I find the expression “This woman is fat” offensive as any example for learning anything!
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we don’t care
if a woman is fat we say "this woman is fat " else we say "this woman is thin"
that’s it and nothing else
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yeah, true (however i am not a “we” with you), but I want a learning sentences such as “this man is a stinky moron”, “the children are very aggressive” etc
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I never included you because I hate your profile picture
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Why do you find the word “woman” offensive in this sentence? Are you offended by all mention of women? Do you want to erase all mention of women from Memrise? Or are you just offended by mention of women who happen to be fat?
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Interesting! Where did you find the example?
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@Bruceozz Would it be so much better if it was “This man is fat”?
Or is it that the sole mention of someone being fat offensive?
The course is designed to teach a language. The word “Fat” is part of the language. Or should it not be taught at all? Should “fat” be removed from the language altogether?
Now, if you tell me that you have “This woman is fat”, “This woman is stupid”, “This woman is a moron”, etc. while you also have “This man is a genius”, “This man is well-built” and “This man is handsome”, then yes, I agree with you that the course creator would be a misogynist ars*hole.
But barring that, I’d say that you’re overreacting.
Plus, being fat is not, in and of itself, an insult. Unless it is in your culture.
FYI, this comment comes from a bona fide SJW.
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I am not fat, but I agree with you. Anyways, I think that a polite person will never use sentences, like: the man / woman is bald, fat, ugly, etc…
“Overweight” is more polite and objective.
We can use sentences like:
being fat is bad for your health.
P.S:
1-I understand that some people find this request a sort of “over-reactiveness”, but not all people are the same, and some people get depressed over such things, that’s why a little bit of tact is not bad.
2- where I live, men like overweight women. you have no chance if you are thin. The irony of fate. but, who cares? you are pretty the way you are, you should care more about your health, and people can think and say what ever they want.
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There is nothing wrong with wanting to learn “Insults”, i would be happy to help you in Australian. However i find it offensive and unnecessary to use the example i highlighted in a semi academic learning situation.
Thank you very much for your well written reply, i find it about the “Message” that it’s ok to call Indonesian WOMEN FAT since you were taught this phrase in your language lesson.
Best Wishes Bruce
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I don’t know if your title “Membassador” is an official position? Let me say this clearly the statement is derogatory to the woman being spoken about. If you can not see this then all is lost! OK so far? There is no reason to use or teach this example in this learning environment. you can have fat trees or anything
It is offensive and aggressive when used to target an individual and i believe you would know the examples you are giving are also wrong. Your example of it being misogynistic is way off the mark as i it can be said by anyone with the same beliefs.
And FYI information i have no idea WTF a SJW is??
Your well balanced answer, makes a very important point! In fact, when learning another language, we might expect to learn the polite version.
If this sentence wants to teach “What would you say if you want to (politely) express that a lady is the opposite of slender?”, then ‘The woman is fat.’ is wrong in a certain way - it is not the common, polite form people use in most English speaking countries (though, there are exceptions). So from a functional-linguistic perspective, the sentence could even be marked ‘wrong’!
Once I asked somebody in another country: what do you say in such situation, because ‘fat’ is rude? He suggested: heavy-set of full-bodied.
Note:
- If this sentence just wanted to teach how to connect the an adjective to a noun, it’s just fine. But why seek for the margin? “The dog is fat.”
- Of course, there is a place for teaching insults or whatever, as they are part of the language too, but the level of disrespect should be noted and be part of the teaching.
- And yes, as pointed out, ‘fat’ has different connotation in different countries. That is where a multimedia level could be of help. Or simply make clear that this are polite expressions for this or that culture/country.
- And, to be complete: the underlying assumption is that we should teach general-polite forms (in any language) in the first place; that’s an opinion and cannot be proven. It’s just as I would teach and want learn.
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I put the photo up after our commenting started, i don’t hide small person would you like me to change it for you??
Your statement reveals your own prejudices against fat women. In your mind, you equate fat with bad, or undesirable. That’s your problem, not Memrise’s. Don’t project your feelings and prejudice against fat people onto the rest of society.
There is an extremely popular TV show that has been running for over twenty years. It’s called “El Gordo y La Flaca,” which literally means “The Fat Man and the Skinny Woman.” Do you know why it is called that? I’ll tell you. It’s because one of the hosts is a fat man, and the other host is a skinny woman. Neither host is offended by the title of the program which they have hosted for decades and for which they are well paid. None of their millions of viewers are offended either. The title fits perfectly, and changing it to ¨The Heavy Set Man and the Slender Woman" would be beyond ridiculous.
There was another very popular TV series called “Jake and the Fatman,” which featured a protagonist who happened to be a fat man. Nobody was offended by the show or the title.
No, you can’t have fat trees. I have never heard a native English speaker describe a tree as fat. Logically, it wouldn’t even make sense, because trees lack adipose tissue. Moreover, a tree cannot be overweight, and must be precisely the size and weight that it is, whatever that may be.
I hold no position at Memrise. Membassador was my rank as a user, before they eliminated named ranks and switched to numbers.
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i like you so much aleady!
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a fat person is a fat person and should be called fat .
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ah, and no one cares that you are offended.
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thank you , me too
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