I think political correctness is a great evil. Switching "offensive" words into new words, doesn't change the thing being spoken about. It's like the book '1984' and 'Brave New World'

I hate political correctness. Teenagers in northern California, at least the ones I know, will call others racist at the slightest mention of race, good or bad or for something as neutral as, "All the kids in the Native Speakers Spanish class are Mexican".

I don't see anything wrong with that sentence. If the kids really are of Mexican descent, what's the big deal?

Political correctness is a social movement not a government mandate. There is no punishment for failing to adhere to it besides the disapproval of others.

Me, I adhere to it simply because I think people have a right to be called what they want to be called, ie. I'd say Inuit instead of Eskimo.

Comparisons to 1984 are far-fetched in the least. That book dealt with the concept of thoughtcrime, or official reprisal for going against the political orthodoxy of the day. Rest assured a few indignant liberals aren't going to round you up and send you to Room 101 for using the term "red Indians."

My friend's cousins from the US were thrilled when they arrived for the summer here since they didn't have to be careful what they say all the time, any time. They referred to everyone using the N word.

This isn't entirely true, since government policies and the activities of government officials are informed by social movements. Don't you remember when that mayoral aide in DC was fired for using the word "niggardly"? Non-departmental government bodies in Britain have just received a new list of "potentially offensive" words to avoid including such shockers as "black day", "gentlemen's agreement", and "right-hand man". (See: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1690#more-1690.) Now, I can't imagine someone is going to be summarily dismissed for using one of these terms, but don't you think that continued insistence on ignoring the restrictions could affect an employee's job security?


Except that this is offensive--or, at very least, irritating--to those many Eskimos who are not Inuit!

If people want to continue discussing this topic, it really deserves a separate thread. As I said above, it has even less to do with the original topic of this one than our discursus on evolution!

Outside of public service, the only risk is from employers who adopt a policy of political correctness. But it's one's own choice to work for such an employer, as it is to use the offended terms while knowledgeable of the risk involved.
I'd call them by their own endonyms.

Everyone in Serbia?

I call all my black chickens Ns.

Do you live on a farm or something?