Facebook's Faggot Failure

[liuzhou]

In Britain, especially in the north of England faggots have long been a staple among the less well-off. The word originally mant a bundle of sticks, then expanded to be a bundle of pretty much anything. En route, it took in a kind of sausage or burger-like mix of pig's offal, wrapped in caul - the net of fat surrounding some internal organs - which was boiled or roasted for dinner.

 

Now Facebook have had to apologise to a group of faggot lovers after declaring that their Facebook discussion violated their rules on propriety. They were threatened with closure of their chat group.

 

The story is here.

 

Their notoriously inept algorithm decided that the chat was some kind of homophobic slur. The use of the word to denote the dish has been around since the mid-19th century. Its use as a derogatory reference to homosexuality arose in the U.S. military in WW1. That meaning did not reach the UK until the 1960s and remains scarce. Facebook started in 2004.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[heidih]

Not surprising by FB - they do seem to dance in the dark over there.. I know the UK meaning but in today's world it still startles me when I see it in print. 

[gfweb]

I think Facebook can be excused on this one.