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My first name is Patrick, but I go by Paddy, which is a common enough name in Ireland. When I initially signed up for a hotmail account (around 1997/98) I got a message telling me my name was a racially offensive term (or words to that effect). I found it quite funny at the time, so in the end I just registered as 'Patrick' and didn't use paddy in my email address. (No such problems with gmail, which I use now)


Years ago I tried to get a Hotmail account with my real name and had the same experience because of Cumming. Instead I signed up for a Hotmail address with the name Ivana Watch-Teens-Give-Head.


People who think any non-trivial subset of a human language can be rendered inoffensive are fooling themselves.

Here, obscenity with a first grade vocabulary and Disney characters:

I just saw Mickey and Minnie getting Goofy with Pluto.


A lot of people really would find that sentence less offensive than "I jacked off in the shower" or "Fuck, you're awesome" simply due to the more decorous phrasing. The fact that your example describes bestiality and my second example is actually an ecstatic compliment doesn't matter to such people — the phrasing itself is what offends them, not the content of the idea.


Each word in that address is acceptable, so, pass.. (or is that fail?)

I remember seeing the actor Alan Cumming talking about similar problems: "I'm sorry, your name is a profanity"




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