How PC are you..

[MA-Caver]

I worked in a literacy agency in the eighties that also advocated for disabled people, and nobody talked that way. However, one of our meeting rooms in the rear of the building faced the lobby of a very expensive condominium complex. The managers of that building asked us to draw our blinds, just in case the wheel chairs upset their residents and visitors.

See that's the kind of stupid thinking (not yours Gordon) that we need to get rid of... not partially, but completely. It puts a lie to what's really out there. It hides the truth.
I don't think the word disabled is a bad one either... it still says that the person referred to does still have limitations. But technology IS getting better and better all the time. So should our attitudes.

 

[Sukerkin]

Well, that's the whole point isn't it... the kids. Learning from their fathers/older brothers to "hate the race". Years of listening to the fixed opinions/beliefs of or a tirade of hatred against this or that people and the kid grows up believing that

I'm not so sure. The point that I was hinting at is that things have changed for the worse in the past twent years. There were those who were so deeply mired in one-dimensional 'race hatred' that they would never change but nearly everyone I knew, of whatever ethnicity, got along perfectly well. Indeed, the myth of White Boy Racism was just that; the worst racsm I ever saw was between Indians and Pakistani's. Now it is as if passions are being manoeuvered to pit each facet of the society against each other.

I still believe that change can come

There we sadly diverge; at least in terms of whether the change will be positive or negative.

Things will get worse before they get better, I feel. Much worse. Tho' I do hope that we can still gently coach people into not dividing along racial and religious lines, I don't think it's going to happen any time soon - the 'tide' has reversed somehow.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that soon this country will see the 'rivers of blood' that Enoch Powell spoke of all those years ago. The BNP is growing in underground influence. They are gaining members on the regional councils and speaking of things that, on the surface, make so much sense to the ordinary person who feels disadvantaged in their own country by those of different religion or nationality.

It is the classic tactics of division and diversion and it's very scary to see it at work. To my mind, Political Correctness plays right into the hands of such people. It is the scenario of the Road to Hell being paved with Good Intentions.

EDIT: Actually, reading through the above, I think I'm a bit too tired for a discussion of this depth . Too emotional and Tin-Foil-Hat Conspiracy Theory I reckon .

However, the circumstance that Gordon raised in his last paragraph is a true eye-widener .

 

[Gordon Nore]

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that soon this country will see the 'rivers of blood' that Enoch Powell spoke of all those years ago. The BNP is growing in underground influence. They are gaining members on the regional councils and speaking of things that, on the surface, make so much sense to the ordinary person who feels disadvantaged in their own country by those of different religion or nationality.

It is the classic tactics of division and diversion and it's very scary to see it at work. To my mind, Political Correctness plays right into the hands of such people. It is the classic scenario of the Road to Hell.

I just read up on the BNP. They've got everything but the swastika.

 

[thardey]

Now that does bother me. Did the teacher actually call it a "PC guideline." We're getting into Carlin's issue of context here. One can't simply expunge words from the language.

Yeah, it wasn't a set of "rules" but it was definitely a guideline. It was in the form of Memo given to all the students in her class, and posted on the wall, alongside the format required for submitting papers, works cited pages, and the like.

That was actually my first introduction of the concept of "Politically Correct." Needless to say, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Yeah, some Southerners would prefer not to be called "Yanks," but coming from a Brit, I think many would remember that you see us differently, and would correct you with non-violent means. They wouldn't expect a foreigner to understand about the "War of Northern Aggression."

Technically, only New England, or the colonies North of the Mason-Dixon line would be considered Yankees.

 

[Tez3]

The problem with words is that even in countries speaking the same language they have different meanings, we've been over this before though. To the Europeans and the British Socialism and liberalism are totally different things than they are to the Americans, hence much antaogonistic arguing when we are in fact talking about different things.

I do think a lot of the PC talk is actually made up by media and perhaps politicians too to discredit others, the word blind is still used here to describe people who can't see, The Royal National Institute for the Blind is still going strong with it's original name as it's deaf counterpart, my friend is a sign language interpreter and the deaf still call themselves deaf. Disabled is still the word used unless a medical description is used as in paraplegic. During the recent Para Olympics nobodiy was using the word challenged other than its proper usage it. Retard is not a word thats really ever been used here other than as an insult, people were usually called 'backward', usually now 'learning difficulties' is used which is probably a more accurate description anyway.

The BNP otherwise known as the National Front does have the swastika in it's paramilitary group Combat 18, the 18 part is Hitlers bithday which is celebrated. Nasty, nasty people.

 

[jarrod]

i approach political correctness is just like anything else: i try to put myself in the other person's position & if i wouldn't like it, i don't do it.

sukerkin, didn't english sailors carry lots of limes with them to ward off scurvy?

jf

 

[Sukerkin]

:tup: It's a pleasure to see quite a few respondants correctly detailing what the practical roots of the derogatory term "Limey" were.

