After some deep consideration and reflection on this matter which IMHO rivals the recent atomic test in Nth Korea in its possible efect on world peace I feel that we actually have two major issues concerning perjorative expressions.

1. Nigger – that has been discussed at length and we are all, I believe, united in condemning the use of it as a name for Guy Gibson’s dog, which leads us to the second issue –

2. dog – now this term is commonly used to express the that an item is inherently faulty or badly made e.g. “this car is a real dog”.

So in real terms we have the unfortunate confluence of two nouns which could have the effect of offending half the people on the planet, most domestic pets and frightening small children and the very sensitive among us.

Accordingly in the interests of world peace and attempting to bring some sanity to the matter I suggest that Guy Gibson’s dog Nigger be replaced by a cat called Tiddles. This could be played by a ginger tom. Ginger toms are well liked, and if neutered they are racially neutral and no one to my knowledge dislikes redheads. Certainly there is no history of racial epithets directed at them.

The only sacrifice to historical reality would be that the Flight Sergeant would be asked to clean his litter tray when the raid starts, and as the Moehne dam is breached, “Tiddles” would flash across the ether.

We have some slight historic precedence for this move because a great fighter pilot was named “Ginger” Lacey.

🙂