"PC gone mad and the slow erosion of language" Topic

Its a sad day when terms that we take for granted are deemed to have offensive meanings….

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"Spanish practices" can happen all over Europe.

OK, that's one I've never heard of…

Double-plus ungood!

That's a new one on me, but then there are those illiterate idiots who thought "Niggardly" was a racial epithet.

"niggardly" (noun: "niggard") is an adjective meaning "stingy" or "miserly", perhaps related to the Old Norse verb nigla = "to fuss about small matters". It is cognate with "niggling", meaning "petty" or "unimportant", as in "the niggling details".

"Political Correctness" is an oxymoron – it IS political, but hardly ever correct.

Wyatt

Spanish Practices (apparently) are "irregular or restrictive practices in workers' interests" as below from Wiki..

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Prior to reading this I thought it was what the South American girl in the house up the road offered…..

Well, they can kiss my [no colour specified] %#$.

Define "we".

Define "banned".

No more French leave…….? Or letters, for that matter…

Doug

Like I said, there is only a finite amount of intelligence on this planet and the population keeps expanding …

The only thing that cannot be banned is human stupidity. If we could ban that, there would be no more suggestions on the political correctness list!

I really do hate the "banning" of words, and my sympathies about your computer.
-Kle.

So, I wonder how far the PC Police will take this? I guess we haven't reached the limit just yet.

In the meantime, while we're sanitizing our language, we can enjoy listening to advertisements about premature ejaculation and feminine itching, not to mention being bombarded with images of just about every sexual perversion man can think of. Funny how the world works. Quoting a line from a popular song from my day, "It's a mixed-up, mould-up, shook-up world".

Sorry for being so frank, but that's the state of our society. I feel we could do much, much better.

C'mon, people. No one "bans" words. Words exist despite the efforts of editors adn bureaucrats.

But there are words that have been used as weapons, to denigrate, to marginalize, even to control and destroy. Over time, those of good will recognize that those whose designs are evil have blighted these words with their abuse, and in turn, choose not to use them.

Sometimes, as here, certain entities try to get ahead of the curve, and it is usually ill-advised. All it does is allow those who seek to abuse and control to use the term "Political Correctness" as yet another weapon.

It's simple enough. If you're a decent person, use the words you don't believe will give offense, and you rarely will. Laugh at over-reactions such as these. But don't fall prey to the agenda of those with dark desires. That's where true madness lies.

Allen

I guess it's not all black and white.

"…dark desires." "Dark and Light" is yet another PC area. I'm grateful to be old and not to have face much more "progress" in the world.

Sorry, I'm just an old Manichaean…

I struggle with the idea that a phrase or similar that has been around for ages and referred to a particular "thing" or "practice" with no intention of malice, now becomes a member of the "watch what you say list". I also agree 100% that people deliberately use words that are offensive or designed to be offensive but there is a difference between the two.
Meanings change, usage changes and then language seems to cross some invisible divide and becomes unusable or subject to criticism depending on who interprets them. I was in court once after arresting a person for assaulting his wife (badly I might add)) and then me (not so badly), and using language that would make a docker blush. One of the phrases was "you ing white c***". The charge related to the C word and not the colour connotation (I'd be rich if I got a dollar everytime someone used the race card when I arrested them), but the magistrate made the judgement that the phrase reflected acceptable outrage on the part of the offender. However, the fact I said to the offender that "I don't care if you are white, black, brindle or purple with yellow dots – you hit your wife and I'll arrest you" was deemed to be offensive to the offender and I was chastised. So now I often wonder if those who prohibit/ban/discourage use of, words that may be offensive are any better than those who they claim denigrate others by their use….

Ay, ay, ay. Demasiados idiotas al mando hoy dia!

CC

yes indeed; the lunatics are in charge of the asylum….