Damn. :pinch:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/operation-blue-gum-for-barack-obama-visit-gets-the-chainsaw/story-e6frgczf-1225843035250
QuoteOperation Blue Gum for Barack Obama visit gets the chainsaw
* Hedley Thomas
* From: The Australian
* March 20, 2010 12:00AM
THE codename chosen for a secret policing operation to protect US President Barack Obama during his visit to Australia sounds innocuous enough.
But calling it Operation Blue Gum, after Australia's iconic native trees, almost caused an international embarrassment.
US consular officials were aghast when briefed by their counterparts in the NSW Police Force about the title, Blue Gum. In America, a "bluegum" is offensive slang for a lazy African-American who refuses to work.
And those in the small circle of officials who became aware of the operation's name were determined to abandon it, as quietly as possible, before Mr Obama heard about it.
Before the visit was called off, all references to Blue Gum were deleted and replaced. The new name is classified but sources told The Weekend Australian that it had been checked and re-checked for any cultural sensitivities. Australian officials have been at pains to stress that most NSW Police Force operation names are generated by a computer.
"Various groups of nouns belonging to a selection of themes are entered and the operation name is generated from an existing database," a spokeswoman said last night.
Police seeking an operation name ask the computer to provide one. "This was the case in this instance," she said.
"In discussing the operation with US Consulate officials, they made NSW Police aware of a difference in the interpretation of the original operation name. The name of the security operation was revised."
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 23, 2010, 09:58:51 AM
In America, a "bluegum" is offensive slang for a lazy African-American who refuses to work.
I've never heard that term and I doubt my parents have either.
Never heard of that either
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on March 23, 2010, 10:09:04 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on March 23, 2010, 09:58:51 AM
In America, a "bluegum" is offensive slang for a lazy African-American who refuses to work.
I've never heard that term and I doubt my parents have either.
Ditto.
I have.
Seriously? I'm surprised that so many of you have never come across it before.
I've never heard it.
Must be the most obscure slang ever. Never heard of it (but then, I'm a Canadian, and even "Canadian" is a 'code word' for Blacks in America. Is there anything that potentially isn't? :P )
I think it's more of a Hillbilly thing.
Quote from: Martinus on March 23, 2010, 10:39:38 AM
QuoteGay Dutch Soldiers to Sue Sheehan?
By Advocate.com Editors
A Dutch political strategist has launched the Pink Army movement and is looking for gay soldiers to sue retired general John Sheehan, who last week blamed the Netherlands' inclusion of gays in the military for massive deaths during the war in Bosnia.
Peter Schouten put out the call for gay soldiers on the website PinkArmy.nl. He said he wants Sheehan to publish a full-page apology in the international press — and attend a course in "sensitivity training."
On Friday, Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende condemned Sheehan's comments, calling them "outrageous, wrong, and beneath contempt."
:D
What is wrong with you?
Wrong thread. :P
Martinus is retarded.
Edit: And I have never heard of it either.
Quote from: Razgovory on March 23, 2010, 10:37:53 AM
I think it's more of a Hillbilly thing.
First time I heard it was here a year or two ago, from Seedy. They generally don't get too creative with racial epithets in West Virginia, so all I ever heard was the n-word. I heard quite a few whenever we traveled down South, though they were so puzzling I usually had to ask someone what they meant.
Never heard of it.
Probably no code phrase that lacks racial overtones is even possible.
Never heard of this either. :(
Me either.
I guess now Operation Mooncricket, after the national cricket of Australia, has commenced.
Unlike most posters I have heard about lazy African-Americans who refuse to work.
Never heard it before, but I will begin using it. :cool:
Will the new operation be: Operation Wind Chime? :)
What on earth does "blue gum" even refer to, racially speaking?
I've never heard that slang. But amusing.
To me blue gum would bring to mind someone who in the old days bit a lot of fake money and had coppery gums. Though thats all just pulled from my head/arse of course.
Quote from: Malthus on March 23, 2010, 03:45:03 PM
What on earth does "blue gum" even refer to, racially speaking?
That would depend on who you believe. Looking into it, it appears that in some cases it refers to blacks without any white ancestry (and who therefor have purely blue gums with no pink tones) - this may be a term that "lighter-skinned blacks" use as a term of disparagement. That explanation could equally well be one that somebody just made up. Teh interwebs are full of the latter (stuff like "the significance of the word "National" in "Arlington National Cemetery" for instance).
Quote from: grumbler on March 23, 2010, 05:55:48 PM
...Teh interwebs are full of the latter (stuff like "the significance of the word "National" in "Arlington National Cemetery" for instance).
I see you are still determined to pretend you are an ignoramus incapable of simple thought, a surprising trait in a man as well educated as yourself. :) You could keep it to the appropriate thread, though, out of courtesy to the others here on Languish.
Anyway, on topic -
I checked the internet and found the "blue Gum" explanation myself, and I have some doubts. Despite the stereotype of the "smiling African" it seems odd to me to base a racial epithet on something that most of the time you will not see (the gums of the African in question.)
Quote from: Agelastus on March 23, 2010, 06:16:07 PM
I see you are still determined to pretend you are an ignoramus incapable of simple thought, a surprising trait in a man as well educated as yourself. :)
Oh, very mature! :lol: Way to show you have a sense of humor. Nice example of an
ad hom, though. Crazy Canuck might not have gotten an F on his post if he could have seen this earlier.
QuoteYou could keep it to the appropriate thread, though, out of courtesy to the others here on Languish.
Obviously you are not very familiar with how things work here at languish (or on pretty much any discussion board). Silly concepts get brought transferred to different threads as a matter of course. See "Marti tackling" someone or some thing.
I've never heard of this term. I guess it's the B-G word? :huh: