In South Wales where I grew up, faggots and peas were a staple for dinner. Faggots consist of pig offal wrapped in caul, a fatty membrane encasing the pig’s internal organs. They are very tasty.

In 2004, there was a radio commercial in which a man says, “I’ve got nothing against faggots, I just don’t fancy them”, after being offered them for dinner. This could be construed in at least two ways, one of which breached the Advertising and Sponsorship Code. The advertisement was banned.

When I was enjoying my faggots and peas in my youth, perhaps watching a BBC drama, I knew that there were certain words that you could not say on TV, even after 9:00 p.m. We all know what they are because now the same words have to be said repeatedly on every Netflix production you are the unwitting victim of.

No doubt we were a little prudish in our vocabulary in the 50’s, but we have managed to breed a whole new generation of prudes whose fragile sensibilities are unable to survive an assault by the breaching of contemporary taboos: faggots – without the peas.

Such is the horror of the use of the word faggot to denote a homosexual, that when the Pope recently let slip he thought that “there is already enough faggotry” in Catholic seminaries, the CBC issued a warning on its article about the incident.

Avert you gaze now.

From here:

WARNING: This story contains vulgar language.

Pope Francis, widely quoted as having used a highly derogatory word to describe the 2SLGBTQ+ community, did not intend to use homophobic language and apologizes to anyone offended by it, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

It is extremely rare for a pope to issue a public apology.

“The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologizes to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others,” Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said in an emailed statement.

Italian media had reported on Monday that Francis used the Italian term frociaggine, roughly translating as “faggotness” or “faggotry,” as he told Italian bishops he remained opposed to admitting gay people into the priesthood.