It’s mostly correcting someone’s derogatory language. Earlier, we had two clients walk in, that weren’t dressed too appropriately for our office environment. But then again, it’s a Saturday, and they’re the clients, so who are we to judge? Well, one of my co-workers, actually. He just happened to be out of his office, asking me a question when they walked in. When they were gone, he quipped “Wow… did you see the way they dressed? What a bunch of faggots!” My reaction was… :eek: :eek: :eek: , then :smack: because the guy is a bit older, I’d say about five or so years older than my dad, so I don’t think he’s exactly up to date on what’s appropriate language and what’s not. Now I was in a bit of a dilemma, because I don’t want to offend him by telling him that he’s a bad bad man for using that kind of language, but I shouldn’t let him get away with it either. So I gently chided "Now, come on… that’s not a nice word to use. I think what you meant to say was “They looked stupid, or they looked ridiculous.” Surprisingly, he took it quite well. He gave me a sort of :dubious: look, and then said “Oh, okay. Did you see the way they dressed? STUUUUPID!”
Oh, and I just remembered something else I did/said a couple weeks ago that I think made a bit of a difference. Actually, I’m going to put it behind some spoiler tags, because I think it might actually get offensive.
[spoiler]A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were chatting. We arrived on the subject of how I don’t get along with my brother and one of the main reasons was that he was the most bigoted person I know. The conversation went something like this.
Me: Yeah, my brother really pissed me off with his racist views. I don’t like talking to him because of it.
Her: What do you mean?
Me: Well, for one thing, he seems to hate everyone who’s not the same race as him. I know he’s really chicken shit about expressing his views though. At home, he will throw around the N-word like it doesn’t mean anything, but you know he wouldn’t dare say it to a black guy’s face. Not in a million years!
Her: That’s because he knows they’ll pop a cap in his ass if he does. 
Me: Sheesh, that’s terrible! And what I can’t stand is how anti-semitic he is.
Her: What??? How is he anti-semitic??? (Anti-semitism is a sensitive subject for her)
Me: I don’t know if he’s doing it to bait me because he knows how utterly PC I can get, but you know how some people, when they want to express the notion that they’ve been ripped off, they say ‘I’ve been gypped?’ and that isn’t really all that great itself. I mean, “gypped” has been used to convey the meaning that gypsies aren’t that trustworthy. Unfortunately, it’s fallen into our everyday language and most people aren’t even aware of where it derives from and use it like it’s not a big deal. Anyway, instead of saying ‘I got ripped off’ or ‘I got gypped’, he says ‘I got jewed’, which is so utterly disgusting, I refuse to acknowledge his existance when he uses that phrase.
Her: :eek: :eek: GYPPED IS A FORM OF DEROGATORY LANGUAGE?!?!?!?! :eek: :eek: :eek: My whole family uses that without ever knowing the meaning behind it! :smack:
So, I explained more about where “gypped” derives from, and a short history of it.
And although there is absolutely no way I can ever convince my brother that his language is unacceptable, at least now my friend realises where “gypped” comes from, and is now trying very hard to refrain from using it because just like me, she likes to be as PC as possible. YAY!
[/spoiler]
