah. I see.
Thank you for enlightening me.
So, on a related note, when will the meme of referring to Ken as a Street Fighter character fuck off and die?
Probably when they run out of Street Fighter characters. I think we’re at the point when we’ll have to get obscure.
We ran out of characters ages ago. At this point the first few comments will use the names of the best-known Street Fighter II characters, then people start digging into the obscurities (usually in the following “Don’t you mean *insert other Street fighter character here*?” posts)
I believe that the term ‘When will this meme die’ is also a meme.
It’s not a meme (at least the bastardised internet version of the term) because I’m not mindlessly repeating something that was mildly amusing the first time in a sad, pathetic attempt to fit in with a limited social group.
I’m sorry, my bitterness is showing.
No worries! ^_^
I only mentioned it cos in some parts of the internets, saying things like ‘When will this meme die’ has become memes in their own right… scary isn’t it?
It’s the cancer that’s killing /b/.
As soon as Kairi stops showing up, I guess.
Kairi isn’t a Street fighter character.
Congratulations, you just proved you suck at Street Fighter. He’s a secret character in Street Fighter EX. I guess you were never good enough to unlock him.
Whether you give shit is optional, but you’re still wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_fighter_characters#Kairi
Stop drawing me into your comic, Willis!
Johnny Cage is learning from the best.
I’m probably alone in this, but I actually thing Scrap sounds better.
More like a curse word, anyway. Rhymes with Crap, which is just naughty enough for a kids’ show to require a substitute. The best fake swears are those that resemble real ones, like Frack and Bastich.
Slag sounds to me more like a video game term, similar to Frag (not originally a vg term, I know, but that’s it’s most common useage nowadays).
Nope, you’re not alone. I couldn’t agree more about “scrap” sounding better because it’s Transformer for “crap.”
“Scrap” is especially good because it sounds like a curse word and it’s a real word with a real meaning, as real curses tend to be.
Slag is also a real word, with multiple real meanings.
The most common usage is for leftover trash material that remains behind after pure metal is smelted from ore.
I know. I meant it was particularly good in comparison to the examples given, “frack” and “bastich,” which are both just nonsense words.
Until rappers stop using it, Mark Twain gets to keep it.
It’s common for a word to be a slur when used by an out-group member, while being acceptable within the in-group it refers to, though. Different context. It’s not exactly being self-deprecating, but it’s similar.
They get rid of “Slag” in transformers, but they leave “Samoflange” in thundercats?
The things people can get away with…
Am I the only one who thought the gag was going to be Ken saying: “I’m sorry, do I know you?” And the red haired guy responding: “What? Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were the other dark haired guy. I always have these discussions with him. Do you know where he is?” And Ken walking away rolling his eyes saying: “I’ll get him.” While they guy mumbles something like: “Good, I’ve got to hurry home and post this online.”
So most of you would rather keep a made up swear word then oh I don’t know, not have cartoon characters yelling out a gendered swear word? I’m pretty sure most of you are adults and can handle not hearing a Transformer yelling slut.
Hmmm… brings a whole new interesting light to the term “slag off”
I’m cool with Hasbro doing away with the word “Slag” in their comics and whatnot because it’s an offensive term to some folks, but why the double standard with their Michael Bay films? Those have alot more offensive foul language and adult situations then you can shake a stick at; and yet they still market them towards children. (Bash Bots, Activators, Go-bots etc.)
because Bay’s offensiveness-laden, agent-pissing, dog-on-dog humping, Wheelie-leghumping, John Turturro-asshot-showing, Devastator-testicles-dangling movies make money.
Tons of money.
Delicious money.
On the other hand, only about a few thousands of oldschool fans care about that single Triceratops Dinobot, and Beast Wars.
One odd thing is, though, how Animated, in 2007-2008, could use ‘slag’ all the time. I guess the whole british re-inventing of the word was not yet in full effect back than?
Censorship in the UK often works in the manner of “it gets left in until someone complains”. First time Beast Wars was shown, “slag” was left in and then taken out on repeats. Same with Animated. “Slag” all over the initial airings, and then it started to be removed on repeats when (presumably) someone noticed and complained.
How odd that several people have commented that “slag” sounds better as a made-up swear word than “scrap”… Of course it does, it’s a real swear word.
But slug is an insult usually reserved for females but as the VAST majority of Transformers are sexually-NONactive males, it seems kinda silly to think that ‘slag’ could be interpreted that way outside of schoolboy humour.
That’s true, but then, consider that one of the main target demographics of Transformers *are* schoolboys, so schoolboy humor would pretty much be a given.
They don’t plan on banning the word pussy now are they? That would be the thin end of the wedge.
A made up swear-word matching a real swear word is not the same as a swear word also having a non-swearing meaning. You’re just being obtuse, now.
Political correctness gone too far again.
Art only works well if it offends someone. Because when people are offended it means they are thinking.
No.
Also, can we please leave the phrase “political correctness” in the pile of early to mid-90′s canned conservative stock phrases where it belongs? It doesn’t offend me but it does make me think the user is hilariously out of touch.
You do realise that
a) That’s complete BS,
and
b) You’re talking about a show intended to _excite and amuse_ children, right? It’s not the movie Philadelphia, it’s not trying to change the way anyone thinks, it’s just trying to be a bit of escapism for half an hour (also: sell toys). Hell, putting in a random out-of-context curse is likely to pull a kid out of the story rather than pull them in. Taking out slag is, artistically speaking, a better idea in this context.
And all this is entirely besides the point: The characters are replacing real swear words with more robotish words. The entire joke falls down if the characters are, in fact, using real swear words.
Frankly, he should be staked just for saying “Doy”.
Yeah, I have to admit it’s not particularly clever anymore. You’ll just have to resign yourself to the fate that everytime the character appears people are going to be falling over themselves in a hurry to post as many “Oh look it’s E.Honda! Hyuk, hyuk!” as they can before the day is out.
I’m sorry, I’m distracted from the story by how vivid that guy’s red hair is… o_O
I once had an agrument with a Furry that likened fursecution to the holocaust. So yeah…
An argument too.
In fairness there are some similarities; a single group singled out as uniquely acceptable targets of harassment, running them out of common conversation and driving them into discussion-ghettos, the sickening greasy ash of synthetic fiber as it burns…
It’s simply a matter of proportion.
Damn it, Cammy, aren’t you enough of an asian Ethan clone without his snarking-at-morons shtick?
He have a point, but Is it really important? Im amazed how fanboys complain about things they agree areirrelevant.
I detect a hint of strawman.
with a suble aroma of hay.
The informal uses of slag:
slag (Brit. slang) tart, whore.
to slag something or someone off (Slang) criticize, abuse, malign, slam, insult, mock, flame.
And in related news, ‘Tart’ is actually a name of a character from the anime “Eto Rangers’. She is a chicken.
Take that censors.
Just so long as they stop giving ‘Scrap’ it’s own beat like it’s a damn catch-phrase and actually make it sound more like a natural swear I’ve got no complaints.
Then again, ‘Regular Show’ is rated TV-PG, and Cartoon Network had them cut a scene from an upcoming episode because it used the *word* profanity, I kid thee not. So I’m not holding my breath.
To be fair, for a “PG” show, Regular Show is just begging for the censors to get pissed at them. From what I saw of the first season, it may just be that the higher-ups are keeping a really tight leash because of all the inappropriate stuff that got out then.
This is an entirely different situation, because Transformers shows have always been kid-friendly. It’s not like Regular Show, where half of the jokes are hidden sex jokes that only the college kids watching will get. If they use “scrap” to behave like a swear normally would, no one’s going to be upset with them about it. Probably.
“Probably” is right. It could go either way, I guess. Although I will miss great lines like ‘numb nodes’, and having ‘bearings of chrome steel’.
