Post #806159 by TIKIGIKI on Wed, Oct 26, 2022 9:29 PM

The "T" word? Really?

Please correct me if I'm wrong in my assumption, but I suppose you mean to write "trannie"? Then write it. It's on the original poster that started this thread. It's a word, or at least a contraction of a word. Pussy-footing around hiding behind imprecise initials can only cause confusion. (No offence intended or implied to felines of any gender...)

The new generation seekers of permanent offence don't own it to demand its expulsion from the English language either. It has been a commonly used word for a very long time before it was more recently "appropriated", again as a contraction of a term. However the original usage dates back to the 60's at least.

If you ever find yourself in Australia then you might still hear a transistor radio being referred to as a "trannie". Many of the post modern generation might need to research that in this day of the seemingly permanent implantation of those damn Petrie dish earbuds. Statements such as "Can you bring a trannie to the worksite" should not be any cause for alarm. No gender-bending new apprentice will appear. Tradies here, and I suspect in many other countries usually have a portable radio blaring over all the industrial noise. Australians do have a way of shortening so many words.

Or if you were ever to venture in an automotive work shop, (sounds unlikely I know but...) you might hear a mechanic say he's working on a "trannie". Try to remain calm! No need for a safe space or any complaints to the Lavender Speech Mafia.

He is just referring to the transmission of a vehicle. (Look it up!) And he/she has been doing so for a decade or more without committing any linguistic felony. No one takes offence because it's just a word and everybody knows what it means. And it's a word still in common usage to many STILL LIVING people who may also I hasten to add, happen to be under FORTY.

Hardly TABOO....there I got a Tiki word in!