Are we too polite in our terms for being overweight?

[R1Geezer]

Do you agree with the minister?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10789553
Now as someone who can put on half a stone smelling a bacon sandwich, I'm not suggesting we got out and verbally abuse fat people but I do think that we are too twee and nice with our terminology and I think the blunt term "fat" may well motivate.

[starone]

If you want a really good laugh ttfn, go on to Chatterbank where there is a thread about farting. I know it is naughty, but it is really funny. I may have wobbled a couple of pounds off where I laughed so much.

[Mamyalynne]

Oh Starbuck, that made me smile too, of course obesity needs to be tackled but I doubt the terminology is the biggest part of the issue.

I am a skinny soul, my Doctor tuts at the scales when she weighs me, but even if she said rude words to me, I can eat no more than I currently do.

[Andyvon]

I think 'overweight' is the ideal term. and I'm speaking as someone who could do well to lose about 4 stone. Most other terms can be deemed offensive by various people but 'overweight' is simply descriptive, true and fair.

[ttfn]

Strewth Andrew - even with that long walk every night? You poor soul :o)
Star - as Mamya will confirm <<<ahem>>> I am a lady! Farting indeed - well I never☺
Now if you care to move up the human anatomy a distance I do have the mother and father of all hiatus hernias to such an extent that I refuse to dine out now. Other diners might think they were eating in a wind tunnel ROFL

[starone]

It is a big problem and needs to be tackled. It seems to be as big a problem healthwise as heart disease or cancer but it is a bit like smoking, the only person who can cure it is the one who is suffering with it. And that, as I know to my cost, (dieting not smoking) is easier said than done. Although I have been joking, I know that it is a serious problem.

[mike11111]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcVZg2tVswk

[Andyvon]

Hi ttfn.

I steadily put on 3 or 4 stone when I stopped smoking in 2002. My ideal weight for my height is 15 stone and I hover at 18-19. I have no trouble walking and don't notice the extra. The trouble is that I only sleep properly every two weeks or so. Other than that I sleep for just 2 or 3 hours a night which means bacon sandwiches/scrambled eggs/soup and bread etc at 4am! Need I say more?!

[starone]

liked that mike, very funny. The description of greedy-guts, just about fits me. But at least I am not as fat as those. At least I don't think I am, although I read somewhere that the picture you have in your mind of what you look like is not necessarily the same as what you actually are. So perhaps I am.

[ttfn]

Andrew - I dare not give up smoking in that case. Between us we could probably keep a Little Chef grilling through the night! Star - it is not so much how others see me as how they hear me that worries me. I am always surprised when I hear my voice played back to me - I recognise the words uttered but who the heck is speaking? ;o)

[Andyvon]

Why is it that it makes you cringe so much ttfn? It certainly does me! I think "Oh no - Is that really what I sound like to other people!"

[ttfn]

Basically it because of the difference in sound. I hear 'my' voice every day but only occasinally the 'recorded' version. 'Shock tactics' spring to mind! Once I had a video taken whilst doing a work presentation - I could not believe my ears Andrew, yet everyone else who participated sounded normal. ♫ It's a kind of magic...♫

[starone]

The first time I heard myself I had a real shock. I sound like an old country apple woman from the zider county (zummerzet), although I actually am a Bristolian. I've got used to it now, as I don't think I will ever be able to change it. A broad Bristol accent is even worse, so I don't really mind the west country one.

[mike11111]

I'm with you on that one, Ena. Hearing one's own voice is a shock to the system. I still haven't got over it and hate to hear it.

[Andyvon]

That's true ttfn.

Seeing yourself from different angles that you don't normally can have a similar effect. Mostly we only see ourselves in motion when face-on, such as when looking in a mirror. When I've seen myself from the side and behind when moving and talking on video it invokes the same shock as hearing your voice on a recorder.

[ttfn]

I actually enjoy hearing regional accents Star - it is all part of an indivdual's identity. But, more importantly, it is what we say - not how we sound that matters. Kind words sound equally lovely in whatever voice :o)

[ttfn]

Let me put it this way to you Andrew, there are not many photos of myself in this house and the mirrors have black drapes over them LOL

[Andyvon]

LOL ttfn. At least you haven't turned them to the wall!

[Mamyalynne]

Oh Gosh yes, the first time you hear your recorded voice, what awful memories, but sometimes can move people to tears of laughter with it too LOL

[starone]

ttfn I thought it was only vampires who did that.

[ttfn]

No, but Agatha Christie wrote a novel based on one of them !