 

[jarrod]

sukerkin, maybe you can answer this for me: i know irish are sometimes called micks, which i've always assumed derived from the prefix of Mc/Mac in front of many irish names. is there a derogatory term for scottish, welsh, or manx folks?

jf

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, we do have such terms. I was going to call them 'nicknames' but for many people they are still insulting so that would make too light of them.

The Scottish receive the sobriquet of "Jock" whilst the Welsh get "Taffies". As far as I know, the Manx have not had the 'honour' of a specific derogatory name.

 

[Tez3]

Aye, we do have such terms. I was going to call them 'nicknames' but for many people they are still insulting so that would make too light of them.

The Scottish receive the sobriquet of "Jock" whilst the Welsh get "Taffies". As far as I know, the Manx have not had the 'honour' of a specific derogatory name.

Taffy is derogatory as it comes with a rhyme which is libellious if I write it down! A lot of Scots don't like being called Jock I know. It has a lot to do with the context it's used in too I think.

 

[Drac]

Limes eaten on ships to prevent scurvy? (I heard the RN got very tired of sucking on lemons)

Wahhhh I wanted to say it...

 

[Drac]

"Politically Incorrect and Proud of It."

I am like you Drac

Thanks Guys....

 

[Xue Sheng]

How PC am I...

not at all.

 

[KempoGuy06]

i call it how i see it. i express my opinion and share my views and people usually get mad but thats how it is.

Im not an a** or anything, im very nice and very polite. I was taught to adress people as sir or ma'am, I shake the hand of every US troop I meet but i express my opinion when I want to thats also how i was raised

B

 

[thardey]

:tup: It's a pleasure to see quite a few respondants correctly detailing what the practical roots of the derogatory term "Limey" were.

Done right, Lime, sugar, water, and rum (Grog) is my hands-down favorite drink!
%-}
(Does that make me a "Limey" too? - jk!)

I always thought it had to do with the cliffs.

 

[MA-Caver]

Taffy is derogatory as it comes with a rhyme which is libellious if I write it down! A lot of Scots don't like being called Jock I know. It has a lot to do with the context it's used in too I think.

Heh... send it over to the AfterDark section of this forum...

 

[JBrainard]

So just how PC are you really?? Do you use the word challenged alot aka someone who is blind is visually challlenged or do you say blind?? You get my drift..I am not PC as much as I should be...I have been known to get into peoples faces when they refer to someone who cannot speak or hear as deaf and dumb, that REALLY honks me off..So where do you draw the line???

I'm as PC as the situation warrants. At work I'm very PC. With friends and people I know well I'm not PC (I don't use slurrs except in the correct context of course). And, when in doubt, I just feel out the situation. If someone wants to be called visually challenged instead of blind, I'll call them visually challenged out of respect for thier wishes.
I dunno, the whole "PC" thing seems to bug a lot of people, but I really don't think that it's that big of a deal. Just speak to people the way you would want them to speak to you, even if it sometimes seems silly.

 

[chrispillertkd]

I'm not PC at all. A couple people mentioned that they are simply polite and courteous. That would be what I try to do. I don't swear or use profanity when talking to people and don't use racial slurs. That's not being politically correct, IMHO, it's called trying not to be a boor and a bigot.

I will say this, I have noticed that some people who claim to be PC still engage in using slurs when referring to ceertain groups of people. For example, I have heard more than one PC maven refer to rednecks, using the term as an insult, as well as referring to Evangelical Christians and Catholics in very insulting ways. Apparently political correctness only goes so far. Go figure. Which is one reason why I think it would simply be better to treat others the way you want to be treated instead of the current "speech codes" being foisted on people.

The point a few people made about political correctness doing damage to English is a good one, too, and I tend to think that the whole endeavor goes hand in hand with "inclusive language" which seems to have been invented by people who don't know basic grammar.

Pax,

Chris

PS
This whole "limey" thing intrigues me. I have known about the term and its origin for years (half my family is form England orginally). I have always wondered, however, how a practice that was used to ward of scurvy became an insult. Why would the one's who were not getting scurvy be insulted? I just think that somehow the whole thing should be reversed, somehow.

 

[jkembry]

Hi all....I finally made it back after a 3 month stint of getting use to a new job. PC...not very...unless the situation warrants it. And certainly not PC if it involves speaking something that is not the truth. The way I see it if my bosses ask a question they deserve to be told the truth...without sugar coating it.

Happy to be back online again.

 

[jarrod]

Aye, we do have such terms. I was going to call them 'nicknames' but for many people they are still insulting so that would make too light of them.

The Scottish receive the sobriquet of "Jock" whilst the Welsh get "Taffies". As far as I know, the Manx have not had the 'honour' of a specific derogatory name.

Taffy is derogatory as it comes with a rhyme which is libellious if I write it down! A lot of Scots don't like being called Jock I know. It has a lot to do with the context it's used in too I think.

any knowledge of where those terms came from?

trivia: "cracker" for an american white is short for "whip-cracker"

jf