It seems (from a report in my newpaper today) that the Law Society's latest guidelines on Equality and Diversity contain the following bits of political correctness.

"ethnic minority"

"Some people prefer not to use this term as it implies that only minorities have enicity."

Their preferred alternative, apparently, is the almost nonsensical "minority ethnic" which they say "...makes it clearer that it is not just minorities who have an ethnic identity but also the majority."

Clearer? Really? So using a noun to describe an adjective makes things clearer than using an adjective to describe a noun, does it.

Of course that's not the only bit of advice. It seems that the word "spouse" (which was used legally to avoid those heinous words "husband" or "wife") is now also incorrect and potentially offensive and must be replaced by "partner". The logic there isn't explained in the article I read.

I'd be inclined to say "cobbler's" were it not for the fact that this term is, of course, gender specific.

I remember being at a church (United Methodist) conference years ago where people said we should no longer sing "wretch" (Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saves a wretch like me) because wretch is apparently a female slam.

huh???????

This is not that new. A colleague who at that time worked for the governments' Department for Education and Science wrote an important report on the relative achievement of differing ethnic minorities in schools. As usual in such cases, he submitted it to the Commission for Racial Equality in case he had inadvertently used language that could offend.

They responded that all mentions of "ethnic minority" should be replaced with "minority ethnic" as the former emphasised that the difference was in different races. He replied that a) he wasn't going to fracture English because of a dubious point and b) the the whole point of the report was to emphasise the difference between the different races.

He heard no more and the report was duly published.

Although I don't have particularly strong views on the phrase 'ethnic minority', on a related theme it does annoy me when people talk about 'ethnic' food/ music/clothes etc. It strikes me as illogical at best (since we all have an ethnicity) and patronising at worst ("oh, how darlingly ethnic"). Fish and chips is an ethnic food, and Beethoven ethnic music, after all. I have a similar dislike of the phrase 'world music' - aren't we all citizens of the world? Or did my parents forget to tell me I'm from the planet ZZZZZZZzkkkkkkk?

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Originally posted by BobHale:
The logic there isn't explained in the article I read.

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Perhaps this is something to do with the fact that certain members of our society still aren't allowed to marry? Civil partnerships are a step in the right direction, but not quite there yet.

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Originally posted by Caterwauller:
... because wretch is apparently a female slam. huh???????

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I've never heard that before. A wretch can be male or female. Perhaps they're confusing it with wench, which has been used to mean prostitute.

Tinman

Good point, Tinman. I bet you are right.

As far as spouse, Dictionary.com says that it can mean "a marriage partner" or "a husband or wife." Now...couldn't the former definition make it usable for gay marriages? Or, does "spouse" only mean "husband or wife" to people?

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Good point, Tinman. I bet you are right.

As far as spouse, Dictionary.com says that it can mean "a marriage partner" or "a husband or wife." Now...couldn't the former definition make it usable for gay marriages? Or, does "spouse" only mean "husband or wife" to people?

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I think at this point that spouse just means husband or wife, regardless of the nebulous nature of the dictionary definition.