So you may have noticed the new banner – thanks to Brandon who makes all this possible here at the ‘sphere. He just whipped this out for me (tee-hee) for his own entertainment. It won’t stay long so here’s a sample for later when I’ve changed again.

But an interesting question was raised. What’s FTW (Which you may not be able to see on a small or low-res monitor, but it’s on the fingers) mean?

I always thought it was obvious. It is, was, and always will be Fuck The World; known to bikers and punks everywhere, though the meaning of THAT could be debated. To me it means, fuck what everyone thinks, I’m doing it my way. It could just as well mean truly, fuck all of you people, nothing matters but me, or some variation. Personally i prefer the other meaning, and when I wear something with that on it, that’s how I take it.

But another meaning was pointed out to me that I’d never heard. And I don’t mean For The Win which is l33t-speak gamer nonsense, or Flip The Walrus which is pretty damned funny even though I think it was made up in a sort of discordian gesture; nor do I mean the silly “it means What The Fuck, only with extra confusion”. Because all that’s akin to changing Shit Happens to Good Happens, trying to nice up something without actually understanding it.

No, T’m talking about a racist meaning. And I’m not even going to type out what that is, so as not to get picked up on google searches for it. I’m not going to type the names of the assholes who might use such a phrase. But what I’m wondering is, who’s actually ever even heard such a usage? I sure as hell hadn’t, and had to go looking for it and wade through lots and lots and lots of pages saying For The Win before I could find a page that contained the racially-tinged meaning.

Not that I’d surrender the usage because some stupid bastards take it up; i mean, hell, there goes my scottish heritage and shaved head if i want to abandon something just cause those asswipes decide it’s an icon of pure whiteness. But i figured, a guy should know these things….