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20 December 2010updated 27 Sep 2015 4:05am

What they say and what they mean

A little guide to what some people (on the internet and elsewhere) say and what they actually meant.

By Steven Baxter

“So let me get this right” – Let me deliberately get this wrong, reducing all arguments to absurd oversimplification.

“Just saying” – I’m not “just saying”; but if you take offence at this barbed comment I will act all surprised and horrified. I am, after all, just saying!

“No offence” – I mean quite a considerable amount of offence.

“I’m not racist . . .” – I am racist.

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“Don’t take this the wrong way” – as anything other than an insult.

“But will you also condemn XX atrocity by YY?” – Look, the brown bastards are WORSE than whitey.

“You wouldn’t be as keen to criticise Muslims, would you?” – Look, the brown bastards are WORSE than whitey.

“Funny you didn’t mention incident ZZ, which also happened recently . . .” – Look, the brown bastards are WORSE than whitey.

“A deafening silence from you on that one” – Because you fail to mention something irrelevant and obscure, this means you are a hypocrite.

“I thought you were meant to be a liberal” – I hate liberals, but if liberals don’t react in a way in which I assume liberals, whom I hate, should react, I can say they’re hypocrites.

“So much for freedom of speech!” – Since you refused to print my pointless inflammatory racist comment, you are the bad guy.

“Of course, you can’t say it nowadays” – Because some people think racism is a bad thing, or something, it’s become disgracefully socially unacceptable to just go around being a racist.

“At last, someone brave enough to tell the truth” – At last, a bigot saying something bigoted in public.

“If you took off your PC rose-tinted glasses for a minute” – and popped my jaundice-tinted, bigoted specs on, you’d see things as I do.

“Nice post, but what about XXX?” – What about something entirely unrelated, which I can try and engage you with in abysmal circular discussion for about 55 years?

“This post is biased” – And so am I, but my bias is the nice, allowed kind, while yours is the evil, bad sort.

“This blog post isn’t objective” – Unlike my trolling comment underneath, obviously; and yes, I have wilfully misunderstood the idea of a lot of blog posts.

Feel free to add your own examples below.

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Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
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  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
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  • Sport and Recreation
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Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU