Political correctness

Political correctness (also politically correct, or "PC") is a term used in English-speaking countries to describe real or perceived attempts to impose limits on the acceptable language and terms used in public discussion. While it usually refers to a linguistic phenomenon, it is sometimes extended to cover political ideology or public behavior.

Examples of language modification

Gender-related

• Chairman was replaced by chair, chairperson (or president or some other term).
• Fireman was replaced by fire fighter, and congressman was replaced by member of congress.
• Policeman became policewoman when referring to females; then the term police officer was introduced for both genders.
• Likewise, Army wife, Navy wife, etc., are now Army spouse, etc. Occasionally civilian male spouses of military members will ironically refer to themselves as Navy wives, etc.
• "To boldly go where no man has gone before", from the introductory sequence of ', was changed to "To boldly go where no one has gone before" in ', while preserving the famous split infinitive.
• "Man does not live by bread alone" became "People do not live on bread alone" in the 1996 NIV Inclusive Language Edition of the Bible, .
• Airlines no longer use the term stewardess (nor steward for men), partly due to disparaging stereotypes and the condescending nickname stews. Thus they have replaced it with the gender-neutral term flight attendant.
• The word sex has largely been replaced with the word gender, though gender is incorrect usage; it does not mean male/female, but rather it refers to grammatical masculine/feminine constructs ("steward" vs. "stewardess", or "actor" vs. "actress", for example). The word sex seems to have become an impolite or emotion-charged term, at least in part because it is prevailing verbal shorthand for sexuality and sexual intercourse.
• Lacking a gender-neutral alternative, many actresses now prefer the term "actor" when defining their profession, thus eventually likely rendering the term gender-neutral through common usage.
• TIME Magazine's Man of the Year became Person of the Year.
• The phrase "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me", attributed to Jesus, is frequently changed to "Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me."
• Miss and Mrs. have been supplemented by Ms., providing a word that does not indicate marital status. The term was ridiculed by many when it was first introduced in the 1970s, but over time it has become common usage.
• The 1960s-1970s TV show The Dating Game needed terms for unmarried contestants; bachelor was obvious, but the feminine "equivalent" was the negatively-charged term "spinster", which was only more slightly polite than "old maid"; so the show either coined or popularized the term bachelorette, which has since come into common usage.
• The time-honored "I now pronounce you man and wife" at weddings has largely been replaced by "I now pronounce you husband and wife". Some etymologists find this amusing, as "wife" is Anglo-Saxon for "woman", while "husband" is Anglo-Saxon for "householder". Thus the more "politically correct" usage is unwittingly male supremist, while the original expression was meant to define a moment when both members of a couple officially and legally became equally committed to adulthood.

Disability-related

• A cripple became an invalid, and proceeded through a long sequence of euphemisms, including disabled, handicapped, then disabled again, people with disabilities, differently abled, and physically challenged (the current term in the United States).
• Backward, imbecile, moron, and idiot became mentally retarded, which in turn became slow, then mentally handicapped, then mentally disabled, then mentally challenged. Modern terms used by health and social care professionals include special needs and learning difficulties.

Many terms that were once considered acceptable, even in the medical profession, are now considered out-of-date and offensive. These include spastic for a person with cerebral palsy and mongolism (sometimes mongolian idiocy) for Down Syndrome.

Related Topics:
Spastic - Cerebral palsy - Down Syndrome

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An unintended consequence of the euphemisms for "crippled", a term which merely describes a physical condition, is that the euphemisms contain a message that subliminally tells the persons so-labeled that they should feel resigned to their fate. Famous Baseball team owner Bill Veeck, who had lost a leg due to an injury incurred during World War II, took notable exception to that viewpoint, writing the following in the last chapter of his 1962 autobiography, Veeck - As in Wreck, titled "I'm not handicapped; I'm crippled":

Related Topics:
Baseball - Bill Veeck - World War II - 1962

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:A cripple cannot coddle himself. Once you coddle yourself, you're admitting you can't do what anybody else can do, and then you're through... You will notice I always use the term 'cripple'. It isn't a word you normally hear, is it? It has become customary, in our euphemistic world, to describe us cripples as 'handicapped'... Webster defines 'handicapped' as 'to place at a disadvantage'. I don't believe I am. I believe I can do anything that anybody else can do that doesn't involve quick sprints, high jumps and a fast buck-and-wing. And so, although I am crippled, I am not handicapped.

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In more recent times, Christopher Reeve very publicly adopted a similar attitude, and was a hero to many other paralysis victims, much to the chagrin of what could be called the "physically challenged establishment", some of whom criticized him for characterizing his condition as something that needed to be cured, rather than resigning himself to it. http://abilitymagazine.com/reeve_interview.html In contrast, it was said of the tireless lobbyist Reeve that, "The man who cannot move has not stopped moving." http://www.chrisreevehomepage.com/stillme.html

