Does to me and, as it stems from ignorance, is even worse in someone with a bit of power.  Dublin means black pool in Gaelic. Whitby is old Norse for white farmstead or settlement. Do these all have to change because people don't know their origins?
I don’t see why a moderator on a gardening forum is expected to be aware of what might be considered quite an obscure bit of English history.  They might not have grown up in the UK ... they may not have studied that part of British history. And since when has not knowing something been considered a crime?  They might be very good at gardening ... or astrophysics ... or ... choral singing ...
Of course places don’t have to change their names ... a polite explanation is all that’s needed.Â
We all make assumptions based on our own knowledge and experience, and sometimes we draw the wrong conclusion.  If there wasn’t so much vile racism about people might not be quite so on the alert for it.Â
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Probably the Mod isn’t aware of the historical context and how that area came to be known as The Black Country.Â
Don’t think it sounds like over zealous political correctness.Â
The mod actually said that the term was racist. A mod, of all people on a site needs to be sure of their facts before throwing accusations like that around.
I'm sick of constant accusations of racism for any comment regarding any member of the BAME community. Criticise a footballer for having a bad game - racism. Fail to give a job to somebody when there are better qualified applicants - racism. 'Tobacco' as a clothing colour - racist and the garment was withdrawn. Those though do fade into insignificance compared to the stupidity of the example I gave originally. Are we going to have to remove all colours from descriptions and place names?
You can understand the sensitivity these days though. We live in an age where people and companies can be destroyed in moments by some keyboard warrior on a witch hunt. They can post things out of context, twist how it's presented and drum up the support of the thousands of social media users who take everything at face value and never fact check. People have been forced out of jobs and had death threats all over minor quarrels on-line. The internet can be a hugely toxic place these days.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
We have just had a trip west on the M4 why oh why do they need to make the whole road 50 mph all the way from the M25 to past Reading when there seems to be nothing going on on most of it? I understand they have to protect the "workers" but surely they can concentrate on a stretch from one junction to the next at a time.Â
@Allotment Boy it’s because the signs and cones etc are installed by traffic management companies ... it has to be done before the date the work by the company doing the road mending or whatever is due to start. Synchronicity isn’t a strong point of such businesses ... there are a lot of contingencies to plan for  ... unfortunately 🙄Â
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Sorry @Dovefromabove but the moderator should have checked his facts before making an accusation and I don't regard the Industrial Revolution an obscure bit of History. I do agree that people are becoming obsessed with racism and antiracism thought both sides should take a breath
I live in the Black Country. It has been called that for years by everyone who lives here and many other people. It’s not a new name so I am surprised that people are unaware of it and the source of the name. How can the word black be racist? Maybe these moderators should be more careful. I loathe racism in any form but surely common sense should prevail?Â
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I understand they have to protect the "workers" but surely they can concentrate on a stretch from one junction to the next at a time.Â
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.