Point of order: it’s for necessary care, rather than emergency care but you can’t travel just for the purpose of treatment.
Agreed.
We had a lovely neighbour living in our last village who suffered a stroke. He was stabilised at the hospital but they told his wife that his ongoing care was not covered by EHIC (as it was then), so he must return to ‘home’ country.
Very hard on an elderly couple living in France under the radar when the unexpected befalls. Certainly, wiser to regularise residency.
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This is exactly the same thing as using mademoiselle for jocular or flirtatious purposes, as previously discussed passim.
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Thanks for that. I hadn’t considered that he might be flirting with me, which is I suppose a possibility although I think it to be highly unlikely, as he is well known to be gay.
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Surely that makes it more likely, not less?
Just to be clear, I wasn’t drawing any conclusions, but rather was making observations.
I’m guessing here, but I presume from your remarks that ‘Discourse’ is the part of the website (perhaps bought in from outside) that auto-bans certain words. We previously agreed between us that “the many other words which are used to disparage persons of particular ethnicity or origin should also be banned”. So I wonder if there is any practical means of updating the system from time to time.
Perhaps Jane, but I haven’t aged well and am at least 35 yrs older than he, and as he already has a well established male partner I should think that flirtatious intent is unlikely.
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Would it be alright, being a lady of a certain age, to use “Ma belle” or “Mon beau”? I do. It is perhaps common only in Marseille now. Time and place….
I suppose some would consider ‘gay’ a derogatory word?
Possible.
But as the “G” in LGBTQ+ and all its variants stands for “Gay” I would tend to assume that it is a term which is acceptable to that community.
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How about ‘clicky’.
There are many slang words describing an occupation which are simply that, neither derogatory or offensive
Chippy/carpenter
Sparky/electrician
Spreader/plasterer
Labrador/general dogs body/labourer
Numbers man/quantity surveyor
Head cod/boss
Bristles/painter
Artichoke/architect- which many would often liked to have choked!
I am sure there are many similar slang words in everyone’s field of expertise which some would feel derogatory but that’s how the world is and always will be.Treading on eggshells as we walk through life becomes very tedious.
My children occasionally say to me, you can’t say that dad but I can and I will. As time passes we all eventually fall off our perch and take with us the words we have always used and eventually they disappear without the need for do gooders trying to reshape human nature and the natural order.
Of course we all have to be polite to each other but the spoken word and the unspoken thought are invariably different.
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So that makes it ok for white people to use the N word as it is apparently ok with black people then? I use the word black as being the direct opposite of white, no offence intended.
Anyway I find the word ‘gay’ in that context offensive, a perfectly useful English word purloined by some and stripped of its very happy meaning.
BTW I hope the boy I was at school with who had Gay as his surname, has fared ok in later life. I have no idea if he was, as well as being. 
Wonderful! I especially like “bristles”, a new one for me.
I think that context is everything. Even calling people fat can be hurtful, not to mention judgemental. We mostly know what is what and just need to temper our speech.
Hi All,
Does anyone know if they will apply this to applications already submitted? I have B1 already 
My mother felt the same way about the word camp.
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“oh, very flash…” was said if my Mum had made a real effort to “dress for an occasion”… Uncle Arthur would say it in a gentle, loving, positive way and it’s stuck in my vocab.
However, Flash Harry (St Trinians) made me think again… 
and now in modern times I’ve no idea how it would be received.
OH and I still use the phrase amongst family and it’s always taken as a compliment.
Is your application just submitted (déposé) or has it been accepted as complete? It is very unlikely there will be a problem either way, but once accepted I doubt they can go back and demand more.
The only hiccup could be at interview where it is possible (but very rare) for the agent to say you can’t communicate to standard.
No, emphatically, No.
LGBTQ+ is expressly for public consumption - the N word very much not so.
Sorry David, language evolves, you have to deal with that I’m afraid.
Do you lament the fact that “shag” is never used to describe a rough woollen fabric these days? Or that æppel (apple) means a specific fruit in modern English, not fruit in general like it used to. Or that people only divest themselves of stocks and shares, not clothing, or that senile has become pejorative not merely descriptive of old age. Or any of dozens of other examples of words which have changed use over the years?
Names can be tricky - one guy (another word changed from meaning effigy of Guy Fawkes to general term for a man) I was at school with had a very unfortunate combination and changed his name by deed poll pretty much as soon as he was old enough to do so.
Whenever I get pulled up for using the wrong word on the wrong occasion, as an excuse, I like to quote Lewis Carroll ,
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”
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