Is This Really Offensive?

[trt]

What's wrong with showing the flag, its not as if she's a member of the N/F. Some of these Councils live in the dark

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/437815/Fly-the-flag-with-pride

[THECORBYLOON]

From the related article, "The upsetting thing is that I could lose my livelihood and my home if they take away my license (sic)." If she's that worried about losing her home, why does she not remove the stickers?

[trt]

Its not a flag jno, its a small sticker!

[Orderlimit]

What nonsense. Should I warn my local shop where the beef section has a sign with a little Union flag in the background stating 'From local Butcher' .

[New Judge]

Careful, OL, careful !!! You'll give your local authority ideas !!!

[237SJ]

I don`t think it was offensive to passengers but I think the lady was making a point towards other cab drivers who probably weren`t British born.

[ludwig]

It's difficult to tell what's really behind this story as it's in a cr4p paper.

Anyway, I don't understand how you can have a taxi driver that isn't local.
All the ones I use live near to where I do. I tried using ones that live along way away but they take too long to get here.

[jomifl]

So jno, disabled local driver?

[237SJ]

I can`t remember the last time I got a cab where the driver was white British. They don`t exist around here. Then again, that taxi driver was from Devon (where I am from). Let`s just say that Devon has a little way to go before they lose the suspicion towards outsiders.

[jomifl]

Quite Ludwig, .....'Nah mate can't go there it's too far',.... 'Ok I'll walk then'

[New Judge]

I think "local" in this context is a colloquialism for "not of foreign extraction", ludwig.

It’s a shame that the lady taxi driver has to disguise her true sentiments in this way. What she probably means (if I’m correct) is “I can speak and understand English perfectly well and if you don’t want to have any difficulty understanding me or making yourself understood then hire my cab”. It's the same principle as signs pronouncing "Nous parlons Francais" one sees in some coastal towns in Kent except that the difference is that the language being advertised is the one native to one's location. But that's the UK today for you - it's a surprise in some areas if you can find somebody fluent in English. It’s a perfectly reasonable sales pitch and one which may well earn her some business at the expense of others.

But we mustn’t have that, must we?

[Orderlimit]

Indeed NJ, could fuel an idea for some professional carper. The shop should be safe, some of the produce is from the Duchy Farm Highgrove Estate and the proprietor is an Asian chap who is appalled at this sort of nonsense.

[ludwig]

// I think "local" in this context is a colloquialism for "not of foreign extraction", ludwig. //

I see. A sneaky attempt to disguise racism then?

[jno]

claiming it's just a picture of a flag with the corners cut off won't fool any court in the land, trt.

It didn't fool you either, since you called it a flag in the OP and so did the link you gave.

[jomifl]

If the red cross wasn't there it would be a surrender flag, appropriately enough.

[Orderlimit]

"It’s a perfectly reasonable sales pitch ". And that's the nuts of it, it's not offensive to any reasonable person and it's a highly competitive business.

[FredPuli43]

Well, when I was young as many as 60 per cent of London cabbies were Jewish; well into my adulthood very many were and understood some Yiddish (and could be sworn at, as a friend once did, in Yiddish). Honestly , these minorities get everywhere! But they could be understood once you had an ear for East London speech and 'cockney' That may have been a little difficult for outsiders. I had that difficulty in Newcastle, because the driver was a (white) native and used to being understood by locals.. Certainly in some towns, some of the native Asian drivers can be hard to understand.

[FredPuli43]

Will this still be happening in 30 years, this marketing ploy (if that's what it is)? By then a younger generation will have grown up and be driving the cabs and they will not have Urdu, Hindi or Punjabi or anything else as a main language, learning English much later in life, but will have had to learn their English from childhood, and be bilingual and fluent in both that and their ancestral or maternal language.

[Orderlimit]

What about Women only taxi firms and comments such as the following:

“We refuse to take male passengers,” says Maggie, 50, who is also a driver. “A lot of people say they find it refreshing to find a female driver.”

[FredPuli43]

I think, Maggie, 50, may be breaking the law ! It would not be legal to refuse a fare on the rank because the fare was male, surely; it's denying equality of service offered, isn't it ? And I can't for the moment see, if that's so, how it's legal to refuse one who tries to book.

[Orderlimit]

Seems they turn such firms into members only clubs Fred, to circumvent any law / rules. I personally don't see a problem with businesses targeting a specific demand and I certainly don't find it offensive.