Fairytale Of New York

Good news!
The BBC have commissioned me to write an extra safe version, just in case.

I've only done it from the "problematical" verse, but I expect they'll ask me to do the rest once they see this beauty:

You poo-head, You willy
You old silly billy
Happy Christmas your bottom
Want more insults? I got 'em

The boys (and girls and gender-fluid persons) of the NYPD
Still singing a non-stereotypical yet traditional song about their heritage
And the bells are ringing out for whatever holiday you choose to (or not) celebrate at this time of year.


Good eh? :D

I'm still a bit worried about "poo" and "willy" in the first bit, and of course the title will have to be changed to "A non specific magical creature tale of New York" so nobody gets upset.
 
You probably need to think about tweaking the reference to Christmas in case you get any complaints from followers of other religions saying they've been missed out.
 
That song always reminds me of my Irish relatives asking me if I fancy a drink whilst propping up the bar.🤣🤣

Never understood what the hell they were talking about.....
 
That song always reminds me of my Irish relatives asking me if I fancy a drink whilst propping up the bar.🤣🤣

Never understood what the hell they were talking about.....
They were asking if you'd like a drink. :p
 
Your right, there're a lot of things not to like about them, they were certainly more advanced in some fields back then though. :rolleyes:
What is it with British people that slag off the French Race...guess it saves other Countries from the same shi*te, talk about tunnel vision. Are different Countries with so different ways etc... expected to be all Clones of the British Race..of course not each Country has faults as well as great points..., some much worse than other for sure...God I would hate to live in your worlds......cockoo world I think...
 
What is it with British people that slag off the French Race...guess it saves other Countries from the same shi*te, talk about tunnel vision. Are different Countries with so different ways etc... expected to be all Clones of the British Race..of course not each Country has faults as well as great points..., some much worse than other for sure...God I would hate to live in your worlds......cockoo world I think...

Indeed , though neither are races, hate and conflict seem to be thing at the moment whereas a few years back I thought we were getting over that .
 
Love the song, it's me mum's favourite song.....just leave it alone......
 
My fave Christmas song and I can listen to both versions if I want to but then if you are discovering it for the first time as a young person you are not going to appreciate the lines that are insulting to one of your friends . When it was released times were different and gay people were still not accepted generally and casual homophobia was perfectly acceptable.
 
May I add by the writers of the song as well , who I understand wish they hadn’t written it like that
 
"The word was used by the character because it fitted with the way she would speak and with her character. She is not supposed to be a nice person or even a wholesome person. She is a woman of a certain generation at a certain time in history and she is down on her luck and desperate"
-Shane McGowan
 
@kav - Growing up in Ireland and when the song was first released were you aware of the homophobic meaning of the word?
I wasn't, in fact my granny used to call us faggots if we were playing up in her house on a Sunday afternoon. We were either little skitters, maggots, blethers or faggots.
 
We can pretend it wasn’t what it was but it was about homosexuals . And now the term f*ggot is unacceptable and that’s fine but it was a derogatory term then and we’ve moved on.
 
We can pretend it wasn’t what it was but it was about homosexuals . And now the term f*ggot is unacceptable and that’s fine but it was a derogatory term then and we’ve moved on.

I'm not pretending anything. Maybe in England it was a widely used term but not as far as I'm aware in Ireland which is why I asked another Irish person their opinion. There were many homophobic words back then, but f*ggot wasn't one of them.
In the context of the (anti) love song, why would someone call their hetrosexual partner a f*ggot?

A f*ggot was a 'messer' or a 'bollix' and that's the meaning I always took from that line.
 
@kav - Growing up in Ireland and when the song was first released were you aware of the homophobic meaning of the word?
I wasn't, in fact my granny used to call us faggots if we were playing up in her house on a Sunday afternoon. We were either little skitters, maggots, blethers or faggots.
Not at all Dony, I was well into my teens before I learned it had connotations as a derogatory term for gay. I might be wrong but it felt like that meaning came from the US. There were a lot of dodgy terms we used as kids and we had no clue what they meant in the wider world.
 
Not at all Dony, I was well into my teens before I learned it had connotations as a derogatory term for gay. I might be wrong but it felt like that meaning came from the US. There were a lot of dodgy terms we used as kids and we had no clue what they meant in the wider world.

I remember in junior school we used the word "f*ggot" to describe someone who was scared to do something.

As in when we used to dare each other all the time to do stuff. Daft stuff like run out the school gates when you weren't allowed etc. See who could stay out the longest before a teacher collared them.

And if you didn't/wouldn't do it you were a f*ggot.

Totally oblivious to any other meaning.

Gaybod was another one. But that was for if you did something stupid. Like if you spooned a kick playing footy, missed an open goal etc :laugh:

Madness really, we had no clue whatsoever of the sexual connotations.
 
of course you didnt, as i did the same thing, but that doesnt stop it being a slur then and now
 
miss a penalty kick "you are so gay" as though being homosexual affects your ability to kick a ball !
 
I tell you something else as well, no way did the teachers not know we were using these words in the playground. Yet they said nothing. Certainly not that I remember anyway, and I've got a pretty good memory of my schooldays. They were so bloody good :laugh:

But all that aside, this remains my favourite Christmas song regardless.
 
miss a penalty kick "you are so gay" as though being homosexual affects your ability to kick a ball !
Is that what was meant, or are you now assuming that was what was meant?

i ask because bumming a fag was a common phrase. Are we no longer allowed to say that?
 
You are allowed to say what you want
No you're not, people have different understanding of the same word and will take offence at what they see as the slightest infringment of their understanding of that word.

I was talking to my neighbour yesterday, he'd said he was going for a ciggy, I said ok go and have your fag. His reply was, oh we don't say that word any more.

He's in his mid 40's, I later explained to him that fag was a totally acceptable word as far as I was concerned and I meant nothing more than having a cigarette.
 
You are allowed to say what you want
Well yes, until someone doesn't understand the meaning or intent of a word or phrase, and suddenly the world is offended. But the offence is caused by an assumption.
 
I’d say it was more people reacting to thinking people would take offence and posting on forums and blogs than anyone actually taking offence.

in the case of the lyrics we can pretend the line is about something else but as the writers acknowledge what they meant there is no ambiguity
 

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