As for Regular Show, while it gets away with plenty, it’s TV-PG: it should be allowed to, but as long as it’s promoted for kids, this was bound to happen.
You have to admit though, cutting a joke where Mordecai and Rigby go to court for being too cool, and having the prosecutor make them swear to tell the truth, only to turn it around and say ‘You heard them, folks! They’re so cool they use profanity!’ is a bit overboard on the censorship.
Oh, it’s definitely overboard. But it’s probably just a little revenge on the part of those who run the censors. After all, Regular Show is just begging for it. Even if it is PG, it goes overboard.
Aaand then I stopped reading this comic.
You are officially an opinionated asshole. Enjoy!
P.S. you’re attacking the only people who would defend your right to post what you like in your comic. It’s going to be your turn next when they tell you which words you can’t use.
Wow… Looks like you completely missed the point — which is that going back and censoring an existing work that uses the language of the time in which it was written is NOT the same thing as Hasbro voluntarily choosing not to use a word (BEFORE the story is written) that may alienate its customers.
But then, I guess you won’t see this comment, since you said you’re no longer reading this comic…
You have an awesome username.
Thanks.
(runs off to watch some Red vs Blue)
Well of course I’m going to check the response.
Pre-censoring is WORSE than censoring after the fact, and if you don’t agree with that you don’t deserve to art. Alienating people is a natural side-effect of being right.
That and I’m just sick of comics that consist of “Ethan gets yelled at by a strawman” whether I agree with the strawman or not (and I typically do)
‘Pre-censoring is WORSE than censoring after the fact, and if you don’t agree with that you don’t deserve to [make?] art.’
… Seriously? Okay, ignoring you now.
GUYS
SOMEONE HAS AN OPINION AND IS WILLING TO SHARE IT
ATTACKATTACKATTACK
Kill it! Kill it with fire!
Wait, how is saying that Hasbro shouldn’t decide to use a different word defending anybody’s freedom of speech? It looks like the opposite to me.
Why? He’s not a trade unionist.
My avatar better still be Roadblock because that’s the only way you’re getting a sufficiently dissapproving glare from me over the internet.
I re-iterate, Mr. Willis. PLEASE GET KEN AND ETHAN TOGETHER! X)
I must say, I’m really starting to grow fond of Ken.
I didn’t know you didn’t use the word slag in that way in the US…
If I watched Transformers, even though I know its other usage, I’d probably titter every time they used it.
Did nobody tell them until now?
Reminds me of the time I was working on a kid’s show. We had a character whose entire gag was losing control of his bowels. Naturally we called him Spastic Colin. Some muckity-mucks told us that “spastic” had nasty connotations in the UK and had to be stricken from the script. I did a find/replace and changed his name to Shitting Pete, with the intention that there would be a brainstorming session to come up with a real name later.
Someone thought it would be cool to just use what we already had. Needless to say nothing ever came of that.
So, saying ‘shit’ on a kids’ show is not considered offensive nowadays?
Wow. All I have to say, is… Semprini. (gets dragged away)
Ahhh.. Ethan gets an apprentice.
Well, I think they’re both blowing this out of proportion but I think I actually agree with the red-headed guy more than Blanka* here.
*In other news, I just found the Street Fighter Wiki.
Hey, you know what else slag means?
It’s a by-product of metal production, which would be an entirely appropriate curse word for a race of sentient robots.
Maybe if we used it as it’s meant to be used, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about it being used as slang.
Also, if we’re going to start editing out words that could be taken out of context by British slang, we may as well start casting all our shows with mimes from now on.
Sorry guys, I am not american. Can you tell me without being “too offensive” what is the “n word”? Is it “nigger”? (that is the only word my English knowledge can imagine)
For shame.
Yes the infamous n-word in question is nigger and it has become even more offensive/taboo as a word than even the words fuck or cunt used to be even 15+ years ago, the difference is that the n-word is only becomes ultra offensive when a non-black person says it.
Blacks can use it and in some cases even call each other the n-word but even that depends on which black subculture you belong to.
