political correct

[Cypress]

I am very ambivalent about this trend, for me it comes over as some newspeak.

Does it really change something when you call someone African-American instead Afro-American?
I think Afro-American is easier to spell, af-ro has one syllable less than af-ri-can.

And what about replacing midget with vertically challenged?
English is not my mother tounge, but for me vertically challenged just sounds stupid and I cannot imagine to use vertical herausgefordert instead of kleinwüchsig in German.

Do you use this kind of newspeak and how does is work for you or does it just pi.. you off?

 

[Sunstone]

I've noticed that people call something "politically correct" if they don't like it.

 

[Aqualung]

To me, political correctness is saying the same thing in three times as many words.

But if somebody wants me to call them something ridiculously more wordy than what I would initially call them, fine, I'm all for respecting people's wishes.

Though if (for example) a white person tells me what I have to call black people... I'm not going to listen. (a) What do they know? (b) Even black people are individuals - there's probably some variation in what they want to be called.

 

[Mathematician]

Political correctness can be abused, but it sometimes is useful. For example, it's inappropriate to refer to black people by the n word and I'm rather disappointed in people who have to repeatedly insinuate that homosexuality is a disgrace. I grew up in an atmosphere of insults that revolve around sexuality so I'm not completely absolved of blame (I still sometimes use the word as an insult out of habit, but I've become a lot better about it), but at least try to stop.

But yeah it becomes ridiculous to some degree and has been abused for double standards. For example, I've been told it's not acceptable to refer to any woman as a female dog, but you can openly insult men. I say fig that. If a woman is a lady, she deserves respect. If she's a cheating toilet bowl, let the language flow. (And visa versa for men)

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Language follows fashion.
We Just get used to it.

Many years ago when I was young, ****** was an acceptable word. It was used in Book titles, Films and by news readers and every day speech. it was not derogatory.

It then changed To negroes... again no problem.
Then variations of afro- Caribbean ( still used in the UK) African (Which include whites in the UK)
Afro- American ( still used in the UK) Black ( still used) White ( still used).....

It seems what is "Politically Correct" is not only a matter of Fashion it is also regional.

We are perhaps all too sensitive... It is almost impossible to chose the right word in mixed company.

I see the N****R word has been ***** out of my post I find this amazing. It is still to be found in British dictionarries.

 

[Rakhel]

Me, personally, I just don't call people anything. I have learned that "black" is the most acceptable term to use here in NYC. I can also say I learned more from them in the short time I have been here then anywhere else.

I learned not everyone is African-American. That those who are not, get quite insulted when you call them African-American. And that, sometimes, those who are not African-American can be more insulting towards African-Americans then I have ever been in my entire life.

I have been told by one who was Haitian, "I am not from Africa and neither is my family. If you don't want to insult me again,and can't figure out my heritage, just call me black. Because that is the color of my skin."

 

[Kathryn]

I think it's a touchy topic, because first and foremost, we should try to avoid unnecessarily offending innocent parties - and yet we don't know from party to party what will even BE offensive!

Kinda like the example of a guy holding a door open for a woman - one woman (me, for example) will say, "Wow, thanks - chivalry is not dead!" while another woman will snap at him, "I can do that myself - thanks for nothing." You know - damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Personally, I'm flummoxed when it comes to what to call my darker-skinned brethren whose ancestors hail from Africa. I don't really care for "black," because it seems so simplistic and in many cases so innaccurate. But "African American" or "Afro-American" seems, well, weird too. Should I be called "European/Jewish/Native American?" Where does one stop with this nonsense? Our WORLD is a veritable melting pot of races and nationalities.

I thought that with this last election, we were supposed to be moving into an era where race became a NON issue. Now it seems that it's the PREDOMINANT issue.

STOP THE MADNESS!

My daughter had a childhood friend whose mother said it best of all. As most of you know, my kids are multi racial. When my oldest daughter was in junior high, this boy had a crush on her but told her that he couldn't be her boyfriend because his parents wouldn't want him dating a "black" girl (just for the record, my daughter's skin is lighter than some Italians' skin!). Her friend was telling her mom about this, and the mother said, "That's so sad. She's not Natalie the black girl, or Natalie the white girl. She's Natalie, the AMERICAN."

Kudos to that mommy.

 

[Storm]

Honesty time:

I have issues with the term "African American." To me, an African American is an immigrant (or child of) who still identifies as African. Same goes for Italian or Irish Americans. There comes a point of assimilation where you're just an American.

So, I don't say "African American." If the subject of ethnicity comes up, I'll say "black." To my knowledge, nobody's ever had a problem with this.

