# Ensign Edison! Fine, I won't use the term 'tranny.' Screw you though. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907 "2006-03-26T01:14:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/1 "2006-03-26T01:14:23Z")
**Ensign Edison** , gimme a break. What exactly are you defending? Alexis Arquette is a reality show fame whore. So what? We’re hateful? [Oh, too bad.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7233227&postcount=74) Screw you. You don’t know what hateful is, jack-ass. It’s like the trans-minority wants to justify its existence, and the only way they can do it is pick a word, declare it offensive, and now they’re validated! Ooh, ooh, ‘tranny’ is like ‘nigger’ or ‘faggot’ or ‘gay’ because its got a long history of being used offensively. Except it hasn’t. Who, in America, uses the word ‘tranny?’ Who? Jerry Springer? They use the word in the UK & Australia all the time. Inoffensively. Wah, wah, wah. Please educate us as to how we’re being hateful. It’s like, “trans-somethings” aren’t the same as other trans-somethings so we find find it offensive when you use a trans-something word to refer to a trans-something word that doesn’t really mean what the trans-something word really means to us trans-somethings, who are different from the other trans-somthings so don’t use it! It’s offensive to us! The rest of us are “whuh?” ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/2 "2006-03-26T01:23:24Z")
Link to the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/3 "2006-03-26T01:27:41Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > The rest of us are “whuh?” I’m extremely “whuh!” The thread was confusing, and so is this OP. What the fuck is the complaint here? [Here’s a link, **magellan01**.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=363992) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/4 "2006-03-26T01:29:41Z")
Sorry. Here’s the whole thread: [The tranny is offensive discussion is dispersed througout.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=363992) ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/5 "2006-03-26T01:43:04Z")
“Gay” is offensive? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/6 "2006-03-26T01:50:01Z")
My car comes with a manual tranny and that’s the way I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/7 "2006-03-26T01:50:28Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > “Gay” is offensive? When applied to a thing or an action (e.g.: gamers on World of Warcraft using “gay” as an insult), yeah. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/8 "2006-03-26T02:18:36Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > My car comes with a manual tranny and that’s the way I like it. That’s the first thing I thought of. My 5-speed is offensive why? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/9 "2006-03-26T02:39:02Z")
Thanks for the link **Marley23** and **levdrakon**. I just did a google search of “tranny”. The[first page](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=tranny&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) brings up: Tranny Surprise Tranny Fest Tranny Pics Tranny Cinema Tranny Island 2006 Tranny Porn Awards and others It seems that those very people who we are discussing do not have a problem with the word “tranny”. I didn’t check out the other over 14,000,000 hits, but it seems to be a very popular term, used by lots of people, especially, well, trannies. (trannys?) ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/10 "2006-03-26T02:40:05Z")
Why, if the advocacy groups _say_ it’s offensive, it must be! I mean, look! They’re offended. What, they don’t have a right to their feeling? You insensitive turd. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/11 "2006-03-26T02:45:51Z")
I have no particular dog in this fight, but **Ensign Edison** made a comment in the previous thread that I wanted to comment on, although since the thread was closed I’ll have to do it here (Note to Mods: It’s not related to the Transgender/Transexual thing, so I hope this is OK…) > [@Ensign Edison](#): > > When someone asks you not to do something they find offensive, do you usually argue with them and demand they substantiate its offensiveness? Yes, yes I do. People get so easily offended these days (Y’know like they’re _looking_ for something to offend them. Weird, eh?) that I think I’m well within my rights to laugh heartily at someone who is offended by (to me) a triviality, or at least demand clarification. For example, how would you react if I asked you not to refer to your backside as your “Fanny” because in the UK, Australia, and NZ “Fanny” refers to a woman’s genitals? Some women might find that offensive! (I’m neither a woman nor a prude, I’m just illustrating a point here). In short, you can guarantee that most terms will offend _someone_. OK, it’s not alright to call black people “Niggers” or refer to Asians as “Yellow Hordes”, but everyone (except certain white supremacist groups) agrees on that. Most of us have learnt it’s not worth the hassle of getting into arguments over it in public, however. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/12 "2006-03-26T02:54:44Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Thanks for the link **Marley23** and **levdrakon**. > > I just did a google search of “tranny”. The[first page](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=tranny&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) brings up: > > Tranny Surprise > Tranny Fest > Tranny Pics > Tranny Cinema > Tranny Island > 2006 Tranny Porn Awards > > and others > > It seems that those very people who we are discussing do not have a problem with the word “tranny”. I didn’t check out the other over 14,000,000 hits, but it seems to be a very popular term, used by lots of people, especially, well, trannies. (trannys?) Dude, seriously, all your cites are _porn_? Well then I can prove that little people actually prefer to be called midgets, and women prefer to be called sluts. I’m gonna start referring to my nephew as a twink, and if he doesn’t like it I’m gonna tell him tough shit, Google says it’s OK. What. A. Tool. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/13 "2006-03-26T02:57:44Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > For example, how would you react if I asked you not to refer to your backside as your “Fanny” because in the UK, Australia, and NZ “Fanny” refers to a woman’s genitals? Some women might find that offensive! (I’m neither a woman nor a prude, I’m just illustrating a point here). Um, “fanny” isn’t a term used to belittle a class of people. You assholes should be going, “Huh, I didn’t know it was offensive, my bad,” instead of trying to prove somehow that just because you were not previously aware it was offensive, therefore it’s not. This shouuld be a pretty straightforward case of education. My grandfather didn’t know “nigger” was offensive until he was in his sixties. Does that make it not offensive, or does that make him ignorant? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/14 "2006-03-26T02:58:21Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Dude, seriously, all your cites are _porn_? As I said in another thread, all this going in circles made him dizzy. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/15 "2006-03-26T03:04:44Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > It seems that those very people who we are discussing do not have a problem with the word “tranny”. I didn’t check out the other over 14,000,000 hits, but it seems to be a very popular term, used by lots of people, especially, well, trannies. (trannys?) I don’t know why anyone ever uses this “google dump” method. It makes the user look stupid. > [@athelas](#): > > Why, if the advocacy groups _say_ it’s offensive, it must be! I mean, look! They’re offended. > > What, they don’t have a right to their feeling? You insensitive turd. I was thinking this thread needed some meaningless boilerplate replies. I was starting to worry an idea would show up. **Ensign Edison** seemed to take offense at nothing a couple of times in that thread, and his request to have it locked was weirdly timed. But I don’t know why so many people are copping an attitude here. Nobody in that thread said “you used the word tranny, therefore you’re a hateful bigot.” Nobody seemed to be looking for offense. They did say that it’s been used as an insult in the past and that’s how it’s regarded today. (I had no idea that this was a secret.) Is it a big fucking deal to accomodate them? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/16 "2006-03-26T03:21:00Z")
**Marley23** , **lissener** , As I thought would be obvious, but evidently wasn’t, the reason I cited what I did was that I believe that it showed that transexuals do not find the word offensive, as they use it to describe themselves. If I had found a few such mentions, it wouldn’t have seemed so striking to me. But it seems (especially after hitting pages 2 and 3), that it is quite common, almost the norm. Now whatever these people want to call themselves is fine with me. I don’t know any transexuals and I could care less. If they find it offensive, I agree we shouldn’t use it. End of discussion. But from what I’ve read in that other thread and my quick Google search, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Do you have evidence to the contrary? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/17 "2006-03-26T03:28:21Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > As I thought would be obvious, but evidently wasn’t, the reason I cited what I did was that I believe that it showed that transexuals do not find the word offensive, as they use it to describe themselves. If I had found a few such mentions, it wouldn’t have seemed so striking to me. But it seems (especially after hitting pages 2 and 3), that it is quite common, almost the norm. The fact that it’s used, on occasion, by people who are themselves transsexual who aren’t being derogatory doesn’t mean that it’s okay to use it anymore than it’s okay for a pale person to run down the street in downtown Baltimore shouting, “My niggas!” The majority of those results are for porn sites, which almost invariably also use the word “she-male”, which is most definitely NOT acceptable. Transsexual porn is not really considered a high accolade, any more than gay porn touting “Giant Black Horse-hung Dicks!!!” is a high accolade for African-Americans. Deciding that “tranny” is perfectly okay to use because it returns several pages of Google results is the very definition of shoddy research. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/18 "2006-03-26T03:31:08Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > As I thought would be obvious, but evidently wasn’t, the reason I cited what I did was that I believe that it showed that transexuals do not find the word offensive, as they use it to describe themselves. Your reasoning was totally obvious, it’s just dumb. It’s stupid to put a term into Google and think you can draw meaningful conclusions from the number of hits you get. And it’s even stupider to draw those conclusions when most of the hits you get are for _porn_. Do you honestly need to be told that transsexual porn stars are probably not going to represent the mainstream views of the transsexual community? They’re going for shock value and prurient interest, not polite conversation. I’m doing my best not to be rude here, but I’m stunned that this needs to be explained. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/19 "2006-03-26T04:01:08Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Deciding that “tranny” is perfectly okay to use because it returns several pages of Google results is the very definition of shoddy research. I completely agree. I didn’t present it as anything else. I said that I just went to page 1, here’ what I found. The other thread showed showed one person finding it offensive and most people deferrring to her opinion. Fine. Others questioned whether it was offensive and, if so, to what degree. I was a little curious and wanted to look into it a little further (read, not interested enough to do really dig into the issue) so I just plugged the word in to google to see what popped up. I really don’t see what the big deal is. I don’t think I’ve ever uttered the word and might well never have cause to use it in the future, whether it is offensive or not. But I still am unclear if, in fact, it is offensive in general. If it is, I welcome the education and will make sure to not use it should the need arise to refer to a transexual. Is that word 100% okay? Seriously. Anyone? Should I use transgendered? Better? Worse? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907/20 "2006-03-26T05:54:51Z")
It occurs to me that the common use as a sexually disrespectful term in porn might **be** the reason it’s offensive. Am I pissing up the wrong tree here, people, or is the answer really that fucking simple? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ensign-edison-fine-i-wont-use-the-term-tranny-screw-you-though/349907.md?page=2)