I suspect that part of the reason the n-word has become so popular amongst trolls IS because it has become the ultimate swear word in the modern western world.
The argument is moot anyway. Something is always going to offend someone.
Chair is harmless, but who knows…somewhere out there chair could be a very offensive swear word.
If the entire world going to have to start saying “sitting aparatus”?
…
Probably.
All I have to say to that is…
…Oh, Belgium.
Yes. Who cares about the brits and their slang that is only being used for like, 5-7 years? And what’ll we do when they decide to call, I dunno, child molesters “sludge”, and then we’d have to rename another Dinobot? (I won’t even mention what will happen if Hasbro sells Wizard and the new owner will sue for Grimlock’s name, which existed first as a D&D monster… which in turn was a rip-off of HG Wells’ morlocks).
It’s a fad that’ll go away in a few years, anyway. Who calls gay people faggots anymore, for example? That word has died out too.
Um…no it hasn’t. Plenty of assholes still use the word faggot for gay people.
There’s a time limit on how long we can use insults? By George I never knew!
In seriousness, slag has been in the British insult leixcon for as long as I can remember, and I’m 26. I just don;t here it as much these days.
Also, John is correct.
Well, I sure am convinced. “Political correctness” is clearly the root of all evil. Therefore, I propose that the rest of the Dinobots are renamed to complement Slag’s naming scheme. Grimlock should become “Shitcunt”, any suggestions for the rest? “Fucktard” could be one.
The only stupidity really is humans get offended by words not directed at them at all. Its the context and itention thats offensive, not the word. (and that goes for Nigger, Faggor, Slag…whatever you care to name).
You can be very rude to someone without using specific words at all, or you can be perfectly unoffsensive and use all of them. Its all about the context.
…context? what context? i mean, how could you use words whose only intent is to insult people because of sexuality/race for anything but that?
(i’m not talking about slag here, i’m talking about the other two words)
Ironicaly and Joking are the obvious examples when dealing with humans.
(provided they are, for example, close friends, its not too uncommon. The cliche is black people calling eachother nigger, but it really can go for many other words too. )
Slag can also be used in another way too, for that mater. (against companys or inanimate objects).
“He slagged off Sony for the hacking fiasco”, for example.
To be honest I havnt heard “faggot” used in a pleasent way, but I’m sure theres ones out there.
What, you mean how in British slang, “Fag” means “cigarette”, and they say “Can I bum a fag?” ALL THE GOTDAMN TIME?
Seriously, nearly all swearwords started off as perfectly legitimate words with unrelated meanings.
+1
Free speech means that if Hasbro want to change their writing in the interest of making money, they can. This is a financial, not a moral decision.
But what I wanna know is … how can people be upset about this bit of word-confusion when the United States still has an entire political party full of TEA BAGGERS? This has been hurting my head for 2 years.
If the 99%ers organize, I think they should call themselves the Pearl Necklace party, just for balance.
Liberals…pft….
People, you’re scaring Willis! He doesn’t want to read his own comments section. >.>
Which probably happens fairly often….
There are no bad words, only bad intentions.
While I agree* that the intention with which a word is used is what is important, there are certain words that are used almost all the time with bad intentions, and thus should be kept out of certain things, such as children’s programming.
On another note, although I myself think the word “slag” as a term for anything other than “molten rock/metal” is silly, that is just because of my personal experience with the word. I think it is important to try not to use words that are offensive to many people in things like children’s shows once you know about it. So I don’t think that it was wrong to use “slag” before somebody said “Hey. Guys. This word means something different in certain cultures…” but afterwards it would be wrong. They cannot just tailor everything to fit American sensibilities and completely disregard the sensibilities of other cultures.
Man, that was long. Apologies.
*Sorry, just kind of making an assumption about your meaning, but I think I got it right.
Look on the bright side. Slag will apparently be named Slug for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. At least it gives me fantasies of him punching Decepticons into submission.
Slug makes me think he transforms into a gastropod.