Whiter than white

I think you're stirring it.

I haven't read the coverage, but if the officer was just using a common phrase in the English language, then I completely
agree. There should be a public protest in his favour.

Oldbatty, why is Sodapop stirring it?

Do you honestly believe that a high ranking police officer was going about his business and during a morning briefing used the phrase " whiter than white" in passing?

This was then reported and he may lose his job?

I think not.

What do you mean stirring it? have you read the article?

I've read it. He 'may face disciplinary action' apparently.

I have just read the article , no way can what is reported be in any way racist

A spokesman for the Independent Office for Police Complaints (IOPC) said: “I can confirm that as part of *Operation Embley into allegations of serious corruption and malpractice within the Directorate of Professional Standards a notice of investigation has been served on an officer informing them we are investigating the alleged use of language deliberately intended to offend and that had racist undertones

So its not just about a phrase is it?

oldbatty
Have you read the article?
It was used in the context of 'officers should be beyond reproach'
Do you get it now?

There was a time when anyone hearing this phrase would think in terms of housewives having immaculate laundry on the line.
I loathe the dismissive term "political correctness gone mad" as we do need to flag up unconscious racism but this is overreaction!

Why do you think I am "stirring it" as you so eloquently phrase it oldbatty
I was only interested in other people's opinion of this, I agree the context is important but in this case it seems there was not a racial element to this.

There is clearly more to this than meets the eye. It is part of a much bigger picture. The right wing press have jumped on it as it is a handy little sound bite.

Remember the story about Baa Baa black sheep being banned? It turned out to be totally discredited.

I used to work for a woman accountant who always said we must be whiter than white. I always took it to mean that we must be beyond reproach in our accounts that they must not be dirty.
I always thought it was to do with washing i.e. meaning that everything was clean and above board. I never ever thought that it had racist undertones or had anything to do with the colour of anyone's skin.

oldbatty not everything in the world is a right wing plot.
On the face of what has been reported, it would seem an OTT reaction to a common phrase.
Very unkind to accuse another poster of ‘stirring’ when this
Is simply something in the news today.

Do you really actually believe that a senior officer is on the point of losing his job for using this phrase?

Or could the reality be tied up in the fact that Operation Embley has uncovered something that warrants further attention.

Of course not everything is a plot, right wing or otherwise.

Then why say the right wing press have jumped on it? Most people would say ‘the press’.
There may well be other charges, but at the moment the charge seems to be a racial one, which is why we are discussing it.

I said the right wing press because a quick google told me that it was papers who are traditionally right wing who reported the story.

The far left on GN think everything is right wing, every newspaper and even the BBC.The poor old beeb seem very even handed to me.

Whiter than white is a Shakespeare phrase ( makes me think of Upstart Crow in Stratters.)

I'm not far left.

Fair enough.

petra Your response to oldbatty was aggressive and rude.

The phrase "whiter than white" does, as has been said, mean "morally beyond reproach". The common linking of positive qualities with whiteness and negative qualities with blackness is something that many black people, quite understandably in my opinion, feel is racist in origin.

However, some expressions have been so commonly used for so long that people say them spontaneously, without thinking. I would expect a senior police officer to be more aware of such issues and careful in his choice of words, but I think to dismiss someone for this would be an over reaction and counter-productive.

You refer to people who disagree with the views you hold as "far left" lemongrove so I assume you'll have no problem with those people describing you as "far right".

I was told recently in conversation that blackboards, which have been around for eons should now be referred to as chalk boards. No one could tell me why the word/colour "black" in this context could not be used. Now whiter than white has become a grey area.

Who is offended? Can we assume the 'white' shade in this context just wasn't good enough and we should all be " whiter "? Imagine all the white people getting out their colour charts and taking umbrage. Am I parchment, ivory, polar white, ice white, off white, blue white...? etc, etc, etc.

A whiter shade of pale maybe? Hell, will that phrase cause problems too?

We all know the meaning of the phrase in question..to be squeaky clean. When we start being afraid to use perfectly harmless phrases related to shades of white, I feel we really are starting to get into muddied linguistic areas that cause offence to everyone.

<thinks> If you muddy the waters they become discoloured, and brown and grey in shade. Are muddied waters now offensive and should this commonly used phrase also be scrapped? I am sure we can all think of similar examples.I

I am pretty offended by the who decided the phrase was "racist". The world has gone mad. Some people look for offence in everything. That stupidity in itself causes divides and resentment.

My asterisks were deleted.

I was offended by the, erm, "so and so" who decided the phrase was racist.