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Is PC still relevant?

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May 23, 2012, 17:19
Geoff
Is PC still relevant?
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
May 23, 2012, 19:35
<Proofreader>
Yes, I do, although I am being politically correct in saying so.
May 23, 2012, 20:39
Kalleh
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.
May 24, 2012, 15:52
wordmatic
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
May 24, 2012, 20:46
Kalleh
Yes, WM, you are right. There is very little "stifling" these days!
May 25, 2012, 15:46
bethree5
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...
May 25, 2012, 17:04
<Proofreader>
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."
May 25, 2012, 20:05
Kalleh
You might be right, Bethree. I wonder what that parent did with "Little Black Sambo," which, by the way, was one of my favorite stories as a child.

That's amazing, proof. Is it really true?
May 27, 2012, 00:07
arnie
quote:
Is it really true?

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.
May 27, 2012, 06:16
Geoff
quote:
"Little Black Sambo," which, by the way, was one of my favorite stories as a child.


Annnnnnd.... not an African!


It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti