Erica sent me this article today:

Woman ticked off by police for “fat” comment

LONDON (Reuters) - A woman struck by a hit and run car driver in northern England said she was told off by a police officer for using the F-word to describe the driver — “fat.”

Mary Magilton, 54, suffered cuts and bruises after being hit by the car which mounted the pavement while she was chatting with friends in Oldham and then drove off, newspapers reported on Friday.

She reported the incident but was ticked off by a police officer when she said the driver of the car was a “fat” woman.

“I was given a frosty look and told I couldn’t say that. I could have said lardy, porky or podgy. But I wouldn’t dare use those words,” the Daily Mirror quoted her as saying.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the description recorded on the police log of the incident did include the word “fat.”

“I don’t think she was severely reprimanded,” the spokeswoman said, adding GMP had a policy to ensure officers used “appropriate language” that would not cause offense.

I find it funny that the police office said that she could have used other synonyms for the word fat like “lardy, porky or podgy,” just not the word fat. At first I thought “hmmm… who cares, they all mean the same thing.” But then I realized that we’ve had conversations before talking about how we would rather be called “thick” or “healthy” (or “solid” according to Jenny’s description of my leg) because they sounded better than “fat.”

What do you think? Fatty or Lardy?