# Calling someone a ‘Terrorist’
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 11, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578 "2024-08-11T21:08:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpicyDuckBillyHunt)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/1 "2024-08-11T21:08:19Z")
In an under 17 soccer game a boy was sent off for calling an opponent a Terorist. Then he got a six week suspension. Is calling someone a terrorist similar to calling someone a f- word or n- word? Is it that unforgivable? Or is just like calling someone a mewling quim?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/2 "2024-08-11T21:10:01Z")
Were there rules written down before this?
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### Author:  [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/3 "2024-08-11T21:17:26Z")
Moderating:
I’m not really seeing a debate here. Let’s move this to IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/4 "2024-08-11T21:18:11Z")
Was his opponent an Arab, Muslim, something of that sort?
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/5 "2024-08-11T21:18:54Z")
Yeah…context matters a lot here I think.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/6 "2024-08-11T21:18:54Z")
I think it is the use of the word itself that is in question.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/7 "2024-08-11T21:19:03Z")
If the game was in the USA or UK and the subject of this epithet was Muslim, then hell yeah, it’s a horrible racial slur and needs to be punished very severely, IMHO.
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### Author:  [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpicyDuckBillyHunt)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/8 "2024-08-11T21:20:13Z")
Unknown about the other boy. So is it only a slur when the other boy is Arabic or Muslim?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/9 "2024-08-11T21:20:57Z")
Too many factions out there-I think the use of the word itself should be the actual issue.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/10 "2024-08-11T21:21:05Z")
Two black people may use the n-word with each other and few would be fussed about it.
If a white guy says it to a black guy then the math changes a lot.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/11 "2024-08-11T21:22:53Z")
> [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](#):
>
> In an under 17 soccer game a boy was sent off for calling an opponent a Terorist. Then he got a six week suspension. Is calling someone a terrorist similar to calling someone a f- word or n- word? Is it that unforgivable? Or is just like calling someone a mewling quim?
Maybe? If I were to call my niece a little monkey nobody would bat an eye. If I were to refer to the black kid she was playing with at the playground a monkey that might be construed in a negative manner. If the kid on the soccer field Syrian, Palestinian, or from Yemen then I’m likely to think the terrorist label was a bit racist. Context kind of matters here.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/12 "2024-08-11T21:23:46Z")
Does the league have rules against namecalling, perhaps as an anti-bullying technique? Maybe calling the opponent a “mewling quim” is also out of bounds. – having just looked that up, it looks like a pretty drastically sexist insult, and IMO ought to be also out of bounds.
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/13 "2024-08-11T21:26:20Z")
Where did this happen? Had the player been warned and or punished before about bad behavior? Who is the governing body of the league? Do they have a written rulebook for when a player is to be suspended? Do you have a link to a story about the incident?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/14 "2024-08-11T21:30:57Z")
There is only one set of rules-If done during a game, especially by a participant, no one gets special privileges.
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/15 "2024-08-11T21:45:55Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> having just looked that up, it looks like a pretty drastically sexist insult
Me too. And I’d bet that it was that era’s equivalent of the other f- word.
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### Author:  [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpicyDuckBillyHunt)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/16 "2024-08-11T21:48:01Z")
Do other sports leagues have rules about specific words being used?
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/17 "2024-08-11T22:01:26Z")
Soccer doesn’t have rules about specific words used either, but it has a general rule: don’t insult the ref or an opposing player. It’s a bit like the “don’t be a jerk” rule here at the SDMB. And calling someone a terrorist is insulting and being a jerk, especially if the victim was targeted for their ethnicity, which we don’t know because you missed to provide a link or any context.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/18 "2024-08-11T22:09:09Z")
Kids soccer game?
You bet there’s rules about name calling, if it’s school or league based.
They loves the rules in those things.
I say it’s a good thing. It teaches good behavior in life skills that will be needed for their whole life.
I find there’s never a good reason to name call. We’ve all done it. I’ve never had a good experience after I’ve done it.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/19 "2024-08-11T22:16:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> There is only one set of rules
If the rule is “Don’t insult other players” then using “terrorist” or “monkey” is very context dependent. It’s not just a list of words, and never can be. The ethnicity of the players is very important to establish context.
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### Author:  [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-someone-a-terrorist/1005578/20 "2024-08-11T22:22:22Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#):
>
> And calling someone a terrorist is insulting and being a jerk
IMHO, this is all that needs to be considered, no context needed. With the connotations that “terrorist” carries, ethnicity doesn’t much matter. Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist. The UnaBomber was a terrorist.
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