Darlene Harris, Donald Trump, and Doing the Right Thing in Pittsburgh

You may have heard that Pittsburgh City Councilor Darlene Harris raised a ruckus when she used her personal vehicle to drive through a Northside Park along the walking paths. She claims she was investigating City stuff. This quickly deteriorated into the ‘Darlene, woman of the people’ folks and ‘Darlene is a self-entitled jagoff’ folks. I […]

Behind the Pittsburgh Guest Blogging Event: NSFW Edition

Guest Blogger Event

While prepping for the Pittsburgh Guest Blogging Event, John from Ya Jagoff and I had a colorful conversation that he described as: I am laughing at this email. It has more nasty words in one email than any email I’ve ever sent or received…sounds like it came from George Carlin. Lol!!! It all began in […]

A Lexicon for Insulting: 2016 Pittsburgh Guest Blogger Event

Guest Blogger Event

Today’s post comes from John Chamberlin of Ya Jagoff, and is part of a special day of shenanigans from other Pittsburgh Bloggers. You can see my post over on MelissaFirman.com, where I explore the art of blogging. A Lexicon for Insulting  Disclaimer: for the most part, I suggest that you be considerate and nice to […]

YOLO So Please Stop Hurting People with “Cray Cray”

cray cray

I can be as much of a language snob as the next person, especially when it comes to middle aged adults appropriating youth terms (as I am wont to do.) Sometimes it is amusing – my former supervisor used to say “Hit Me On My Hip” and slap her hip which was her way of […]

Apologies and Amends – Moving the Dialogue Abt Language Forward

Pittsburgh Pride

I recently posted a commentary decrying a video that Pittsburgh’s own Alaska Thunderfuck had posted on YouTube – a video depicting a drag queen putting a bullet into the head of trans activist, Parker Marie Molloy. It was an appalling contribution to a rancorous debate about the use of the words “tranny” and “shemale” and […]

Mocking Violence Against Trans Women Is Not Acceptable

Trans

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Ghandi It is my opinion that being an ally to the trans community requires me to believe the people in that community. I believe when they tell me that words like “tranny” and “shemale” and “shemail” are […]

CBS Program “Mike and Molly” Says F*ck You To LGBT Community

Last season, the hit CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly” went astray with two jokes about transgender women, specifically using the slur “shemale.” That very same weekend, a movie starring Melissa McCarthy used another slur, “tranny.” Trish provided some brilliant insight into exactly why these terms are slurs and not fodder for humor, especially on CBS […]

Why Can’t I Use “Nice” Words When I Ask For Help? ALL THE VULGAR WORDS!

I’m circulating a petition asking a local business owner to meet and discuss a situation where an employee used the word “tranny.” I’m encountering resistance from people who would prefer I not include the word “tranny” (even in quotes) because it offends them. It is vulgar. Or its so in their face. It is not […]

Another Trans Bash #Fail Tied to Melissa McCarthy

Last week, we reported on an issue with CBS using a trans slur in their sitcom “Mike & Molly” which stars actor Melissa McCarthy. The slur “shemale” was used by Mike in the show; McCarthy was not in the scene, but people called on her to speak out given the vicious attack she endured at […]