Politically Correct --- or not.

Your thoughts.

What things is it ok to be Politically Correct about, and which, in your opinion, are just plain, downright, stupid?

I like ethnic jokes, not insulting ones--just funny ones They are not politically correct any longer.

Such as:

A Norwegian and a Scotsman were hunting when they lost their way.

Soon they were down to their last morsel of food. They agreed to each sink their teeth into it and wrestle for it.

Gritting and clamping his teeth tightly the Scotsman said, "Are you ready?'

'Yah," replied the Norwegian.

I think a lot of politically correct is situational. My friends are diverse in age and ethnicity and religion. We tend to respect each other's differences by using respectful language and telling stories that belittle no one but are a hoot. Well, one of my friends is a definite blond, and we do tell blond jokes; but lately, they seem to substitute a redhead.....

I think the entire idea of political correctness is stupid.

There speaks a wise man.

You got it right Dick.
Who wants to be politically correct? The first thing to correct is taking out the word political. As for being correct, that is subjective.

Hi
Yes, PC is pathetic!!
Taffy was derrogatory term applied to the Welsh but not any more because the Welsh are proud of being Welsh/Taffies.
Is it a fact that the people who have the 'P' word applied to them are not proud of being a 'P'? Just asking!
Luigie

Tell that to the two 16 year old girls I broke up today who were fighting over "respect." They were from two different cultures and the "lack of respect" was politically incorrect words and behavior. I'm lucky only one had a black eye.

It depends on which side of the word line you stand. On one side, it's "homey" talk; on the other, it's a rumble.

Hi dlchristie
I guess you're right. I think it is a question of political maturity. My mothers people from North Wales did not like the term 'Taffy' whereas my father, from South Wales, was very proud to be called 'Taffy'.

Quote :

Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief;Taffy came to my house and stole a piece of beef;I went to Taffy's house, Taffy wasn't in;I jumped upon his Sunday hat and poked it with a pin.
Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a shame;Taffy came to my house and stole a piece of lamb;I went to Taffy's house, Taffy was away,I stuffed his socks with sawdust and filled his shoes with clay.
Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a cheat,Taffy came to my house, and stole a piece of meat;I went to Taffy's house, Taffy not there,I hung his coat and trousers to roast before a fire.

This version seems to have been particularly popular in the English counties that bordered Wales, where it was sung on Saint David's Day (1 March) complete with leek-wearing effigies of Welshmen. The image of thieving Welshmen seems to have begun to die down by the mid-twentieth century, although the insulting rhyme was, still sometimes used along with the name "Taffy" for any Welshman.

Perhaps one day the people concerned will be happy to be called by the 'P' word, like the Welsh today. I have yet to hear the 'P' word being applied as insulting as the word Taffy to Welshmen.
So my advice to them is to 'grow up'.
Luigie

For anyone who may not be familiar with the P-word, P is for Paki, a general term for any Asian and not just an immigrant from Pakistan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6740445.stm

That stuff goes as far back as I can remember, which is pretty far back. In the rugged industrial east end of Akron you had to be halfway intelligent to remember who was a hunky, spic, dago, jig, mick, kraut, greaser, polack and on and on.
I have mention before the three weeks spent guarding Polish and Russian men who had been coerced into fighting on the side of the Germans. They usually got along fine, but when things got heated up for some reason the worst insults they could hurl were "Russkie" and "Polskie."
Nothing will ever end it. Those who try are wasting their time.

Me? I'm a Brit.

I taught for 14 years at a school that was required to do a regular ethnic count, since we were a magnet school, and had to show that our percentages were the same as the district as a whole.

I understood the reasons behind it, but carrying it out was sometimes difficult, because I had to stop and think for a few seconds before I knew which group to put each them in, since I didn't "see" any one of them as different from any other.

And the classic case was the beautiful young man I had for a couple of years, who had kinky red hair, green eyes, golden skin with freckles, and whose last name was Rodriguez. Where was I supposed to put him???

Ann

Put him wherever, just so long as it wasn't in the cloak room with you. Now that would be very much not PC.

My point being that had you called him a "beautiful young man" at the time and in public, you may have opened up yourself and the school for all kinds of legal actions.

Shelagh wrote:

Me? I'm a Brit.

A Limey, huh?

When my troop ship was pulling into a dock at Liverpool a bunch of guys were unloading a barge. Someone near me yelled, "Hey, Limeys!" They all looked up, laughing. One yelled back, "We're not Limeys, we're Irish over here getting rich off the Limeys."
Just a bunch of Micks.

Blimey, Dick, I'm a Lancashire lass. Sorry I missed you on the troop ship -- I wasn't even a glint in my father's eye at the time.

About political correctness: the idiom "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" is used to counter harsh words, name calling or criticism. If you turn the sentence around -- words will never hurt me but sticks and stones may break my bones -- then you can see that advocates of political correctness may very well, inadvertently, subject minority groups to more aggressive behaviour than verbal taunts. If you insist on children adopting polite language at all times, they will probably lash out with their fists instead of their mouths. Anger is part of our survival instincts and suppressing our feelings 24/7 is just not healthy.

Well said, Shelagh. We all need to get things off our chests and relieve tension at times. Humor is helpful. A funny story is funny when taken at face value and in the spirit of the moment. Too much analysis is a tension builder.

PC or not PC?
That is the question.
The point of all the "hoohaa" over Political Correctness is not to offend anyone.
But alas it has turned into a political weapon that is often used to segregate and divide.
Put an 'ism' or 'ist' on the end of a word and anyone can join the PC hulabaloo.
Politics is what it's all about. How many politicians are ever correct? They lie, cheat and duck and dive to avoid direct answers to questions. They are seldom correct and when they are it is only because they have something to gain by being so.
Much of what used to be considered humour has now been labled politcally incorrect. Litrature has suffered also, for example Winnie the Pooh has come under the hammer of political correctness. I hear Disney have decided to make Christopher Robin a girl. Why?
PC is mostly madness.
Still what do I know I'm only a Doozie.

You're a Doozie, David? If an Australian is an Aussie does that make a Canadian canny and a Sicilian silly? Are the Brit awards non-PC? Wouldn't it be boring if we had to use "Briton" and "British" all the time? If it's okay for us, why do we have to stop abbreviating other nationalities? Isn't it a case of the tail wagging the dog?

10/10/2009

Your all correct..I had a friend who was a film editor
in New York ( She's gone now ) She used to tell me
Politicians , " Dazzle them with their intellect and
Baffle them with your bullsh****t.

Cheers..Joe

Let George Carlin set you straight about plain talk.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy35yiIZfSc

Victor posted a link to a BBC article about the word "migrant" and how it is becoming politically incorrect to use the term as a general description of people moving from one country to another:  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34061097

Interesting analysis about the use of words to describe "Migrant", "Refugee" or "Asylum Seeker".  An appropriate definition is needed to describe the situation since there are laws that govern the classification.  Who will decide the classification will be a problem.  Everyone will want the classification that gives the greater benefit. 
It is easy to asssume that people coming from Syria are Refugees.  Those coming from Africa and other non-combat regions are assumed to be either migrants or Asylum seekers.  Migrants for the most part appear to seek better economic conditions. 
Wandering is part of some cultures.  The Bedouins are desert wanderers.  They plop down wherever it suits them on land owned by no one private.  The conditions change when a wanderer takes up space that is privately owned.  Taking up space on publicly owned property, i.e., public parks is still resisted.  A dilemma to be sure.