Posted by Adam Quinan on March 27, 2002 at 16:47:21 from 192.75.48.3:
In Reply to: Forbidden Words posted by RichardG on March 27, 2002 at 13:53:32:
I chose not to use a potentially very offensive word in an open forum, that is all. If you wish to think the less of me because of that, then that is your problem not mine. I choose not to use the word in private conversations too. I grew up in the days when "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo" didn't catch tigers by the toe but I don't feel the need to stay in my childhood years when it comes to language. The world changes and I changed with it.
Arthur Ransome's books are of their time not ours. Similarly Mark Twain used the word extensively in his book Huckleberry Finn. It was the usual word for that time and place. I would not advocate the editing of either book to remove material that is now considered objectionable. But on the other hand, parents should be aware of what is in the books their children read and should take the responsibility for explaining what is historical practice and why it isn't current practice. If however, AR were living today and he had decided to change an objectionable word or passage, then I again would have no complaint.
Where I would have a complaint is if some busybody decided to change some passage because it did not fit with current opinion and in the process changed the whole meaning of the message. The discussion about removing some of the more overtly Christian material from C.S. Lewis' Narnia books comes to mind.