the "auction site" ... why?

[Chris101]

I don't get it...

I've followed RFF for years and I see "the auction site" or even "evil bay" (or variant) so often.

Why are members here so reluctant to type "eBay"?

I prefer "flea-bay" myself. It combines the fun of 'flea market' with the disdain of 'flea bitten'. Plus it's the same name, but with "fl" in front of it.

 

[jsrockit]

It's not "cool" to like or use ebay.

 

[farlymac]

By the way, in my original post, I had written "call a s-p-a-d-e a s-p-a-d-e" and s-p-a-d-e was posted as *****.

Is "s-p-a-d-e" a dirty word?

Hey, now I know how to get the name of my old submarine on here (USS S-p-a-d-e-fish SSN668). It kept getting blocked before.

PF

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

Back to the original question… Many on-line discussion sites screen out mentions of "eBay" because of abuse (too many people promoting their auction items). As a result, we started saying "auction site" instead. Practice spilled over to sites like RFF.

 

[AusDLK]

thanks for the feedback, y'all.

 

[gdi]

Right. No bigots that I know use spadε. Yet that is the origin of the 'call a spadε a spadε' phrase. I had a friend who could rattle off hundreds of slurs. Her father taught them to her, and used them all in his lounge acts.

I am not positive that this is definitive, but here is a link to references to sources as old as the 1500's that appear to point to the term's origins - apparently to ridicule ostentatious speech.

(you know what the Asterisks replaced!)


Translation of Apophthegmes in 1542:

"Philippus aunswered, that the Macedonians wer feloes of no fyne witte in their termes but altogether grosse, clubbyshe, and rusticall, as they whiche had not the witte to calle a ***** by any other name then a *****."

From 1910:

"For instance, you may not want to call a ***** a *****. You may prefer to call it a spatulous device for abrading the surface of the soil. Better, however, to stick to the old familiar, simple name that your grandfather called it."

http://fosterdisbelief.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/calling-a-*****-a-*****/


I guess Home Depot didn't get the memo... http://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars-47-in-Garden-*****-Shovel-96676933J/202681793#.Ur7dEXlMLlI

 

[Steve M.]

My wife, who is black, finds the term African American insulting, as do I (I'm white). She says.... what are blacks from other places supposed to be called? African Canadians? African Australians? African Africans? No, they're called Canadians, Australians and Africans. But when Americans see someone that's dark they use that term (not the smart Americans) without even thinking that the person may have never even been to Africa, nor their immediate ancestors, and that they may not be Americans. Quite the Imperialist term. It's a dumbed down, police state society we got in the US folks, where strangers attempt to tell us what is acceptable to say and what isn't. They don't know fudge, and I suppose that somewhere on earth someone will say that that word is a "bad" word. Well, who cares? If you ain't keeping me warm at night, putting a roof over my head, or placing food on my table, you have no business telling me what to say and what not to say. How many people here play a card game called spa*es'? Yes, it was a slang term for blacks back in the 60's, but words have multiple meanings, you know? It really means, in contemporary American language, a shovel that comes to a point, or a card in a deck.

As for eBay, the reasons not to use that word elude me as well, unless you consider that its a bad company these days, and I suppose people don't wish to give them additional internet hits, not like they need it or anything.

 

[raid]

This practice may be linked to not allowing any websites to be mentioned at photo.net. RFF has several (past) photo.net members who found friendlier treatment here. Mybe they brought with them such a taboo.

 

[raid]

It may have been Jessie Jackson who pushed for the use of the term "African American" to replace "black". It became the politically correct term to use in the minds of many.

I recall the immigation ceremony in which the INS Director asked the new citizens not to refer to themselves as "Italian American" or "Irish American" and so on. We were told to say we were Americans.


Raid

My wife, who is black, finds the term African American insulting, as do I (I'm white). She says.... what are blacks from other places supposed to be called? African Canadians? African Australians? African Africans? No, they're called Canadians, Australians and Africans. But when Americans see someone that's dark they use that term (not the smart Americans) without even thinking that the person may have never even been to Africa, nor their immediate ancestors, and that they may not be Americans. Quite the Imperialist term. It's a dumbed down, police state society we got in the US folks, where strangers attempt to tell us what is acceptable to say and what isn't. They don't know fudge, and I suppose that somewhere on earth someone will say that that word is a "bad" word. Well, who cares? If you ain't keeping me warm at night, putting a roof over my head, or placing food on my table, you have no business telling me what to say and what not to say. How many people here play a card game called spa*es'? Yes, it was a slang term for blacks back in the 60's, but words have multiple meanings, you know? It really means, in contemporary American language, a shovel that comes to a point, or a card in a deck.

As for eBay, the reasons not to use that word elude me as well, unless you consider that its a bad company these days, and I suppose people don't wish to give them additional internet hits, not like they need it or anything.

 

[Bille]

I don't get it...

I've followed RFF for years and I see "the auction site" or even "evil bay" (or variant) so often.

Why are members here so reluctant to type "eBay"?

Talk of the Devil, and he's presently at your elbow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_of_the_devil

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Isn't the S-word used as an ethnic slur US specific? I never heard it before.

Colin MacInnes used the word frequently in "Absolute Beginners", a novel set in the racially charged Paddington area of 'fifties London. The narrator is a photographer, who uses his Rolleiflex throughout the novel for a variety of pictures (not all of which are legal 😱).

Although the narrator, as well as other characters, uses the word frequently, it doesn't appear as a deliberate insult, just a tag. That's the problem with language; meanings change while words remain the same.

 

[AusDLK]

for the record, I certainly never intended use of the expression "call a ***** a *****" in any sort of racial context

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

for the record, I certainly never intended use of the expression "call a ***** a *****" in any sort of racial context

Well, in the UK I generally hear it as "he's the sort of bloke who calls a s*a*e a bl**dy shovel".

 

[farlymac]

Well, in the UK I generally hear it as "he's the sort of bloke who calls a s*a*e a bl**dy shovel".

That's the way it was meant when I was growing up in Indiana, at least to the folks I lived around. But the area was also a hot-bed of activity for the KKK, so it could have had the other connotation when used in particular conversations.

PF

 

[Pioneer]

I suspect some terms for ebay have been born out of others frustration at the site for various reasons. I myself have called it flea-bay almost since I started using it because it is like a big, internet, flea market. My personal experiences have mostly been good and I have bought and sold an awful lot of equipment on flea-bay.

 

[Wulfthari]

I don't get it...

I've followed RFF for years and I see "the auction site" or even "evil bay" (or variant) so often.

Why are members here so reluctant to type "eBay"?

Evilbay is a sarcastic nickname given by people like me who spend too much time on that website and spend too much money...it's addictive!

I'm proud to say that all my gear besides a single lens (the Summaron) comes from Evilbay!😀😀😀

 

[someonenameddavid]

Peckerwood is a racial slur, but I don't think it will be edited out

David