Comments on: Peckniffian cant banned in Parliament

By: curgoth

curgoth — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:25:00 +0000

And today you have Trudeau the younger getting in hot water for swearing in Parliament twice. Though to be fair, I’d have trouble keeping a civil tongue were I presented with Peter Kent myself.

By: Jayarava

Jayarava — Mon, 28 May 2012 16:26:00 +0000

To be fair “Gypsy” is what they called themselves; and the fact that they hail from Rajasthan rather than Egypt is relatively recent discovery based on comparative linguistics.

By: Xof

Xof — Mon, 28 May 2012 05:53:00 +0000

This is the perfect time to bring up my absolute favorite crime for which one could be transported to Australia: Impersonating an Egyptian. (That is, pretending to be a Gypsy so one could tell fortunes and other things that only Gypsies were allowed to do.)

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Sun, 27 May 2012 23:15:00 +0000

Uh, you ARE going to correct that headline…..right? [psst: you're missing an 's']

By: J. Brad Hicks

J. Brad Hicks — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Yeah, I was just thinking that. How is “Pecksniffian cant” not an eerily precise description of Thatcherism? And how, if at all, is it an inaccurate description of both the Tory and New Labor politicians who suck up to Rupert Murdoch? In the west, at least, Pecksniffian cant is all that you can find in Murdoch’s press and in his “news” broadcasts.

The next thing you’ll tell me is that it’s rude and inappropriate to refer to various US congressmen and ‘women as Randroids or as Redneckistani Taliban. Political correctness, I call it, up with which we shall not put.

By: Manuel Smirnoff

Manuel Smirnoff — Sun, 27 May 2012 19:31:00 +0000

“Hypocrite”–well they can’t be using that word, because they all are, so it’s sort of lost all its power.

By: Charlie B

Charlie B — Sun, 27 May 2012 18:23:00 +0000

“Traveler” is the new politically correct epithet for the people we used to call “Gypsies” on the mid-atlantic coast of the USA. It’s a bit more accurate since it captures the essential character of a roaming family, whom everyone suspects of dubious morals and thievery, but who almost certainly have no connection to Egypt, and probably aren’t even Rom. Ours speak American and do not mix with the Mexican migrant workers.

By: Charlie B

Charlie B — Sun, 27 May 2012 18:10:00 +0000

Correct. Read it in context; one may not accuse another of “ruffianism” or “pecksniffian cant”.

By: starfish and coffee

starfish and coffee — Sun, 27 May 2012 17:49:00 +0000

The language of the Travelers is sometimes referred to as Cant – and sometimes it’s called Gammon. TBH I haven’t read the article thoroughly enough to know when the word ‘cant’ was banned, but you could argue that if you use ‘cant’ as an abusive epithet you are getting into intolerant territory.
‘Pikey’ has recently become formally recognised as a racially abusive word in UK workplaces.

By: bingobangoboy

bingobangoboy — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Well, the Prime Minister is a bit of a cant himself.

By: AlexG55

AlexG55 — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:37:00 +0000

My favourite Parliamentary rule is that one member is allowed to call another a chicken or a sheep but not a pig…

By: Mordicai

Mordicai — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:15:00 +0000

You can’t say “blackguard” but you can get around that by using the original term, “antipaladin.”

By: David Carroll

David Carroll — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:48:00 +0000

In Canada “fuddle duddle” was ruled unparliamentary in 1971.

By: Moriarty

Moriarty — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:32:00 +0000

But he’s allowed to call himself “Ed Balls?”

By: Abel Undercity

Abel Undercity — Sun, 27 May 2012 10:21:00 +0000

Sounds like a blanket ban on accurate descriptions…

By: Pedantic Douchebag

Pedantic Douchebag — Sun, 27 May 2012 09:57:00 +0000

Interesting. I thought a “cant” was a language, I didn’t know it was also an insult:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(language)