Ahh....yeah.....ok

[lewisipso]

What's all this then? Police can't say 'Evenin' all' any more



By David Wilkes
Last updated at 8:16 AM on 26th October 2009

Read more: What's all this then? Police can't say evenin' all any more | Mail Online

With his greeting of 'Evenin' all', Dixon of Dock Green embodied the values of the solid, commonsense copper.
But his reassuring salutation, which began each episode of the classic police TV drama from 1955 to 1976, is one which today's real-life officers should be wary of using.
According to one force's official guidelines, it could confuse people from different cultural backgrounds.
Warwickshire Police's handbook Policing Our Communities, issued to every member of its staff, gives advice on communicating with people from different ethnic groups in a section entitled Communication, Some Dos & Don’ts.
It states: 'Don't assume those words for the time of day, such as afternoon or evening, have the same meaning.'
A force spokesman explained: 'Terms such as afternoon and evening are somewhat subjective in meaning and can vary according to a person's culture or nationality. In many cultures the term evening is linked to time of day when people have their main meal of the day.
'In some countries, including the UK, the evening meal time is traditionally thought of as being around 5-7pm but this might be different, say, for a family from America who might have their main meal earlier and thus for them evening may be an earlier time.'
In a section entitled Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Communities the handbook confusingly states that the phrase 'lesbians and gay men' is likely to be satisfactory for most situations when talking about sexual orientation, but says ' homosexual' is 'best avoided' as the word is 'interpreted differently by many and relates to sexual practice as opposed to sexual orientation'.

Read more: What's all this then? Police can't say evenin' all any more | Mail Online

[Jenna]

It's just to keep people from suing for emotional distress over trying to figure out why the nice officer said "good evening" instead of "good late afternoon."

And don't even get them started with "good evening, y'all!"

[Wolven]

Thats just plain stupid...

[pgg]

One of our guys likes to say "god bless you" to people. There was an official complaint years ago by someone. The orders came down. We are not allowed to say that or Merry Christmas to anyone. Any reference to any religion or religious figure is to be avoided

[IndianaFuzz]

It's ok to try not to offend the people you serve, but this dept. has gone overboard.

but says ' homosexual' is 'best avoided' as the word is 'interpreted differently by many and relates to sexual practice as opposed to sexual orientation'.

I disagree with that. In fact, I'd say it is the other way around. It does relate to orientation rather than to practice. A person is homosexual or heterosexual regardless of if they even have sex or not. The only close thing I'd say may get you into trouble is shortening it to just say "homo," if anyone within earshot might be offended, since the shortened version is often used as a slur as much as a descriptor.

[Car 4]

Yeah....my last place of employment had a big deal about "Merry Christmas" too....but I did it anyway just to piss them off. That kind of political bull dooky just grinds my gears.

Car 4

[Odd]

Why bother hiring humans? Just build some robots they can upload politically correct firmware to.

Sorry, didn't mean to be giving them any ideas. Actually this pisses me off to no end. Media has the citizenry scared of stepping on a cop's shadow, and rules like this, which I assume there's already a 100 pages of in your department policy manual, must make it increasingly difficult to deal with skittish sheep. A nation of lives get a little bit worse so someone can smile about the success of their memo.

I was wondering the other day how "1984" and "Atlas Shrugged" have been turned from cautionary tales into instructional manuals for modern politics. Shouldn't be surprised those same people mistook robotic cop movies for product demo tapes.

[TXPO710]

I like to say "happy non-denominational winter holiday" just to piss them off. *thanks to Larry the cable guy. If you think it's bad out there, try the military.

[Jenna]

I like to say "happy non-denominational winter holiday" just to piss them off.

That would be insensitive to those who don't believe it's winter.

[Captain America]

MERRY
CHRISTMAS
EVERYONE !!!!

[Jenna]

MERRY
CHRISTMAS
EVERYONE !!!!

Today isn't Christmas! Now I'm going to need years of therapy to get over the cognitive dissonance!

[Captain America]

Today isn't Christmas! Now I'm going to need more years of therapy to get over the liberal bullshit !

You can do it, Jenna !!!

[Jenna]

You can do it, Jenna !!!