In response to the "Let's Complicate It" thread.... 2

[gbaughma]

I thought it would be fun to start a new thread that is just the "politically correct" things. Be they good or bad, tongue-in-cheek, etc. Let's have some fun with it.

Here we go!

People aren't short - they're Vertically Challenged

He's not dead - He's metabolically challenged

I'm not bald - I'm follically challenged

It's not workman's comp any more... it's workERS comp

It's not a mailman or a policeman, it's a mail carrier, postal carrier, postal worker, and police officer... does that also mean those big metal things in my alley are Person-hole covers?

And I can never keep up with the "current" politically correct words for people of african descent... Black, Negro, African-American.... seems no matter which one I pick, I'm wrong... :S I had a black friend who would keep me up to date on that.

I have a friend who isn't blind, he's "visually challenged"... although he refers to folks who CAN see as being impaired with sight..... lol (actually, he'll tell you he's blind).

Speaking of which... it's amazing how stupid people can be sometimes... (I'm sorry... synapse-challenged)... who, upon realizing my friend is blind, will talk louder. Go figure.

I suppose if someone is missing fingers, OR if they're Amish, they'd be considered digitally challenged.

That's enough for now from me.... hehe... but I'd love to hear some others....



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[Stella740pl]

...does that also mean those big metal things in my alley are Person-hole covers?
Nah. As far as I am concerned, you can continue to call it 'man-hole', as I am not going near one. Cannot tell for all women, though.

 

[columb]

The danger in laughing at the political correctness movement is you risk being the butt of later laughter. I'm sure at the turn of the century no-one, or no-body of caucasion origin, realised that publishing musick of black origin as 'Coon tunes' was in any way offensive. Similarly in the '60s the UK television show 'The Black And White Minstral Show' was not considered offensive despite a de-facto 'no blacks' recruiting policy.

I'm not saying that all political correctness makes sense. The liberal left wing has just as many idiots as the conservative right wing. What I am saying is that what appears to be dangerous left wing nonsense often becomes the norm. Votes for women anybody? Pah, political correctness gone mad! Everyone knows that women belong in the kitchen!

Ceci n'est pas un signature
Columb Healy

 

[CRilliterate]

In my thread everyone missed this part:
________________________________________________

I've just checked my email and got material for this thread.
I sent email to someone asking if my child can attend workshop and she replied:

I don't think it's necessarily appropriate for children.

Isn't it bit too much of a complex responce and plain

"I don't think it's appropriate for children>" would do just fine?

I can tell even more. This workshop can not be classified as 'appropriate' to any age. It is simply if child will benefit from it or not but 'appropriatness' is totally out of question.

So it should have been simply:
I don't think it's intersting for children.

But some people tend to speak or write like that.
__________________________________________________

So I was trying not only to collect 'vertically challenged' expressions but also to research on how people complicating things in real every day life and possibly to find an answer 'why'?
I've heard so many times that Americans tent to speak fast and compact to not to waste pressious time. But what I am seeing is often an opposite like an example above. Just curious why to go extra mile if result is in hand reach distance. Thanks


________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[Stella740pl]

Well, I noticed that one, just didn't mean to address it. Probably some other people did the same.
But here it is.

I don't think that "I don't think it's necessarily appropriate for children." is necessarily exactly the same as "I don't think it's appropriate for children." or "I don't think it's interesting for children." (It might be - but isn't necessarily.)

I also don't think that phrase you quoted is unnecessarily overcomplicated, or has anything to do with wasting time. It is trying to communicated some information to you in a brief and a "politically correct" way.

Say, "I don't think it's appropriate for children." is a flat out rejection of your application, with "I don't think" added for some politeness.

"I don't think it's necessarily appropriate for children." doesn't sound as such. It can be a warning: "It may be not exactly designed for children in form or contents, or interesting for most of them, and your child may be the only one in that workshop, but it is not completely prohibitive. You have been warned; it is your child, so if you still insist now, we might enroll her/him."

The original phrase sounds much more compact now, doesn't it?

 

[sleipnir214]

CRilliterate:
I see the sentence, "I don't think it's necessarily appropriate for children" as a marvelously complex example of a litotes, that form of understatement where you take the opposite of your meaning and negate it. (An example of a litotes is when you describe your friend's blind date as, "He isn't unattractive."

From her response, I would guess that on a scale of -5 to 5, where -5 means "completely inappropriate" and 5 represents "completely appropriate", she was telling you that she thinks the workshop somewhere between a 0 and a -1. She thinks the workshop is inappropriate for children, but only slightly so.

I see her opinion as both diplomatic and succinct.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[CajunCenturion]

Another aspect that the 'necessarily' brings into play is inclusiveness.

To say that it's not necessarily appropriate for children could mean that it is appropriate for some children, but not for others. That depends on the child, and the use of 'necessarily' puts the judgment and responsibility in the hands of the parent.

