Also doesn't British English still use "the f word" for cigarettes?
(I mean, given WHO guidance maybe we'll be discouraged to write about cigarettes going forward)
(I mean, given WHO guidance maybe we'll be discouraged to write about cigarettes going forward)
Not being British, I don't know how often that is used now (anyone know?).
But this also brings up important discussions like what if you are doing a time piece. You could be talking about a bundle of sticks. "Don we now our gay apparel" is something many of us sing (or at least hear) and I don't consider it offensive. But you wouldn't really write anything "new" with it, but if what you are writing is related to that time period... then it fits.
Side Note: South Park has a FANTASTIC episode on the "F" (gay) word that to me is one of the best episodes they have ever made and does a great job at pointing out that this issue is not cut and dry by any means. Season 13, Episode 12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_F_Word_(South_Park)
Anecdotally, in Glasgow, it is still far more common to hear “I’m going out for a fag” than “i’m going out for a cig” - maybe 5 to 1-ish more common.
That said, smoking is pretty rare these days, certainly compared to ~20 years ago when the indoor ban was introduced.
There’s plenty of the population here would draw a blank and look at you confused if you tried to use the word as a slur - they’d eventually get what you mean but the slur term is not really used here, it’d be jarring to hear someone use the word that way.
One person’s view of Glasgow… YMMV.
Yet here we are with Google (likely, again I can't confirm it but what are the chances that "fag" and similar words are not part of this list) imposing a US English view on the world. Even if it is just a recommendation you can ignore, slowly that influences you.
If you are not, you are using a tool that (seemingly) is pushing US language norms on other users of the English language.
Further, because the app could be pushing you to not use those words that are perfectly suitable in your culture. Overtime you may find yourself not using them in every day which would be gradually changing your unique culture.
Maybe there is some functionality here that I am missing that actually takes audience into account. But from what I can tell from the outside this is pushing one English ideal onto the world.
Even thirty years ago there were jokes about how you could go to Australia and understand every word they said and not understand what was said at all. That's decreasing each year.
100 years ago you could recognize where in the US someone was from very easily; now we all speak variations of "Californian".