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-   -   Gender equality (https://britishexpats.com/forum/maple-leaf-98/gender-equality-890687/)

caretaker Jan 27th 2017 6:31 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by dbd33 (Post 12163378)
I don't think goof to mean nonce is common usage.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/goof

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/goof

That sense is apparently used in Canada.

https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comm...hild_predator/

but I don't think people here should reasonably be expected to be familiar with such local meanings.

Nobody should, that definition is specific to prison and even there it doesn't have to have a sex offender connotation, but it isn't used jokingly like it is in society.

scrubbedexpat091 Jan 27th 2017 6:49 pm

Re: Gender equality
 
Certainly do learn daily.

I had no idea goof was used as slang in such a way. Neither does my Canadian born spouse.

Never would have thought it would be an offensive word in any way.




Originally Posted by HGerchikov (Post 12163370)
Well, you learn something every day, I had no idea what that word meant. I hope the poster that used it didn't either.

I hope your son finds himself a partner that deserves him, he sounds like a sweetie to me.


Souvy Jan 27th 2017 6:51 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by caretaker (Post 12163415)
Nobody should, that definition is specific to prison and even there it doesn't have to have a sex offender connotation, but it isn't used jokingly like it is in society.

I had to look it up.

I'd never associated it with anything else but being a twit. The nastier version is new to me.

I'll be careful about using the word in future!

Howefamily Jan 27th 2017 7:14 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Souvy (Post 12163433)
I had to look it up.

I'd never associated it with anything else but being a twit. The nastier version is new to me.

I'll be careful about using the word in future!

I hadnt either :(
I hope it takes on a whole new context when part of "goof-ball" as thats what my daughter calls our dog alot :blink:

Souvy Jan 27th 2017 7:22 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Howefamily (Post 12163445)
I hadnt either :(
I hope it takes on a whole new context when part of "goof-ball" as thats what my daughter calls our dog alot :blink:

One lives and learns.

I'd always thought that twat was just another spelling of twit until someone went errrrrr...

I didn't know.:o

Gordon Barlow Jan 27th 2017 7:31 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Siouxie (Post 12163339)
Goof? I presume you understand the level of insult that word has? :thumbdown:

No. He's a caring, affectionate and generous man who was head over heels in love.

Insult taken, thanks.

If "goof" is a terrible insult in Canada, I didn't know, and I sincerely apologise. It's a very mild criticism, in my life - and applicable to just about all young men who fall head over heels in love. Goof | Define Goof at Dictionary.com
It has other connotations, equally innocent, although your "Community dictionary" of slang-words doesn't seem to recognise them either. P G Wodehouse wrote a comedy-story called "The Heart of a Goof" about a young man who was a fanatical golfer. Walt Disney named one of his cartoon characters "Goofy"; I'm pretty sure he didn't mean him to be associated in the public's mind with child-molestation. Please believe me when I tell you that I have never heard of it being used as a serious insult. It certainly wasn't used as such in any of the Canadian communities I encountered when I lived in Toronto in the 1960s: in fact it was never used at all there, to the best of my knowledge. Maybe I have led a sheltered life, but I have never heard it used by any of the many Canadians I've associated with during my long and reasonably full life.

So. I do think you were rather uncharitable to presume that I - a non-Canadian - actually understood the level of insult that the word has in your community, but I can only offer my apology again. And to all other Canadians reading this thread - I apologise if I have ever used the word in conversations with you, too.

caretaker Jan 27th 2017 8:09 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow (Post 12163458)
If "goof" is a terrible insult in Canada, I didn't know, and I sincerely apologise. It's a very mild criticism, in my life - and applicable to just about all young men who fall head over heels in love. Goof | Define Goof at Dictionary.com
It has other connotations, equally innocent, although your "Community dictionary" of slang-words doesn't seem to recognise them either. P G Wodehouse wrote a comedy-story called "The Heart of a Goof" about a young man who was a fanatical golfer. Walt Disney named one of his cartoon characters "Goofy"; I'm pretty sure he didn't mean him to be associated in the public's mind with child-molestation. Please believe me when I tell you that I have never heard of it being used as a serious insult. It certainly wasn't used as such in any of the Canadian communities I encountered when I lived in Toronto in the 1960s: in fact it was never used at all there, to the best of my knowledge. Maybe I have led a sheltered life, but I have never heard it used by any of the many Canadians I've associated with during my long and reasonably full life.

So. I do think you were rather uncharitable to presume that I - a non-Canadian - actually understood the level of insult that the word has in your community, but I can only offer my apology again. And to all other Canadians reading this thread - I apologise if I have ever used the word in conversations with you, too.

As I said, that definition is specific to prison. We were testing you, Gordon, to see if you'd been in prison.

Gordon Barlow Jan 27th 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by caretaker (Post 12163505)
As I said, that definition is specific to prison. We were testing you, Gordon, to see if you'd been in prison.

Well, not a Canadian prison, at least...

Souvy Jan 27th 2017 8:17 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by caretaker (Post 12163505)
As I said, that definition is specific to prison. We were testing you, Gordon, to see if you'd been in prison.

That wasn't very nice.

The Cayman Islands probably wouldn't have let him I'm if he'd been to prison.

caretaker Jan 27th 2017 8:17 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow (Post 12163510)
Well, not a Canadian prison, at least...

the night is young....:lol:

Souvy Jan 27th 2017 8:33 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by caretaker (Post 12163516)
the night is young....:lol:

Young enough for a goof?

Danny B Jan 27th 2017 9:02 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Siouxie (Post 12163339)
Goof? I presume you understand the level of insult that word has? :thumbdown:

No. He's a caring, affectionate and generous man who was head over heels in love.

Insult taken, thanks.

When I was banged up in Belmarsh we called them a 'nonce'.

Never heard of a Goof before, must be North American prison slang.

BristolUK Jan 27th 2017 9:47 pm

Re: Gender equality
 

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow (Post 12163458)
...P G Wodehouse wrote a comedy-story called "The Heart of a Goof" about a young man who was a fanatical golfer. Walt Disney named one of his cartoon characters "Goofy"...

True enough. On the other hand, while the death of Mary Tyler Moore was reported on CBC News, they played back this conversation from the MTM show.

Lou Grant: You know, Mary, you've got spunk.

Mary Richards: Why, thank you, Mr. Grant.

Lou Grant: I hate spunk.
Word use often changes, sometimes over time and other times in different cultures. :nod:

Former Lancastrian Jan 27th 2017 10:01 pm

Re: Gender equality
 
I can honestly say having worked in a Provincial prison for 12 months that word was never used to describe a person who had committed sexual assault on children. See how PC that was.
I looked at the link Siouxie gave and my question would be when did you first encounter this word and when was this link published?
I have heard the term goof used in Canada for over 20 years to describe the person as an idiot or something similar. So which came first the idiot description or the child sex offender description?

Siouxie Jan 27th 2017 10:09 pm

Re: Gender equality
 
My former husband told me it was an unacceptable word to use in Canada, when I had used the term. Additionally, in my job I have to be aware of all nuances of words in use - hence the link.

Regardless of whether it was being used in the 'Canadian' way or otherwise, I still find it an insulting term and not something I would say about someone's son or daughter or other family member, ever.

Anyway....

Can we get back on topic?

:focus:


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