Well said Colin. On Mon, Mar 26, 2018, 6:20 AM Colin Hume via Callers < [email protected]> wrote:
> I'm going to be controversial, so please think hard about what I'm saying > - and why you're reacting to it the way you > are - before replying. > > I think "Political correctness" is mainly an American problem, though it > seems to be spreading to England too. > > The word "nigger" was not originally a pejorative term, just a description > - it's the Latin word for "black" with the > "g" doubled. Since then it has become "black", "negro", "coloured", "of > colour" and "African-American" (not much use in > England, that last one), and possibly others that I don't know about. But > this "political correctness" is treating the > symptom, not the disease. > > If we look down on black people, or women, or homosexuals, or gypsies, or > people with mental or physical disabilities, > then any word we choose to label them with eventually comes to mean "those > people we look down on", and has to be > replaced by another euphemism. It wouldn't surprise me if in a few years' > time the word "gay" was seen as > "inappropriate" (a word I hate as much as "politically correct") and had > to be replaced by another term. > > And different people like to refer to themselves in different ways. Some > women in the USA object to being called > "ladies". But some ladies in England object to being called "women"! > Similarly some gypsies like being called > "gypsies", and I'm guessing that they would object to the word > "travellers" because that would include people who chose > to follow a travelling way of life but were not real gypsies. > > So I'm with Tom Hinds - always be respectful, not intentionally > disrespectful. > > Colin Hume > > Email [email protected] Web site http://colinhume.com > _______________________________________________ > List Name: Callers mailing list > List Address: [email protected] > Archives: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >
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