Talk:Political correctness

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Hearing/deaf[change source]

Calling a Deaf person "hearing impaired" is not politically correct. It would be like the Deaf community calling hearing people "Signing Impaired."

Comments[change source]

I think the article burkes (from William Burke, to smother, suppress, stifle...) some key issues. First, obviously, term used long before the 1990s, especially in American academia.

Then, there's the contrast between U.S. usage and most other parts of the English-speaking world. This is most noticeable about terms which white people may use about black people. Nobody outside the U.S. uses the phrase 'African American', or almost nobody. We have in Britain sizeable communities of people from the Caribbean and from various African countries. You could call a person 'black', or you could describe them as (say) 'Nigerian'. Both terms would be simply factual, and without any 'side' or attitude. Crystal's The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language give a brief history of terms to describe black people in the U.S. on p97. Crystal says that 'black' became the preferred form in the 1960s, and is still the commonest use.

Another angle is the difference between university-type language and that spoken on the streets. It is important in this context because PC has been, and still is, pushed by elite university liberals for reasons which are not entirely clear. Down on the streets people tend to speak more directly. They would tend to say 'deaf as a post' or in contrast 'a bit deaf'.

The issue with PC terms like 'hearing-challenged' is that they are basically vague and unclear, and they are alien to most of the public. Similarly, 'learning difficulty', 'mentally handicapped' are also vague and unclear. 'Disabled' is so broad a term that it covers several million people in the UK, and some 37 million in the U.S. (Crystal p177)

'Political correctness' is itself not a neutral term. It is pejorative, a term of criticism by people who think it is offensive to tell other people how they can or cannot speak in their own language. Lingistically, PC has links to taboo words, jargon and the language in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four called 'Newspeak'. Macdonald-ross (talk) 17:29, 10 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What does this mean?[change source]

"People who are attracted to the same gender are usually referred to as 'homosexual'. Likewise, people who are attracted to people of both genders are usually referred to as "bisexual". However, both of these terms are seen as being perfectly fine by the more politically liberal oriented people. "

How is this related to political correctness? Besides, I think it is today more politically correct to say "gay" or "lesbian" rather than "homosexual". 50.30.176.47 (talk) 03:31, 4 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]