Amadeus Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 To make sure that we're all as pc as we should be, and don't offend anyone anywhere, here's the list of the: Top Politically inCorrect Words and Phrases for 2005: From Global Language Monitor 1. Misguided Criminals for Terrorist: The BBC attempts to strip away all emotion by using what it considers neutral descriptions when describing those who carried out the bombings in the London Tubes. The rub: the professed intent of these misguided criminals was to kill, without warning, as many innocents as possible (which is the common definition for the term "terrorist"). 2. Intrinsic Aptitude (or lack thereof) was a suggestion by Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, on why women might be underrepresented in engineering and science. He was nearly fired for his speculation. 3. Thought Shower or Word Shower substituting for brainstorm so as not to offend those with brain disorders such as epilepsy. 4. Scum or "la racaille" for French citizens of Moslem and North African descent inhabiting the projects ringing French Cities. France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, used this most Politically inCorrect (and reprehensible) label to describe the young rioters (and by extension all the inhabitants of the Cites). (I guess that's "Sandfrog" out of the window as well then..) 5. Out of the Mainstream when used to describe the ideology of any political opponent: At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream. What's so great about being in the mainstream? 6. Deferred Success as a euphemism for the word fail. The Professional Association of Teachers in the UK considered a proposal to replace any notion of failure with deferred success in order to bolster students self-esteem. 7. Womyn for Women to distance the word from man. This in spite of the fact that the term man in the original Indo-European is gender neutral (as have been its successors for some 5,000 years). 8. C.E. for A.D.: Is the current year A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.? There is a movement to strip A.D. (Latin for Year of our Lord) from the year designation used in the West since the 5th century and replace it with the supposedly more neutral Common Era (though the zero reference year for the beginning of the Common Era remains the year of Christs birth). 9. "God Rest Ye Merry Persons" for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen": A Christmas, eh, Holiday, carol with 500 years of history is not enough to sway the Anglican Church at Cardiff Cathedral (Wales) from changing the original lyrics. 10. Banning the word Mate: the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in any dealings they might have with both members of the Parliament and the public. What next? banning Down Under so as not to offend those living in the Up Over. Holiday Bonus: Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings for Christmas (which in some UK schools now label Wintervale. (In the word X-Mas, the Greek letter 'Chi' represented by the Roman X actually stands for the first two letters of the name Christ.) Last year the Top Politically Incorrect words were: Los Angeles Countys insistence of covering over with labels any computer networking protocols that mention master/slave jargon. Following closely were non-same sex marriage for marriage, and waitron for waiter or waitress. There you have it, mate: All men and womyn in the year 2005 C.E. should have a thought shower on how to let misguided criminals experience some deferred success.... Happy Wintervale, everyone ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 10. Banning the word Mate: the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in any dealings they might have with both members of the Parliament and the public. What next? banning Down Under so as not to offend those living in the Up Over. Damn right! This isn't political correctness it is good manners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keristal Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 [ Damn right! This isn't political correctness it is good manners. Australians and good manners???????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 There is no reason why they can't aspire to it. It is good to see their leaders attempting to drag their population out of the gutter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Well i won't be changing the word Christmas into Wintervale Infact i won't change any words which are apparently incorrect, PC is utter shite and nothing should be changed just because it offends a minority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 nothing should be changed just because it offends a minority. Why not? Seems to me that a lot of what is derided as PC is actually good manners. If something particularly offends someone why not avoid that word. In daily life you do this all the time. For example, if some has just lost a loved one you don't start cracking jokes about funerals. Now this isn't to say that some attempts - Wintervale being a prime example - aren't misguided bollocks, which often come people over-thinking an issue, and not from the minorities themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 4. Scum or "la racaille" for French citizens of Moslem and North African descent inhabiting the projects ringing French Cities. France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, used this most Politically inCorrect (and reprehensible) label to describe the young rioters (and by extension all the inhabitants of the Cites). (I guess that's "Sandfrog" out of the window as well then..) 8. C.E. for A.D.: Is the current year A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.? There is a movement to strip A.D. (Latin for Year of our Lord) from the year designation used in the West since the 5th century and replace it with the supposedly more neutral Common Era (though the zero reference year for the beginning of the Common Era remains the year of Christs birth). I always thought that there was no year Zero.?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 There is a difference, IMHO, between avoiding truly offensive terms and dressing up terms for things which everyone identifies. E.g. calling Moslems generically "rag heads" is offensive, whereas calling the London train bombers "terrorists" is not. We all know what a terrorist is and, by the look of things, the individuals lived up to that definition! Changing the terms used to refer to them, doesn't change what they did or how people view them. As always though, its a question of degree. Most people, I think, would not like to offend individuals or groups and prefer to respect their fellow man. But I think PC has just gone too far in trying to enforce that beyond what most would believe is a reasonable degree of respect and regard. It is making us look for reasons to be offended in everyday language. What rot! What is wrong with saying someone has failed an exam? They took the exam and didn't reach the target pass mark. What does deferred success mean? It promises that a pass will be achieved in the future, which just may not be true. Was my failure at Chemistry CSE (yes, that's just about the level where they let you light a bunsen burner) really a deferred success because I'm still waiting for it?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 nothing should be changed just because it offends a minority. Why not? Seems to me that a lot of what is derided as PC is actually good manners. If something particularly offends someone why not avoid that word. In daily life you do this all the time. For example, if some has just lost a loved one you don't start cracking jokes about funerals. Now this isn't to say that some attempts - Wintervale being a prime example - aren't misguided bollocks, which often come people over-thinking an issue, and not from the minorities themselves. Yes most of what has derided from PC is good manners, But now its all gone to far and Its going to be hard to monitor when i say words like Christmas, Women and Mate, Does anybody find these words offensive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 I find mate offensive. Depends on context. Being called mate by a friend isn't offensive. But being called it by an officious security guard or truculent shop assistant it is bloody offensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster2005 Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 I find mate offensive. Depends on context. Being called mate by a friend isn't offensive. But being called it by an officious security guard or truculent shop assistant it is bloody offensive. Most people have no problem with 'mate'. It's a good idea as it helps prevent the old class addresses like Sir, Madam and bollocks like that. Do the police object to being called 'pigs' though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Jampton Posted November 21, 2005 Share Posted November 21, 2005 I've been to Oz recently and found the Aussie's very polite. Being told "No worries, Mate" was not in the slightest bit unsettling. We could be with some of them in our shops and bars. I find "Guys" a little irritaiting at times, I prefer the term "blokes" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonan3 Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 'Mate' is no more offensive than 'Yissir' or 'Soul.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirdick Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 Being told "No worries, Mate" was not in the slightest bit unsettling. It's ok when said like that. But when it's said in a condescending manner, then it's annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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