Someone mentioned elsewhere that there are some things today that are politically incorrect that were considered the appropriately sensitive and considerate thing to say in the past. The example used was the term “colored;” it used to be that it was the *considerate *thing to call someone “colored” - as opposed to the N word or other such terms.
So, what is considered politically correct today that will probably be politically incorrect 20 years or more from now?
I think one possible candidate would be the term “black”; I don’t think it will be appropriate to refer to African-Americans as “black people” anymore; in fact, I think there is already some sensitivity about this term. It’s more acceptable to call “white people” “white people”, but that term might also be insensitive by then. I think the term “illegal immigrant” will also be considered inappropriate by then as well.
The term “enemy” might be replaced by “adversary” or “opponent” and “terrorist” might be more specifically phased out in favor of “jihadist”, “combatant,” “militants,” etc.
Any other terms that will likely be phased out over the next few decades? “Gay” and “straight?”
A lot of people think “illegal immigrant” is inappropriate now.
We’re already seeing a de-emphasis of “hyphen-American.” Fewer and fewer places use “African-American” as a formal identifying term. “Caucasian” has also pretty much bitten the dust.
We’ll likely see more generations of euphemisms for “retarded,” as “retarded” becomes less and less accepted. The trouble here is that no matter what word is used, it will, over time, take on an unpleasant connotation. Say it gets a technical term like Alzheimer’s. Kids with lesser mental acuity have “Pappenheim disorder.” Guaranteed, sure as eggs are eggs, kids’ll start taunting, “Pap, pap, pap goes the Pappenheim boy!” and “Wow, that’s really pap.”
So that would be a pap smear?
The concept of “politically correct,” itself, will be politically incorrect.
I don’t think “black” is going away any time soon. A company my friend works for has a Black Employees Association (their activities are not limited to black employees). Evidently, they have a few people who were born in Nigeria and Senegal, so they are not really African-American, they are African. To keep the name of the group inclusive, they are ok with using the word Black in their name. If they are OK with that, so am I.
I am hoping that people stop saying “God bless you” whenever I sneeze in public. Not sure of that counts as PC today.
For another example, the word “retarded” was introduced as a polite term. Previously, individuals in specific low IQ ranges were officially labeled “moron”, “idiot”, or “imbecile”. “Retarded” was intended to remove the stigma. Hey, these people aren’t stupid, they’re just a little bit slow, that’s all.
Of course we know how that turned how. “Retarded” got used as an insult, and then it had to go. Then we got “mentally challenged”. Perhaps that’s been replaced by something else now. I find it hard to keep up with these things. It seems self-evident that any word used to describe people far below average intelligence will eventually become an insult. No purpose in fighting it.
All of them. Every-single “politically correct” word or phrase will fall victim to the “euphemism treadmill”.
Unforturnately, the opposite is happening. The politically correct thought-police are growing in power.
“Safe space” was unheard of just a couple years ago; now students demand it as an inalienable right.
“Trigger warning” was unheard of, too; Now professors can get fired for not using it.
“Cultural appropriation” was unheard of. Now the food in the cafeteria has to be cooked with politically correct spices and labels.
What about the whole gender thing: Mr., Miss, Mrs., actor, actress…
Won’t this become politically incorrect?
Gendered job titles are almost all there already. “Actress” is still used a lot, but the Screen Actors Guild started calling them “female actors” years ago.
Can they now? Cite as to where this has happened? And don’t say “Crafton Hills”, because I willlaugh at you.
It is difficult to say for sure which particular words will become politically incorrect. I think reasonable though to speculate in which areas political correctness and cultural awareness will “advance”. Age of consent is ripe for challenge. Im guessing the word “paedophile” will become hotly contested when used to describe anyone attracted to those 13yrs and over. I realise even today it is not universally accepted term. However, the word may become poisonous in future. It’s casual use will become controversial.
Mrs seems still in use. Miss seems to be used for young girls.
I predict Bridge players will be shocked that their fore bearers used the term “trump”, as that word will be taboo.
There will be male, female and transgender toilets.
When will we be able to refuse body searches by officers based on their sexual proclivities? I wish for a time in the future when i can ask not to be fisked at airports by gay men.
I thought gay men were known for their fisking finesse.?
As far as terms go, any group that has had more than two terms to describe them is going to have new ones. The disabled are the best example. We started with cripple, then handicapped, then disabled, and now the patently ridiculous “handicapable”. I think we’ll settle on disabled. Same goes for the mentally disabled. We started with idiots, went with the more medical term retarded, “mentally challenged” and it looks like we may have actually settled on disabled. I hope. Mentally challenged had to go away because it became a running joke in the 90s that any disadvantaged group could be referred to as “challenged”. So little people were “height challenged”. If the gods of political correctness respond it anything, it’s ridicule, I guess. And that gets us to little people, who used to be called midgets and dwarves, and at least for now, are “little people”. I do not expect that one to last.
Ah, can’t forget illegal immigrants. They used to be illegal aliens, then illegal immigrants, and then they tried “undocumented immigrants”, but that’s just baloney because most of them are quite well documented. So it looks like we’re tentatively going with “unauthorized immigrants”, while Latino activists just like to call them “immigrants”.
The problem is that if something is kinda bad to be, then no matter how many times you change the terminology, it’s still going to sound bad if it refers to something that really sucks. Being black or gay is only a problem in that society mistreats blacks and gays. But being disabled, physically or mentally, is going to suck and cause major problems no matter how kind society is to the disabled. So it’s time to just quit it and settle permanently on “disabled”, because it’s what people with disabilities, handicaps, or what have you, are.
I actually think that political correctness itself will become politically incorrect. It’s just getting too stupid now, and I’m not even talking about the terms. It’s getting to the point where you can’t even talk about race or religion or sexuality without walking through a minefield. And then even if you don’t say anything wrong, if you’re a white person debating with a black person, then you’re “whitesplaining”. See, now we’re not even supposed to debate, we’re supposed to be told how it is with no argument. I predict that “whitesplaining” and it’s partner “mansplaining” is going to be retired really damn quick. There has to be a safe space for debate in this country, and the idea that the views you express are only valid if you’re the “correct” identity while expressing them is a cancer.
I think you are misinterpreting his post.
I think you underestimate the power of the mob.
I play bridge and my game has suffered recently. No matter what hand I hold, I have an overwhelming desire to bid No Trump.
It has. The term mental retardation has been deprecated (by, inter alia, the DSM-V) in favor of the supposedly less judgmental intellectual disability. But as you point out, “retardation” originated as a novel, supposedly less judgmental, more clinical word for older terms which had become insults. There’s even a term for this phenomenon, supposedly coined by Stephen Pinker: the “euphemism treadmill.”