The necessarily says maybe it's appropriate, and maybe it's not - I'll leave that up to you.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Stella740pl]

CC,
...the use of 'necessarily' puts the judgment and responsibility in the hands of the parent.
The necessarily says maybe it's appropriate, and maybe it's not - I'll leave that up to you.

That's exactly the way I understood it. Thanks for confirming.

 

[CRilliterate]

WOW! Thanks, it was all complicated after all, huh? Thanks again for clarifying.

________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[gbaughma]

Well, CR, way to hijack my thread so now you have *two* on the same subject. <LOL>





Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[mattKnight]

My current two favourite examples of PC:

Black sheep - rainbow sheep ( as in "I am the black sheep of the family")

and

Brainstorming - thought showering

Take Care

Matt
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

 

[mmerlinn]

'Political Correctnes' is the new name for 'Censorship'!




mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[columb]

mmerlin

Can you, in any way, justify your statement that

Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!

I, as bleeding heart, left wing, sandle wearing, Guardian reading, meusli knitting, liberal find political incorrectness deeply offensive, but it sometimes takes courage to stand up to the bully boys and say so.

Sure, we can all have a good laugh at some of the foolishness that goes under the name 'political correctness', but, when most of the stories are investigated, they turn out to be urban myths. I'm sure most of the Brits in this forum will remember the 'Baa Baa Green Sheep' episode. What most people don't know is that it was a complete fabrication designed to discredit the London Borough of Hackney's anti racism program.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[sbix]

Dear columb,
I hope you will excuse me for my bad english, but... I think CR is only saying "They are exagerating with all this stuff of PC speaking".
In Italy we're reaching a such ridicule level of PC thinking that nothing is anymore "bad".
Probably also Mafia will be called as "Legally challenged"... In example, in the school there aren't any bad valutation lower than "not sufficient"... because it could be too depressive for a student. The result is nobody is anymore used to a bad valutation, to a refuse.
Try to tink to have a date with a completely gross, ignorant person... Do you will call "A good manner challenged person"?

 

[columb]

There was a program on BBC television last Sunday about the summer of '76. which, if you're as old as I am, has many vivid memories. One of the more appauling events of the year was the way in which the police provoked the Notting Hill riots with their overtly racist attitudes. In those days you could be arrested on the streets of London simply for looking afro-caribbean.

If anyone back then had suggested that calling people 'wogs', 'nig nogs', 'niggers', or any of the other terms in everyday use, was wrong they would have suggested you were making too much fuss. They wouldn't have said it was political correctness gone mad, because the phrase didn't exist, but that is what they would have meant.

So, what I'm saying now, is that we should be very careful that we don't end up looking like intollerant biggots in thirty years time.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[sbudzynski]

Sometimes we like to "speak" for what we "think" people want or feel. This is just my personal opinion but I think being so overtly PC is putting more emphasis on the differences of people which is what it is "trying" exactly not to do.

But I know there are many many many out there who do take offense to "man-hole cover" and "failing" a class. That is why this is just my personal opinion, the more attention we put toward to trying please everyone, the more attention we put toward our differences.

This is just how I feel, just a comment, not trying to sway anyones opinions

----------

Steve Budzynski


"So, pass another round around for the kids. Who have nothing left to lose and for those souls old and sold out by the soles of my shoes"

 

[columb]

I'll have one more try...
[ol]

[li]Of all the forums on this site we ought to be the ones who recognise the power of words, who recognise that using the right words in the right way is not just 'good grammar' but actually means something.[/li]
[li]Be careful how hard you laugh, I remember when saying that someone 'chaired' a meeting was political correctness gone mad and it was only those crazy women's libbers who insisted. Now it's common practice, and, personally I feel that the tie in with women's long hard road out of the kitchen and into the general workplace is not coincidence.[/li]
[/ol]
Laugh away, but beware looking like a old fossil tomorrow!

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[rosieb]

PC has its place, I'm a Manager - years past, I'd have been a Manageress - and subordinate to real "Managers", irrespective of my responsibility.

However terminology can get silly, I work with a guy who's profoundly deaf - he's not hearing-impaired or aurally challenged - these imply that yelling at him might work, they don't. His email sig says "I am deaf..."

As colomb says, words have power, we have to be conscious of how we use them.

Rosie
"Don't try to improve one thing by 100%, try to improve 100 things by 1%

 

[gbaughma]

I work with a guy who's profoundly deaf -...

I have a very good friend who's blind.
When strangers realize he's blind, 90% of them lean forward and talk louder.

Go figure.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

 

[Trevoke]

Visual recognition. Many people rely on the mouth movements to understand the words when they're not articulated properly, so if he's blind, you need to talk louder because he can't rely on that.

Never mind, of course, the fact that your friend probably understands english just as well as they do without these crutches on which they've come to rely.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"