I just can't say that word!

Okay, I see this everywhere in the pubs and yes I am still horrified by the word.   I'm only writing it once here but believe me, it pains me to even write it.     Maybe I am just being sensitive, but everytime I see a restaurant menu with "faggots" on, I just give a little cringe inside. I also see them in the freezer section of the supermarket.  Being raised in the USA I was taught it  is extremely un-PC to say that word.    Any one else feel the same way? (They seem to look like meatballs. )  Also, What exactly are they?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

Sounds rather gross to me. Not the meatballs themselves, but the type of meat used! I laughed at the part that says the most popular are Mr Brain's faggots. Hehehe, that makes me smile. Don't forget, it's a ciggie too! (A fag I mean.)

I don't see anything on this wiki page. It says "be the first to start the page)

I don't see anything on this wiki page. It says "be the first to start the page)

Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food) - the closing bracket is part of the link, but when it's copied and pasted without hyperlinking, the bracket isn't included for some reason (so Desert Dreamer's link wasn't a full url)  .

Maybe I am just being sensitive, but everytime I see a restaurant menu with "faggots" on, I just give a little cringe inside.

Yep... too sensitive! 
It's just a word, and in this instance it's not being said with malicious intent.

I think in reality a faggot is a stick of wood, hence why the faggot (food) is named that as well as cigarettes, due to their shape.  I have NO idea why it became a term of insult.  People are strange.  But yes, I do look a bit askance at the package when I see it.  More so when someone refers to a "fag sticking out of _____'s mouth".  Years of contextual conditioning are hard to shake. 

Thats so funny! I love using the word, I find it amusing that its okay to use a potentially offensive word in a completely non-offensive context.

This is a really interesting article....

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2112/how-did-faggot-get-to-mean-male-homosexual

That word existed as the innocent name of an inanimate object for centuries, long before it ever became a term used as slang for the quite different meaning today.

It's not like it was the insult FIRST, then became the name for something on a menu.

You may have learned the insult meaning before the "ordinary" meaning, hence you cringe, which is natural and understable. But when you feel that way try to remind yourself that the original and innocent meaning applied to the wood pieces and the food item far, far preceeded the insult meaning, at least in the UK.

I once ate a package of Mr Brain's pork faggots on a dare. They weren't too bad, for microwaved cheap meat in cheap sauce. A little sage-y perhaps, but I'd eat them again if I had to.

I expect full marks for resisting the temptation to describe them as tasting a bit queer.

I've never heard of them before (being a vegetarian), but now that I have, they sound ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING! 

http://www.fortunecity.com/village/birdcage/279/faggot.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(slang)

I once ate a package of Mr Brain's pork faggots on a dare. They weren't too bad, for microwaved cheap meat in cheap sauce. A little sage-y perhaps, but I'd eat them again if I had to.

I expect full marks for resisting the temptation to describe them as tasting a bit queer.

(From the drummer in the corner) Ba-dum-cha!! lol! 

I expect full marks for resisting the temptation to describe them as tasting a bit queer.

You win the cheek award

Okay, I see this everywhere in the pubs and yes I am still horrified by the word.   I'm only writing it once here but believe me, it pains me to even write it.     Maybe I am just being sensitive, but everytime I see a restaurant menu with "faggots" on, I just give a little cringe inside. I also see them in the freezer section of the supermarket.  Being raised in the USA I was taught it  is extremely un-PC to say that word.    Any one else feel the same way? (They seem to look like meatballs. )  Also, What exactly are they?

I would say it won't be a problem to be honest.  I've lived here twenty years and have managed to never eat them or even refer to them in any way.

I do, however, say fags for cigarettes but that's a work thing.  The husband only ever says tobacco or cigarette.  So, again, it's possible to avoid.