Have a Word – Long Read

There’s a newspaper and its Sunday stablemate which at the moment, is so horrifically fucked I will not name it, but it will become apparent what shit rag I’m talking about very quickly. They love to use the term woke as a pejorative. And it’s gotten so bad they just essentially attach the word to anything they think they can rile their readers up with to disapprove of and get them angry about. Recently it was builders. I consider myself to be woke. The meaning of the word for me is someone who is awake to injustices in this world and wants to ensure the ones which I come into contact with get a bit easier for those who feel those injustices. This has made me change my views, my ways of speaking and how I interact with people so that I hopefully am more inclusive nowadays. Hopefully I’m helping, but I’m sure I can always do and learn more to help out.

I’ll use an example of something that happened to me some years ago, but for me it’s an instance of how I’ve changed my vocabulary because I’m woke and I don’t want to unintentionally upset someone. I’ve got a mate who is gay and in front of him at a barbecue, I was having an issue with my mobile. He asked about it and I responded, ‘Yeah it’s being a bit gay.’ Now for me ‘gay’ was a synonym for stupid or awkward. However for him, gay described his life experience. And there I was equating my annoying phone to him as a person. He wasn’t too offended, but he did say in response, ‘It’s being what?’ with a pointed look. And that little exchange made me stop using the word gay for anything other than describing someone who is homosexual because I don’t want to offend anyone. It wasn’t a big change and it didn’t really cost me anything.

Back to the builders. Now apparently because some builders read, or have a healthy breakfast or talk about their feelings with their mates, they are woke. And apparently this is a bad thing, because we really want hard working lads to die when they’re 53 of a massive heart attack, because they clogged their arteries with fat and stress, having never enjoyed the wonders of a good book. What an absolutely fucking ridiculous load of shite. It’s shameful, especially when you do a little bit of research and understand that the ONS did a census on workplace suicide between 2011 to 2015 and found that lads on building sites are more likely to commit suicide than those lads who don’t work on site. It’s disgusting because it’s tepid bin juice like this article which will ensure some lads don’t reach out and don’t have a word with a mate when they are feeling low and feel backed into an overtly masculine box from which they feel there’s only one costly way out.

So I just wanted to encourage you all to have a word, whether you work on site or not. If you think your mate might be a little down, have a word. Pull them to one side and make sure they’re ok. Because actually they’ve probably got something on their mind, might not be world breaking, but they might like to lighten that particular load. And if you are feeling particularly down, then I’d encourage you to have a word with a mate as well. Say something, to someone, please, before doing something drastic. Please.

Writing about this reminds me of a song:

So if you wanna burn yourself

Remember that I love you

And if you wanna cut yourself

Remember that I love you

And if you wanna kill yourself

Remember that I love you

Call me up before you’re dead, we can make some plans instead

Send me an IM, I’ll be your friend

Kimya dawson – loose lips

So if you want to have a word, email me: catchup@abridgedblog.co.uk because we cannot let this shite promoted by repellent newspapers to stand. They must not win this battle. We must have a word when we need it. And if you don’t feel like talking to me, there’s always:

The Samaritans – call for free on 116 123

Or if you’re a tradesperson you can always check out:

This blog is my way of having a word with all you lovely readers. Getting things off my chest and feeling a lot better for it. Peace and love.