It's interesting how many people wouldn't give a person in need a freakin' dollar, but seem to support the concept of wealth redistribution in the politics threads...:right:




It's mine, I worked for it, they might not really need it, they might spend it on things I don't approve of etc etc...

it is? only 6 people voted for give them nothing......

Yes, it is.

Better a beggar than a big booger. Yes I came up with that myself...Thanks folks I'll be here all night.

OK, so name names! Who's a fucking hyporite?

I hate that word 'bum' it makes the person you're talking about sound worthless, dehumanised.

I also have some sympathy for the guy who flung back the newspaper: after all, life's bad enough if you've nothing without being patronised and condescended to by someone who is doing fine.

That's exactly what it means.

Then it's a fucking appalling word to apply to a person.

Especially since there is going to be so very many more of them in the coming year.

Dana, I may be politically incorrect but I am precise in my use of words.

Many of our beggars today are there by choice and it is not uncommon to see one in clean clothes, new shoes and well-fed. There are umpteen outreach programs designed to take them off the streets and put them back in productive lives but they do not take advantage of them. If the bum in question does truly want to get off the street and be productive, then they will. Help is there for the asking.

And there was once a case of an old, indigent woman who carried all her possessions in shopping bags for many years. One winter, she finally succumbed to the elements and died. In her bags, police found over $20,000 in cash.

Oh and I lied...I once gave a dollar to a bum in dirty clothes and a dress to stop jumping up and down in front of my car and go away. It was worth the investment. Oh, and also once I gave a sandwich and a bag of dog food to a bum near a truck stop who had a skinny dog.

So perhaps I lied about NEVER giving stuff to bums. But let's call it rarely. VERY rarely.

Unless the individual is known to you, you have no idea what put them where they are, or what barriers they see in their way. If you have a friend, and know that friend to be an idle sod who just hates work, then the word bum may be appropriate. I don't like the judgement cast about people we don't know.

Sorry, not meaning to be a pain :P I have always hated that word.

I do know many of those individuals, and the word "bum," although it has fallen out of favor because of political correctness, does still apply.

"Homeless" sounds so much more pitiable than "worthless piece of shit who won't do anything to help or support him/herself but expects me to work so that not only will my tax dollars flow downhill to him/her, but also demands money, food, a place to stay, drugs, and sundries be handed over immediately."

I know them. I know their stories. Not a noble mother of four struggling to find her children a better life among them.

There's probably an element of you being a Brit in there. Over here the term is not more commonly used to mean the arse/ass.