For Agchristie

[naomi24]

I'm currently re-reading Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little N......', subsequently retitled 'Ten Little Indians', and now 'Ten Little Soldiers' - that, I suppose will remain until 'Soldiers' becomes another non-pc word. But I digress. It got me wondering why you selected your username. Care to enlighten me?

[Jackdaw33]

I thought the title was now '...and then there were none'.

[naomi24]

I know what you mean. Confusing isn't it. I've just downloaded this book to my kindle and this version is most definitely 'Ten Little Soldiers'.

[Jackdaw33]

Never seen that in print.

[naomi24]

Jackdaw Perhaps I have it confused with the title of the poem in the book. Ignore what I said 00:42. You're probably right.

[Lynn_M]

The world has gone PC mad. It will all be swept aside one day

[fiction-factory]

As naomi started the digression in her own thread I'll continue.
I don't think so Lynn. Are you suggesting the reluctance to use the word N***** is an example of "PC mad". Would you call a black person a N*****.
Language changes. We used to called disabled people Spastics but now use something like 'person with disabilities' - a much better term in my opinion that shows they are people- just as a black person is

[douglas9401]

Ten Little Members Of A Diverse And Inclusive Society should just about cover it.

[fiction-factory]

Made me smile, douglas.
But seriously, language changes. Is it suggested we should go back to using the old terms for children born outside of a marriage (bast****), people with mental illness (loonies), puffs, etc etc

[naomi24]

I always think replacing one word with another is rather silly… and sillier still is replacing a word with just its initial letter. For example, when we read ‘N…..’, the whole word runs through our head, it still exists, so I see no point whatsoever in pussyfooting around it - but we do because political correctness has rendered it unacceptable to do otherwise.

[agchristie]

Good question Naomi!

At the time I was reading lots of Christie books and, as I have an enquiring mind, I thought it was an appropriate name!

It was also the first name that came to mind when I joined the site!

[fiction-factory]

I assumed you had thought the AB filter may change *** to something else.

[fiction-factory]

Indeed it does

[naomi24]

Thanks ag. I just wondered if you were a bit of an expert on her works. I must say I'm thoroughly enjoying re-reading this book.

fiction-factory, pardon?

[agchristie]

No,not an expert Naomi. Great writer though. I've read a lot of her work though not for a good while.

Joan Hickson was my favourite screen portrayal of Miss Marple.

[naomi24]

Yes, mine too.

[fiction-factory]

I read her books voraciously when I was around 12 years old and really looked forward to seeing them as films- but whilst I enjoyed the Margaret Rutherford ones I found all the later TV and film versions disappointing and often rather silly. I think I should read some of them again- thanks for the reminder.
I wonder if you can still get Biggles books- I read all those too when I was around 10 but I know they went out of favour for being racist I think, although I didn't notice at the time

[naomi24]

//I know they went out of favour for being racist //

I've read several of her books and never noticed that before, but having now been conditioned by our politically correct society to spot such horrors, reading some of the things she's written in this one came as a bit of a surprise. However, in her defence the concept of racism didn't really exist in her day.

[Zacs-Master]

Naomi, I'm just reading Arthur C Clarke's Childhoods End which was written in '53. Clarke sometimes get's the future spot on but he certainly got it wrong in this para:
The inevitable reaction that had given early twenty-first-century Negroes a slight sense of superiority had already passed away. The convenient word ‘***’ was no longer taboo in polite society, but was used without embarrassment by everyone. It had no more emotional content than such labels as republican or methodist, conservative or liberal.

[fiction-factory]

Naomi- regarding your "fiction-factory, pardon?" I had tried to type the word that you had typed as N...... but the AB filter changed it to 3 asterisks.

I didn't say Agatha Christie's books went out of favour for being racist- I was referring to the Biggles books when I said "I wonder if you can still get Biggles books- I read all those too when I was around 10 but I know they went out of favour for being racist I think, although I didn't notice at the time"

[Jackdaw33]

What about the Billy Bunter books?