Manoeuvring the Maze of Political Correctness

Nowadays, it is not enough to just know something. You also have to be able to say it in a way that does not offend another person. Speaking freely is no longer an option. The important thing is to be politically correct.

Semantics were just a topic in literature. Today however, semantics can get one into a lot of trouble with the law. If you want to survive in this day and age, and continue enjoying your freedom, you have to learn what you are allowed to say, how you are allowed to say it, and who you are allowed to say it to. In short, you have to be politically correct in all you say.

She or He
It has always been considered cumbersome in both writing and speaking to use both gender references. It has been seen to be okay to use the masculine to represent both male and female. This is no longer the case. The lady who taught me how to write was very categorical. “You have to include both whenever you write!”

The Disabled

This is one aspect of political correctness that makes sense to me. I recently read of a person who is visually impaired talk of being a person living with blindness. She said that it is important for the person to be the subject of the statement. This is as opposed to the other way round when the blindness is made the subject. This applies to all forms of disability. The correct way to refer to them is ‘Persons with Disability’ and not ‘Disabled People’.

Miss, Mrs, and Ms

This is a very sensitive area that goes beyond political correctness. Miss is a title of respect for an unmarried woman while Mrs is that for a married woman. Ms is a title of respect for a woman but it does not indicate her marital status. Ms is therefore the politically correct form of address for any respectable woman because as it turns out, marital status is a private matter.

Fat People

It is politically incorrect to refer to anybody (especially a woman) as fat irrespective of how obviously fat, she or he is. The correct way to describe such people is ‘plus size’. It is also allowable to call them ‘size sexy’.

B.C. and A.D.

Our reference to the passage of time has always been based on the life and times of Jesus Christ. B.C. denotes ‘Before Christ’ which refers to the time before Jesus walked the earth. The interesting thing about B.C. time is that it is counted backward. The year before Christ is 1 B.C. while something that happened 3000 years before Christ is said to have taken place in 3000 B.C. The years after the time of Christ are denoted A.D. This is an acronym for Anno Domini which is Latin for ‘the year of the Lord’.

Due to sensitivity for those who do not ascribe to the Christian faith, it is now politically incorrect to refer to either B.C. or A.D. The politically correct way to talk about the two eras is ‘Before Common Era’ (B.C.E), and ‘Common Era’ (C.E) respectively.

Christmas Greetings

Still in line with liberation from religious affiliation, the December festive season which has been built around Christmas day is changing. With a constantly reducing number of Christians, it is becoming increasingly improper to send general Christmas greetings. The politically correct form of greetings to send in December is Season’s Greetings.

Slang Attack!

There are words and names which were perfectly innocent and proper to use in everyday conversation. This is not the case anymore. One has to be alert to know which words slang has captured and made vulgar.

One of the first James Bond movies went by the title of ‘Goldfinger’ and was released in 1964. Among the villains was a girl by the name of Pussy Galore. I recently watched the movie and although it is really good, I was unable to enjoy it as much as I did when I first watched it in the 80s. The reason for this is the name of this girl which I found completely inappropriate and politically incorrect in this day and age.

In the same 1980s, there was a popular brand of chewing gum in Kenya known as Pussy Cat. If it was to be sold today, it would only be marketed at stag parties. It is now also impossible to name cats in the village. When I was growing up, they were all fondly referred to as Pussy, but not anymore for obvious reasons!