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Teacher Cuts 'Gay' From 'Kookaburra' Song

Uproar ensues after line changed to 'fun your life must be'

By Emily Rauhala,  Newser User

Posted Sep 3, 2010 4:23 AM CDT
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(Newser) – The Aussies are in an uproar over a teacher's decision to remove the word "gay" from the classic campfire song, "Kookaburra." The first verse ends with the line "gay your life must be!" Headmaster Garry Martin changed the line to "how fun your life must be" to keep his students' giggles at bay, notes the Telegraph. "It uses gay and I just suggested to the kids that nowadays that can mean different things, so let's just sing a fun old time," he explained.

Both parents and gay rights advocates panned the move, notes CNN, forcing Martin to recant. "Political correctness is very much to the fore in schools" the headmaster said. "I guess that was hypersensitive of me" to be bothered by the giggles.

Heterosexual.
Heterosexual.   (Shutterstock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
NxBigmouthery
Sep 3, 2010 4:48 PM CDT
We also had a minor PC controversy here a few years ago when the 'fairy penguins' common to Philip Island off the coast of Melbourne were renamed 'little penguins, so as not to offend...er...gay...um...penguins? It's at a few stops before this kind of stupidity that my liberalism train ride ends.
ddhartman
Sep 3, 2010 10:30 AM CDT
"...we'll have a yabba-dabba do time, a dabba do time, we'll have a FUN old time." - Nope just doesn't sound right somehow!
Unaffiliated
Sep 3, 2010 9:28 AM CDT
In many English-speaking countries, a "fag" is a cigarette, and it's perfectly normal to say "I was standing there gaily puffing on my fag," and not mean anything sexual. But for some people, the alternate meanings are all they see, and they start to feel "icky" inside. Political correctness is not about avoiding words that make us feel "icky", it's about avoiding words that are derogatory to others.

 
education • Australia • censorship • political correctness • gay

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