I was looking but couldn’t find it. I’m glad you did!
There’s also a movement to get people to stop referring to “gingers” or using expressions like “red-headed stepchild.“ This is obviously a matter that is of much lower stakes than other matters of discrimination or bigotry. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking into account.
It seems to me that “master bedroom / bathroom / suite” has always referred to the largest room or set of rooms where the owner (IOW “master”) of the household resided. Maybe if you happen to live on a restored Southern plantation or chateau or something there is some historical connotations of the estate’s owner being some wealthy slaveowner or feudal lord or something. I don’t know.
As I said above, I think it’s bad enough to imply that one person is a household is “master” of everyone else that lives there, even if there is no direct connection to slavery.
It’s more sexist than racist. But more than anything, it’s just antiquated.
Should I maybe call it the mistress bedroom?
Unless that’s your kink, just call it the big bedroom.
My wife told me to say it isn’t.
Why should anyone cater to the crazy with regards to how to communicate?
I agree that there are fewer “traditional nuclear families” than there used to be, but I disagree that the term “master bedroom” only makes sense when the household consists of an owner and their dependent children. Even when the adults in the household include one or two parents , an adult child and that adult child’s spouse, the adults are often not living together on a roommate-like basis. It’s almost always the case that one set of adults owns/rents the living space and the other set contributes , but not equally. It might be that the parents own/rent the house and let the adult child and spouse live there , it might be that the adult child and spouse own/rent the house and let one or more of their parents move in - but what very rarely happens is that both adult generations buy the house together or put all four ( or three or …) names on the lease as the tenants. If my mother moves into the house that my husband and I own and have paid for , calling it the “master bedroom” makes just as much sense as it did when my kids were school-aged.
I recently got stuck at the local shops when my car’s slave cylinder was liberated by the alternator.
It is up to you to decide how to react when someone tells you they are offended by certain language and why. There is no disagreement here about that. Use whatever language you want and let the chips fall where they may.
After reading this thread, I walked about Manhattan today. Found my eyes drawn the the signs on many buildings denoting the “Siamese Sprinkler Connections.” But I wasn’t sure whether I ought to be offended on behalf of Asians or conjoined persons.
And we might be at a point in social development that thinking of one of those, even in abstract or as an analogy, as a “master” is no longer socially acceptable. That sounds like a good thing to me.
Point well taken, but I was referring to the legal institution of slavery in the United States, not illegal trafficking. Sorry for the confusion.
They couldn’t be more annoying that someone saying “Asiated”. It’s been a few decades since “Asian” became the preferred term.
Who are you to make that distinction for others?
Especially if there are a significant number of people. Even if their logic doesn’t make perfect sense. My vocabulary is big enough that using a different word or phrase is pretty painless. Easier than the performative outrage of complaining publicly about having to make that substitution.
I think you’re right, especially as the sort of people who react to such a banning by saying “oh gosh, I’m sorry, I will adjust my behaviours to avoid it” were probably never the troublemakers in the first place.
LOL. I don’t think I was “implying”. My house, my rules and all that.
But “master bedroom” doesn’t apply to a specific individual. It could be (and often is) occupied by a couple
I suppose you don’t make distinctions or draw meanings from others’ words and behaviors every single day?
O-kayyyyyy.
mmm
Among poor leaders, it is common to try to do everything at once. Please decide on your priorities, boss.
More to the point, silly language-police actions drive off those who might otherwise try to do the important stuff. How often have you seen a worker give up on a project because of side issues?