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Race and ethnic-related

• In the United States over the course of one hundred years, blacks became Negroes, then became blacks again, then became Afro-Americans, then became African-Americans (the current term). In the meantime, the term "colored" came into and went out of use, while the related term "people of color" came into use later on. The term "people of color" refers, in addition to African Americans, to any non-white people.
• Eskimo, a word that has long been viewed as pejorative by the people it refers to, has increasingly been replaced by their own names for themselves, namely Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut.
• Oriental(s), a word that simply means "Eastern(s)", but is often now seen as pejorative by the people it refers to. Distinction is now emphasised on more specifics, such as Asian-American, Chinese-American, Korean-American, Japanese-American, etc., or the country of origin such as Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, etc. Japanese-American itself is being replaced by the recently-coined term AJA (Americans of Japanese Ancestry). People from India are clearly also Asian, but the term "Asian" in this usage means strictly "almond-eyed" Asian people, and not Indians, Pakistanis, etc.
• Hispanic, which was previously the politically correct term, has largely been replaced by Latino or, in some cases, Chicano.
• Indians became Native Americans or Indigenous People in the United States (see Native American name controversy). American Indians and Amerindians are also gaining popularity. Similarly, they became known in Canada as First Nations or aboriginal peoples. (One might contend, however, that using the term Native Americans is more geographically correct than Indians; the original error owed itself to Columbus's poor geography and/or hype.)

One criticism of the practice of political correctness is that it can put well-meaning people in the position of speaking for others without asking their opinion, and thus come across as patronizing. An American Indian-based website http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/009765.asp covered the recent (summer 2005) ruling by the NCAA banning the use of Native American stereotyped mascots in post-season tournaments. The targets of this ruling included Florida State University, whose nickname is the "Seminoles". A major outcry, not just from the school, but much more notably from the Seminole tribe itself, resulted in the NCAA rescinding the rule's application to FSU. One editorial piece cited on that web page had this to say:

Related Topics:
2005 - NCAA - Florida State University - Seminole

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:In its rush to condemn Florida State University for cultural insensitivity, the NCAA steamrolled over the opinions of people who should have mattered most ? actual Seminoles. The NCAA ignored the expressed endorsement of the Seminole Tribe of Florida when it deemed FSU's nickname 'hostile or abusive' and banned it from the post-season. The tribe's decision was brushed aside, as if real-life Seminoles were too stupid to know what to do with their own history and tradition.

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Religious inclusiveness

:See also Terminology alteration

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• Merry Christmas is often replaced with Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings. "Christmas" itself is sometimes replaced on company calendars with generic or secular alternatives.
• Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) are replaced by Common Era (CE) and Before Common Era (BCE).
• In 1998, Birmingham City Council decided to brand a series of entertainments over the Christmas and New Year period Wintervalhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/210672.stm, which opponents claimed to be an attempt to remove the name 'Christmas' (the council denied this interpretation).
• In a 2003 PETsMART television ad, a mid-aged couple is shown with their dog sitting under a Christmas tree, with several Christmas presents under it. The woman then notes, "This is our dog's first holiday." Although the couple is obviously celebrating Christmas, the word is omitted.
• In 2004, Federated Department Stores (which includes Macy's) banned their employees from saying "Merry Christmas" to customers. A small organization, the Committee to Save Merry Christmas, boycotted Federated Department Stores for their ban on mentioning the holiday.
• While Macy's names their November parade the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, the Christmas season parade has been genericized to the Macy's Holiday Parade.
• The debate of political correctness during the Christmas season has become so intense that websites are surfacing that support the continued public celebration of the holiday. These organizations include, but are not limited to, The Grinch List, V-DARE.com's War Against Christmas (since 2000), and The Committee to Save Merry Christmas.

Other

• The elderly became senior citizens. Old person became older (or elderly) person. Satirical songwriter Stan Freberg sensed the P.C. winds in the 1950s, and one response was his new version of a Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein II song, retitled Elderly Man River.
• The ghetto, which once meant a portion of a city in which Jews were purposely segregated, and then evolved to mean a portion of a city in which other minorities (typically African-Americans) were de facto segregrated, was softened to the inner city.
• Alms, once it became a function of government, evolved into poor relief and then became welfare, which in turn morphed into public assistance.
• Soldier, sailor, airman, and marine, while still in use, often yield to military member.
• Foreign students became international students.
• English as a Second Language became English as a Foreign Language, then English as an Additional Language or English for Speakers of Other Languages.
• Problem or conflict became issue.
• Hospital became health care center.
• Doctor or nurse were consigned to the larger umbrella of health care provider.
• A heart attack became a cardiovascular event.
• The Department of Prisons became the Department of Corrections.
• The War Department, together with the Navy Department became the Defense Department in 1947, asserting that the United States does not initiate wars, it only defends against those who do.
• Civilian deaths became collateral damage.
• Mistakenly shooting one's own troops became friendly fire.
• Any reference to the area that consists of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as Greater China, and Taiwan should be referred to as a "place", thus avoiding taking a position on the political status of Taiwan.
• A fat person became a heavyset, large or plus-sized person. Some of these replacements have themselves fallen out of favour, and have in turn been replaced by overweight or inexplicably by obese, a word which is a near-homophone of "a beast" and in Latin means "devouring".
• Juvenile delinquents became troubled youth or children at risk.
• Affirmative action is used to describe preferences based on race, ethnicity and sex. Critics consider it to be a formalized quota system.
• Illegal alien became illegal immigrant (though many if not most illegals are not by definition "immigrants" who intend to relocate to the United States permanently).