British National Party leader Nick Griffin found himself in the centre of a racism court case today - in which he claimed to be the victim.
The far-right leader and North West MEP alleged he was racially abused by a driver who made threatening 'gun gestures' towards him and called him a white 'b*****d'.
But, while defendant Taquir Khalid admitted being at the scene of the incident, he insisted he shouted only 'Nick Griffin, you f****** w*****' and flicked a V-sign.
It's that final asterisked word that caused me problems. When I first read the paragraph I took it to mean that Khalid had called Griffin a 'whitie' - after all, it's an offensive term that begins with 'w', has six letters, and ties into the story's theme of racial abuse.
Of course, calling someone a 'whitie' would be as as racist as (or possibly even more racist than) calling someone a 'white b*****d', so admitting to it wouldn't be much of a defence against a charge of racial abuse.
Within a few seconds my brain had done the processing and come up with 'wanker' instead.
Incidentally, if Metro can give the first and last letter for 'b*****d', why can't it do the same for other swear words?
Grammar Girl: Swear Words in Text
4 comments:
I think they do the 'd' on 'bastard' to differentiate it from 'bollock'.
I've had the problem before that it's been 'b*******' and I've read 'bastards' rather than the intended 'bollocks'--just because 'bollocks' isn't on my swear-radar.
For what it's worth, I'm American and immediately identified that as "wanker." That's probably just indicative of something about me, however...
Just to clarify, I meant that I am constantly accused of potty-mouth!
Gloom Raider, I too went right to "wanker". LOL
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