# The original Mary Poppins has had its {UK} rating raised over discriminatory language **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 27, 2024, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160 "2024-02-27T12:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/41 "2024-02-27T20:45:18Z")
Moderating: > [@Dinsdale](#): > > > [@MrDibble](#): > > > > Coloured South African > > That’s 1! I’ll make sure not to use THAT term when chasing and whipping people of color - in South Africa or elsewhere. > > Of course, I could imagine some persons not appreciating being called “coloured”. 😉 Don’t be a jerk. He just said it’s an offensive slur that was used against him. And the way it was used in the movie is AS A SLUR. His use of the word “colored” was not a slur. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/42 "2024-02-27T20:45:31Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > It’s not. The difference between G and PG is that G is for general audiences, while PG means parental guidance is suggested. ⁢ > > British, not American. So the classifications are U and PG - which refer to the ages 4 and 8 (per the link in the OP.) ⁢ Yes, U instead of G. They use Universal instead of General. But it doesn’t really change anything in my post. PG still means “parental guidance suggested” and means what I said it means. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/43 "2024-02-27T20:47:40Z")
Yes, black people know what a hottentot is. On the scale of offense, is it super high? No. But it _is_ on the scale. Call it a microaggression. Easy to dismiss the pebble when you’re not under a mountain of them. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/44 "2024-02-27T20:48:58Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > His use of the word “colored” was not a slur. Not at all - [Coloured](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloureds), with that capitalization and spelling, is the actual name of my ethnicity (which includes a substantial Khoekhoen component, although my own lineage contains less than average because of the rather complex geographical meanderings involved). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/45 "2024-02-27T21:56:14Z")
Oops sorry. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/46 "2024-02-27T21:58:50Z")
What? No, nothing to apologize for, I was just agreeing with what you said, and adding supplementary info. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2024, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/47 "2024-02-27T22:17:59Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > IIRC, “barbarian” is from the Romans’ dismissal of the Germanic tribes’ speech patterns as jiberesh. Originally derived from Greek barbaros (βάρβαρος), a generic term for non-Greek-speaking foreigners in general. AIUI it was initially used descriptively rather than pejoratively: “these are the people whose talk sounds like unintelligible nonsense to us”, without implications of uncivilized or uncouth behavior. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/48 "2024-02-28T00:40:37Z")
Is it so much the term, or the fact that they’re referring to a native tribe when they’re chiding the children? I mean, had they said “Khoi-san” instead of Hottentots, would it really have been _any_ better? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/49 "2024-02-28T01:03:01Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’ve made it through my 62 years without seeing Mary Poppins. If the Cowardly Lion says it in WofO, I missed it. I somehow managed to never have seen _Mary Poppins_ or _The Wizard of Oz_ but was familiar with [Sarah Baartman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Baartman). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/50 "2024-02-28T02:58:46Z")
I think it’s both. It’s an unfortunate reference made with an unfortunate word. They are referring to children who are black with coal dust. But calling them little ruffians, or urchins, or scalliwags (which might have once been a slur, but is now very far from any original meaning) would have been totally fine. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/51 "2024-02-28T05:06:58Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > without implications of uncivilized or uncouth behavior. Definitely - they applied it to such peoples as the Egyptians, Persians, Mesopotamians. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > But calling them little ruffians, or urchins Hedgehogist! > [@](#): > > scalliwags (which might have once been a slur, but is now very far from any original meaning) The _original_ meaning wasn’t a slur, unless you’re a cow. It did have a slurred meaning during Reconstruction, but that wasn’t the original, just an application of the already-existing pejorative sense. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/52 "2024-02-28T05:37:54Z")
Hmmm… Interesting. I can only remeber ever seeing the word in Wilbur Smith books, which also use Bushman and San. I had no idea it was a slur. And maybe related… we used to have a sweet here called Eskimo Men… they’ve been renamed to Explorers. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/53 "2024-02-28T11:14:03Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > “bashi-bazouk.” From Turkish _başı bozuk_ - literally: _baş_ ‘head’ + -_ı_ ‘his’, _bozuk_ ‘out of order’: ‘his head [is] out of order’. As irregulars, they weren’t issued official army hats, so they wore random-whatever headgear. A very literal usage of “head” and “order.” ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/54 "2024-02-28T11:55:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > What? No, nothing to apologize for, I was just agreeing with what you said, and adding supplementary info THIS is what I love the Dopers for: ignorance fought, sat down and given a good talking to, then offered a nice cuppa tea. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/55 "2024-02-28T11:59:27Z")
I’m glad that **MrDibble** has already posted here. I will just add that as a white South African I also regard it as a slur. I would avoid the using the word except awkwardly when referring to [the mountain range](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hottentots_Holland_Mountains). The use of it as described here to refer to children - besides the blackface issue - also ties in to an infantilization of people of colour that was a pretty common attitude in the colonial and apartheid eras. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/56 "2024-02-28T12:11:52Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > I would avoid the using the word except awkwardly when referring to [the mountain range](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hottentots_Holland_Mountains). Yeah, we generally say"The mountains by Elgin" or “…by Grabouw” or “the Boland Mountains” (even though they’re actually further north) or similar. I don’t think I’ve called it by its actual name since uni. Same for the nature reserve. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/57 "2024-02-28T12:13:43Z")
Serious question: We cannot spell out the N-word. We cannot even link to an article that uses it. Why, then, can we spell out “hottentot”? Shouldn’t it be the H-word? They are both identified as slurs in this thread. They are both identified as offensive in this thread. Is hottentot _less_ offensive? Seems inconsistent to me. mmm ETA: I realize this is in CS, but I believe it is on-topic ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/58 "2024-02-28T12:16:33Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > We cannot spell out the N-word I have no problem saying the word “nigger”. What do you mean, “cannot”? I’ve never been modded for using it. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get modded for [linking to an article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger) that uses it, either. The use/mention distinction, it works. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/59 "2024-02-28T12:18:28Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Please be more careful in linking to old posts. Both links previewed to problematic posts. One with the use of the N-Word and the other insulting a poster. Looking again, maybe it’s just because we are in Cafe Society? mmm ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160/60 "2024-02-28T12:19:22Z")
Or the mod was being over-zealous. My OP, the first link that was broken, was definitely a Mention case not a Use case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-original-mary-poppins-has-had-its-uk-rating-raised-over-discriminatory-language/998160.md?page=4)