CRANSTON, R.I., Feb. 19 (UPI) — A U.S. pickle maker says it has agreed to stop calling a variety of small pickles “midgets” following a complaint by a Rhode Island woman.
Chelley Martinka of Cranston began her campaign in December after she spotted a jar of Cains Kosher Dill Midgets in a supermarket, The Providence Journal reported Tuesday. Martinka has a 10-month-old daughter with dwarfism, which means she will be very short of stature.
Martinka called and wrote Gedney Foods, the Minnesota company that owns the Cains brand, created a YouTube video and launched a blog. Gedney responded by announcing plans to change the label, although the jars already bearing the Midget label will remain on store shelves.
In an email, Gedney told the Journal it is “simply doing the right thing.”
Little People of America, which represents people who are under 4 feet, 10 inches, in height, considers the word midget offensive. The organization began a campaign against use of the word after it occurred several times in 2009 in an episode of “Celebrity Apprentice.”
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
dwarfs and little people are upset and rightly so. in the interest of political correctness, Classic Pickles has renamed their sweet midget gherkin pickles to be “Little People Pickles.”
press release here: http://classicpickles.com/
You are a bunch of retards!! Hey new name for a pickle!
ignorameASS. new name for you. means “person who needs to grow up and show some respect for people who were born handicapped but are smarter than you.”
When you’re not the target of a word you probably won’t grasp how it’s offensive. Words like midget, idiot, retard, moron are offensive. If you can’t figure out why it’s you with the problem.
Please “explain” how calling a small sized pickel is offensive. It’s more about the person who takes offense in this case.
@memyselfandi – If someone is dumb enough to let a word offend them, then trust me, that’s their problem. I use those words all the time, and if people don’t like it, too bad. It’s a free country.
Would you rather have a pickle called “retards’ because that is what you are! Freaks!
It’s a shame this mother didn’t explain to her daughter that the word midget describes the size of items other than people. Will we no longer be able to have dwarf suns or planets?
It seems to me that offensive words just change from one generation to the next. And it is difficult to get older people to change because that is what was acceptable to the offended group and society when they were kids. The elderly don’t understand how a new word can have the same meaning but not be offensive.
Personally, I have a problem with the term African-American. Most of them have never been there and many are not 100% African. So I started calling myself *****-American, even though I’ve never been to my “homeland”. But 100% of my relatives are more recent immigrants than most African-Americans. Soon that term will fall out of favor and we will have to adjust to something new. Most people my age still automatically refer to them as blacks. I’m waiting to be told that word is a slur.
Don’t lose any sleep over it Katie. You have said enough in the past. There is no doubt if you are a racist or not.
Racist. Hmmm. I supported Shirley Chisholm for president in 1972. Shirley was all about common sense. I would have gladly voted for Herman Cain, Condoleezza Rice, Alan Keyes, or probably any other conservative black Republican who ran against Obama. Talking about racial issues does not make one a racist. That’s part of the problem. No one is willing to have an open dialog about the issues and how it affects society. Talking about them shouldn’t make them worse. It should shed light on them and change everyone’s attitudes.
What a sanctimonious cee you next tuesday. Who is she kidding? She spawns midgets. Mabey she should have that thing sewn shut. Would she be so vocal if that child was gay? Imagine that a gay midget,That is too funny. Get over it honey your too sanctimonious for the world. That was the cause you attached your midget spawning self to? You are pathetic.
Right on Katie!!
So in other words, since the word midget can’t be used to describe ANYTHING because anyone under ? feet tall (and so I don’t offend, what height determines midget, dwarf, little person, shrimp and runt please) could take offense, then it needs to be forever stricken from our language! Can I use a bean pole in my garden or will tall people come unglued?
My daughter has Turner’s syndrome, she is ‘normal’ (ooh, normal – can I say that??) except short. So I would appreciate it if Ted Turner and all the other Turner’s of the world stop using their last name so my daughter’s feelings don’t get hurt.
Part of it is how the word is used that denotes whether it is offensive or not. Timing on a car is retarded or advanced. Whoops – one of my kids is really smart, the other not so much. Please don’t use the term advanced, or retarded, or for that matter talk about timing on a car at all, thank you.
A rock is just a rock until it is hurled, then it becomes a weapon. Same with words, depends how they are used. Get over the pickles please.
It is a shame that one persons feelings can affect all the rest of us.
You have got to be kidding me! What ever happened to “common sense”?
Unfortunately, common sense is not common anymore, it’s uncommon sense.
Buy different pickles then if she is so offended.
We should also ban the word stupid, as it is offensive to a lot of people also. lol….
So true!!!
It’s all in how it’s used. To put someone down or to chgastise yourself. Ex.”That sure was a stupid thing for me to do.”