David Crystal avers in this book http://virtuallinguist.typepad...sh-in-100-words.html that the term, "Political Correctness" has begun to lose relevance and is disappearing, due mainly to the absurdities committed in its name. While I certainly agree with Crystal, you may not. Do you still think the term has merit if used judiciously?
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
Well, I don't think Crystal has the best reputation here on WC. I think the phrase is still relevant, though I do agree that some have gone way overboard in using it. So I guess I am somewhere in the middle.
I'm not sure it is, what with so many people NOT "stifling themselves" these days, as Archie Bunker would have put it. I'm sure it is alive and well on university and college campuses, where a great effort is made to teach students to be civil, not always successfully.
WM
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
I think I may have forgotten to share with y'all: sometime in the last 6 mos a Spanish teacher in my UK email group told how a parent complained to the principal that their young child was being taught the word 'negro' (Sp. for the color black)in school! Tho' most laughed this off as a fluke, the incident may reveal that PC has mainstreamed to middle-class England...
Posts: 2605 | Location: As they say at 101.5FM: Not New York... Not Philadelphia... PROUD TO BE NEW JERSEY!
My favorite was when the newspapers printed the story about a runner whose last name was Gay whho had won a big race. They announced "Homosexual wins race."
Yes. It was a far-right Christian paper that objected to the use of the word "gay" in this way. They had set up a search-and-replace to change instances of "gay" to "homosexual" in agency reports. Then Tyson Gay won a 100m race...
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
