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Subject:Shouting down the majority From:Tom Eagles <teagles -at- DERIVION -dot- com> To:"'Mike Stockman'" <stockman -at- jagunet -dot- com>, "Tech Writing List (E-mail)" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 18 May 2000 10:54:05 -0400
Mike Stockman wrote:
> 1) There is no "political correctness" movement.
> 3) There's no "slippery slope" here.
Tradition and language are like breathing and oxygen. Restricting words
because tiny minorities of us are offended chokes the colour and life out of
our language. Obviously, you shouldn't use words that were CREATED to offend
(we all know examples of those), but when words such as master and slave are
considered offensive, I can only gag. We need to examine WHY people are
offended by a certain term. If the reason is not valid, then it's not an
acceptable reason to restrict the use of that word. What's valid? Well, if
the words "German" and "Nazi" were used interchangeably in a text book, I'd
be offended. Is "Nazi" a descriptive term? Yes. Was I offended in that
famous episode of Seinfeld, by the use of the term "Soup Nazi?"
No, of course not. It was apt, descriptive, and yes, humourous. Did it
belittle those who suffered through the holocaust? That would certainly be a
stretch. Did it offend Germans? Germans aren't the only ones to have
experienced that form of oppression. Did it offend chefs? Who cares! ;)
> Write effectively. Period.
As a male who is incapable of menstruating, I'm offended by the
gender-limiting term, "period." <BG>
And, as a previous poster said, we're perilously close to beating a dead
horse here. Oops. Didn't mean to offend animal-rights activists. <g>
