Today's Special Value

[NYCShopper14]

In this morning's TSV presentation, the demonstrator described making breakfast for her children starting early in the morning.

The host said "THAT'S SLAVE LABOR!"

I'm sure nobody meant to minimize the suffering of humans who actually were slaves, and working for zero compensation - amongst the other tremendous suffering and indignaties, not the least of which was a total lack of freedom.  But couldn't we be a litlle more senstive than to make light of it?

Making breakfast for your children without the luxury of a toaster oven is NOT "slave labor."

Please remove that euphemism from your vocabulary of go-to phrases.  You won't regret it.

[Starpolisher]

True. 

It's actually a labor of LOVE!

[NicksmomESQ]

  Making breakfast for my loved ones is a true labor of love,period!!  I didn't catch the show this morning but I'm​ offended by the statement!!!

[Yardlie]

I agree with @Starpolisher that making breakfast is a labor of love. No offense meant to the OP, however, it is getting to the point that everytime somebody says something, someone else jumps down their throat. Words take on different meanings over time. Here is the definition of "slave" from the Free Dictionary:

slave

 (slāv)

n.

1. One who is owned as the property of someone else, especially in involuntary servitude.

2. One who is subservient to or controlled by another: his boss's slave.

3. One who is subject to or controlled by a specified influence: a slave to alcohol; a slave to an irrational fear.

4. One who works extremely hard.

5. One who acts out the role of the submissive partner in a sadomasochistic relationship.

6. A slave ant.

7. A machine or component controlled by another machine or component.

intr

White not all dictionaries show this particular definition yet, the word "slave" has taken on different nuances. It is not unusual to hear something like, "I really slaved away all day at work." or "I slaved away in the kitchen all morning." Maybe the term is not used this way in your area of the country, but I have lived in many areas of the country and have heard this term used that way wherever I have lived. I think people are becoming overly sensitive. Sure, there are words like the "N" word that are totally inappropriate, but I disagree with not using the term "slave." Everyone is entitled to their own opinion...but you cannot control everything everyone else says.

[QVCkitty1]

Well it's inevitable, you will soon be bombarded with objections to your objection.We are all too sensitive, blah, blah, blah. 

[ChynnaBlue]

I'm with you on that, @NYCShopper14.

[Andreatoo]

If cooking for your children is slave labor what does that make doing their laundry? Interment camp??

Yes I agree that was an extremely poor choice of words and not just for the ridiculous comparison but for the fact it implies taking care of the humans you brought in to the world is somehow a tedious obligation!

[NYCShopper14]

I think the lesson you might want to take from your efforts might be that going to the "free dictionary" can give you poor results.  Perhaps 'you get what you pay for' applies to paying people who actually understand etymology to be the ones who create dictionaries.

Slave does not mean "working extremely hard."   The only way that definition would be accurate would be to add "for zero pay, regular beatings, and without the ability to travel freely to take another job where you get paid and don't have to work extremely hard."

In posting I knew that i'd be accused of being politically correct but I am fine facing that criticism.   You'll see in my original post that I didn't demand an apology, I didn't say the host should be fired, or threaten a boycott of QVC.  ALL I said was that the term "slave labor" UNLESS IT REFERS TO ACTUAL SLAVE LABOR shouldn't be a go-to phrase.

What is the down-side of that?  

[Yardlie]

Another example...I don't like the "F" word. However, in the past several years, people have begun to say "F-ing" very casually...and that has evolved into "Effing" which I hear all over the place. It is used both in a derogatory manner, and it also means "sabotage." There is even a book called: Stop Effing Yourself: A Survivor's Guide to Life's Biggest Screw-ups.

[Yardlie]

---

@NYCShopper14 wrote:

I think the lesson you might want to take from your efforts might be that going to the "free dictionary" can give you poor results.  Perhaps 'you get what you pay for' applies to paying people who actually understand etymology to be the ones who create dictionaries.

Slave does not mean "working extremely hard."   The only way that definition would be accurate would be to add "for zero pay, regular beatings, and without the ability to travel freely to take another job where you get paid and don't have to work extremely hard."

In posting I knew that i'd be accused of being politically correct but I am fine facing that criticism.   You'll see in my original post that I didn't demand an apology, I didn't say the host should be fired, or threaten a boycott of QVC.  ALL I said was that the term "slave labor" UNLESS IT REFERS TO ACTUAL SLAVE LABOR shouldn't be a go-to phrase.

What is the down-side of that?  

---

As I said, words take on different nuances and meanings over time. You can't change that. If you don't want to accept it, it is up to you.