You can call them just short. I would simply give their exact height and leave it at that. The only reason that I might want to keep the term “midget” is that it allows for a distinction between being a dwarf (which means that the limbs are not in proportion) and being a midget (which is being extremely short while still being in proportion). But there are many different kinds of dwarfism anyway, so maybe that’s an irrelevant distinction.
“Little people” IS considered PC. Like I said above, from my reading, it was a compromise to begin with. It’s also thirty or forty years old. It’s a silly euphemism.
Even doctors don’t do the old dwarf/midget distinction anymore. For one thing, there’s a whole lot fewer proportioned people around, except for those who are short due to kidney problems or something. And the distinction itself came out of show business. Midgets trumped dwarfs because their proportions looked better. There are, I’ve read, a few LPA (Little People of America) oldtimers who are still uncomfortable with dwarf, probably because of that, though there have been at least a few attemps to change the organization’s name. LPA is, at least, better than “Midgets of America,” which is what the first meeting was called. It was those folks who came up with “little person,” as an attempt to put everybody on the same footing.
The terminology debate is huge and ongoing and everybody seems to have their own idea of what is okay and what is not. IMHO only, “midget” is acceptable in a very few contexts. I do not condemn people who use it without knowing those contexts, unless they are being blatantly insulting. “Little person” grates on me more and more. “Dwarf” is fine. I don’t go in for the PC-speak like “person with blahblah.” Some do.
Short is always safe. Anybody who’s around four feet tall (most are in that range) who gets offended at “short” is in serious denial.
I’m glad I’ve been reading this thread, because although I know that “little person” is the PC term I previously would have assumed that “midget” was second-best, with “dwarf” being fairly offensive. I mean, dwarves are little fantasy creatures, right? But I suppose were I a very short person I might prefer the word associated with a tough fantasy race to one associated with the “prettier” circus freaks.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Lamia.. I’ve run into a fair percentage who see it that way. I think it’s because there’s just not very many of us and since the only thing we have in common is height, what offends me might be fine with another person. It’s still much much safer to avoid midget unless you know it’s okay, because for some it’s like calling them a nigger. I think this is largely because when people want to make fun of a dwarf, they invariably call them midgets. Middle school was hell, I tell you.