another cockup and other body parts

[Laurence Urdang]

For those who enjoy dwelling on such matters and are obsessed with the "British vs. American English" distinctions---the present example not being the only one---below is an item from today's Daily Telegraph.
  L. Urdang

              RSPB website bans use of the word 'cock'
By Stewart Payne
  Last Updated: 1:58am BST 01/06/2007




          The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has banned the use of the word "cock" when applied to the male of the species, in case it causes offence.
                   An RSPB spokesman confirmed that it did not
use the word 'cock' on its website

  In a move condemned for "taking political correctness too far", a correspondent on an RSPB online forum was surprised to find that his use of the word "cock", when referring to a male blackbird, was replaced with four asterisks.
  He challenged the forum moderator over the sensitivity to the word, only to find that once again the asterisks appeared. He wrote: "When is it not in order to refer to a male bird as a **** and a female as a hen? I've heard of PC but that is taking things too far."
  The contributor, named as JohnD from Holmfirth, Yorkshire, adds: "It's censorship that is just silly. What should I have said then...the daddy bird...the father bird...the male."
  The moderator replied: "It is not political correctness. The issue is words that can be used in an offensive context and we should not forget that the RSPB website has a massive viewing from children.
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  "Pretty much all internet forums use the same or similar filters. It is far from an ideal situation but it is better to be safe than sorry."
  In a second posting, the moderator adds: "Some words have been hijacked for a different and more offensive meaning and it is important to examine the context in which they are delivered because forums have the potential to be read by people of all ages.
  "It is not easy to override the system but I have seen this being abused on other forums by careful wording so it is better to be cautious."
  An RSPB spokesman confirmed that it did not use the word "cock" on its website, preferring instead to describe birds as either male or female.
  "The filter that removes the word 'cock' and replaces it with asterisks is built in to the Microsoft software package we use. This is standard procedure. It is not something that we have added ourselves," she said.
  "These filters are designed to remove a range of words the software designers believe some people may find offensive. When someone uses the work cock it automatically replaces it with asterisks. Our moderator is not sitting there making these changes."
  John, in Holmfirth, had the final word, writing in another posting: "I was thrilled to see on the bird table a pair of... Parus major."
  "As bird lovers will know, a Parus major is a great tit, and while ***** do not get past the forum censor, 'tits' do not cause offence."

  Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
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