"Kim W5TIT" wrote



The term "******" (excuse me, to anyone who is offended
by that word--me included) isn't derogatory until some
bigoted person uses it against another person, either.
No hazard, at all, in being honest.


Of course it's derogatory, no matter who uses the word.

True story.....

In the winter of 2001/02 K0CKB and I were vacationing in the
southwest. We had parked our RV in the lovely town of Big Spring,
Texas for a couple of days, and I had my truck down at the local
"quick lube" place for an oil change. A local fellow also having his
truck lubed noticed a "Sailors have more fun" bumper sticker on my
truck, and struck up a conversation about his days in the Navy. Like
me, he had spent some time in the brown water Navy running PBR's in
the Mekong, so a lively conversation ensued. In discussing some of
his close calls, he attributed his survival to "his big ******", who
was one of his crewman, apparently a big man who was particularly good
with heavy weapons. He had liberated a 50-calibre from a wrecked
aircraft and mounted it on the bow of the PBR in place of the lighter
'regulation' mount, and was extremely adept at using the gun. The
fellow cited this the single most important reason his craft had
survived Now in the context of the conversation it was apparent to
everyone present that he held this crewman in VERY high regard. Yet
the term was patently as derogatory as if he had called the man a
mo----f---er, a c--ks---ker, or any other demeaning name. Two
bystanders (not minorities) took the guy to task for his choice of
words, and he apologized.

73, de Hans, K0HB