Originally Posted by
shamus
I really wanted to stay off this subject as nothing positive will come out of it but I will mention something that happened some time ago.....
An International Company I worked for around 20 years ago released an Internal colour brochure on company locations around the world. Rather than have a dot or a star for each office, they had a figure of a person. Except for Africa, they had a picture of an ape. I still to this day do not know how this brochure got past proofreaders, Managers and the like, but I can only assume that when discovered someone got their ar$e kicked.
So, the word 'ape' is not new and IMO certainly can be used in a rascist fashion. As Adam said, the girl may not be a rascist, but she lives in a society where rascism flourishes (both ways). She meant what she said, I just don't know if she understood what she said.