# I Pit overly liberal people **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 21, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409 "2004-02-21T20:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409/41 "2004-02-23T19:11:08Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > Political Correctness _per se_ is, of course, utter bullshit, but I believe it has opened a lot of people’s eyes to the fact that some terms are hurtful to some people. I think the _idea_ of PC has actually helped much more than PC ever will. It must also be pointed out that PC can provide for more precise and accurate discourse. After all, “Oriental” means “eastern”, but eastern with respect to what? It’s strictly a Eurocentric term; I live in California, so I would travel west to “the East”. Not only is “oriental” Eurocentric, but in older writing the word was used to cover all of Asia and even some of eastern Europe. IIRC The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago deals mainly with the Mideast. Here I must point out that I don’t suggest that The Oriental Institute should have to change its name, but I think the point I made is useful for _new_ writing or speaking. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409/42 "2004-02-23T20:52:23Z")
This Asian guy gives you permission to use the term “oriental.” I don’t care. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409/43 "2004-02-23T21:48:38Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > People seem to have reverted to saying “chairman” or “chairwoman”, or even just “chair”. I find these terms **blatantly** furniturist! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409/44 "2004-02-23T23:18:02Z")
Welcome, **Irrevelent**. If you are going to be concerned about what I say – and you apparently are – then I will be concerned about what you say. It certainly seems fair to me. Those of us who are “overly liberal” are aware that words can be used to influence the way we think about things. (That is the reason that _postman_ became _mail carrier_ as these jobs opened up to women. Imagine for a moment that another Great Depression happened in this land and people were happy to take even the most menial tasks to feed themselves. If your father had to scrub floors, wouldn’t you object to his being called a _char woman_? How about a _girl Friday_? A _wash woman_? And as long as the word “man” is attached to a job, we tend to think of filling that position with a male. So there has been a good reason for some of the gender changes in job designations. Some of the things that people have come to call PC are not PC at all. One example is _vertically challenged_. (Someone mentioned that one earlier.) No one that I know of has seriously suggested that short people be called “vertically challenged.” That was meant as a sort of rebellious joke that actually poked fun at “political correctness.” There are times that I also object to changing the language intentionally, and that is when it is done to obscure the meaning. For example, those who die in service to our country are not shipped home in _body bags_ anymore. That name would be too much of a reminder of what is really happening to those precious women and men. Instead, the bodies are shipped in _transport tubes_. Enjoy SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409/45 "2004-02-23T23:19:50Z")
**Irrelevent** , sorry that I misspelled your name. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409/46 "2004-02-24T00:05:08Z")
I swear I have seen, once or twice, “vertically challenged” used seriously. I wish I could come up with a cite, but I can’t. Most of the time it IS a joke. However, I don’t think it’s any sillier than some of the other PC stuff I’ve seen. I think the problem came when people try to make PC=polite. In my little world, PC=euphemism to the point of ridiculousness. Polite is something else. “Disabled” or “handicapped” seem like perfectly okay descriptives. Stuff like “differently abled” is total PC and frankly makes me want to puke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overly-liberal-people/230409.md?page=2)