 

[Kathryn]

See - I have a problem with the term "black." The reason that I do is that it's so often inaccurate. My children are often called "black," and they are varying shades of caffe latte - and a mix of many different races. They are offended by being automatically lumped into a racial category - and it offends me as well. To call them "black" in a sense denies them a large portion of their heritage and categorizes them inaccurately.

 

[Breathe]

I find some political correctness lingo to be stupid. Some things I am okay with like not calling black people *******, or calling someone a midget, but at the same time, using terms like 'vertically challenged' or 'Black & Minority-Ethnic' to be clumsy, patronising, and too artificial.

I find some terms pretty stupid and petty, and the term 'people of colour' to be offensive. Some terms are even loathed by the groups themselves: A large number of Big D Deaf people find the term 'hearing impaired' to be offensive and patronising.

People have different opinions on what they prefer, as well. My wife's aunt and her mother's friend both use the term Black and do not like the term African-Caribbean, but they are (more) OK with Afro-Caribbean. One of my friends uses 'Half-Caste' as opposed to mixed race to refer to himself. Indians and Pakistanis I went to college with preferred the term 'Coloured' to describe people from Greater India collectively, as opposed to Indian or Asian.

 

[Storm]

See - I have a problem with the term "black." The reason that I do is that it's so often inaccurate. My children are often called "black," and they are varying shades of caffe latte - and a mix of many different races. They are offended by being automatically lumped into a racial category - and it offends me as well. To call them "black" in a sense denies them a large portion of their heritage and categorizes them inaccurately.

Well, then I won't use it wrt your family.

It rarely comes up, anyway.

 

[Cypress]

A bus had an accident, it has overturned and smashed in.
One of the passengers is a midget who is alive and can move but is jammed, so it is impossible to free him without cutting an opening in one side of the wreck.
Police is there to investigate the situation and one officer calls the fire service to get the man freed.
Officer: "We have a situation here that requires your help."
Fireman: "What exactly is the problem?"
Officer: We have here a vertically challenged person in a horizontal challenging situation."

 

[Aqualung]

It rarely comes up, anyway.

So true. The only times these things come up is in order to make broad sweeping generalizations about "black america" or whatever.

 

[dawny0826]

I am very ambivalent about this trend, for me it comes over as some newspeak.

Does it really change something when you call someone African-American instead Afro-American?
I think Afro-American is easier to spell, af-ro has one syllable less than af-ri-can.

And what about replacing midget with vertically challenged?
English is not my mother tounge, but for me vertically challenged just sounds stupid and I cannot imagine to use vertical herausgefordert instead of kleinwüchsig in German.

Do you use this kind of newspeak and how does is work for you or does it just pi.. you off?

I wouldn't refer to someone as an African American or Afro American unless I knew for certain that they had African roots. I know very few African Americans and I think people are ignorant to refer to themselves as such when they aren't linked to the African continent at all.

If someone presents as "African American", "Hispanic American" or whatever, I'd certainly refer to them as such, out of respect. I don't care much to be poltically correct. I care to be accurate.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

There is no such thing as a right not to be offended. Call whoever you want whatever you want, just remember you might get busted in the chops if you **** them off TOO much.

Beyond that PC is all intellectual masturbation.

 

[Tarheeler]

Honesty time:

I have issues with the term "African American." To me, an African American is an immigrant (or child of) who still identifies as African. Same goes for Italian or Irish Americans. There comes a point of assimilation where you're just an American.

So, I don't say "African American." If the subject of ethnicity comes up, I'll say "black." To my knowledge, nobody's ever had a problem with this.

I agree.

If they are immigrants, then I'll refer to them as something-American. If your from Italy, then Italian-American; if Ireland, then Irish-American; if Japan, then Japanese-American.

I know three people I'll refer to as African-American, and one of them is white.

If you were born here you're an American, plain and simple.

 

[Aqualung]

There is no such thing as a right not to be offended.

That's true, but I do have a respect for those around me to the degree that I won't purposely try to offend them. If they tell me something offends them, I won't do it anymore (unless I feel like I need to - something as simple as word choice is not something I feel I need to use). And that's just out of respect, not out of a sense of duty or right.

 

[Father Heathen]

I think a lot of what people consider "politically correct" is often rife with double standards and hypocrisy.

 

[Father Heathen]

There is no such thing as a right not to be offended. Call whoever you want whatever you want, just remember you might get busted in the chops if you **** them off TOO much.

Beyond that PC is all intellectual masturbation.

What he said.

 

[Mathematician]

See - I have a problem with the term "black." The reason that I do is that it's so often inaccurate. My children are often called "black," and they are varying shades of caffe latte - and a mix of many different races. They are offended by being automatically lumped into a racial category - and it offends me as well. To call them "black" in a sense denies them a large portion of their heritage and categorizes them inaccurately.

You also might offend many Nigerians and Somalians who identify as Semitic moreso than black.