Prince Harry - Racist Sloganeer or Military Banterer?

Britain has its collective knickers once more in a twist about the off-color remarks of their young Prince Harry.

This time, he was caught calling a fellow soldier a Paki, which in British slang is an uncomplementary ethnic slur used against British of Pakistani origin. The Guardian's take on this provides good reading,including interviews with some British military personel about the usage of offensive banter.

This short excerpt from an interview with a senior NCO was too much fun to keep to myself.

'I might call somebody a bent bastard and the guy might be a homosexual but I don't mean it like that. It depends how it is said. If I went up to him and jabbed him in the chest and said "you are a fucking bent bastard" then it would be using the term badly, but if I want to go up to someone and say "come on you bent bastard, get a move on" then that's quite a different thing. . . The guy that Harry called a Paki wasn't crying or moaning about it. You don't know if he gave him much stick back and called him a posh ginger twat.'

I can't help love an enilisted man who speaks to defend the Prince by calling him a 'posh ginger twat'. A satirical genius is at work in the British Army!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.