Posted on 12/03/2004 8:12:38 AM PST by lindor
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The computer term "master/slave," which was banned as racially offensive by a Los Angeles County purchasing department, was named the most politically incorrect term of the year on Thursday.
Among other terms on the top 10 list of politically charged words and phrases, issued by the word usage group Global Language Monitor, were "non-same sex marriage" to describe heterosexual unions, "waitron" for waiter or waitress and "higher being" for God, a term some people found too religious.
"We found 'master/slave' to be the most egregious example of political correctness in 2004," said Paul JJ Payack, president of The Global Language Monitor.
"This is but one more example of the insertion of politics into every facet of modern life, down to the level of the control processes of computer technology."
In computer terminology, "master/slave" refers to primary and secondary hard disk drives. But a Los Angeles county purchasing department told vendors in late 2003 that the term was offensive and violated the region's cultural diversity. The county's department of affirmative action undertook a hunt to replace it on packages.
After a public uproar, the county backed down. Payack said that while the incident took place in late 2003, debate about it grew enormously in 2004.
The phrase "non-same sex marriage," was used by a former congressman who did not want to offend gay people by using the term traditional marriage, Payack said.
Also on the list this year were "Red Sox lover," to use in place of "Yankee hater," "progressive" for classical liberal, "incurious" rather than more impolite invectives for President Bush, "insurgents" instead of terrorists in Iraq, "baristas" for waiters, and "first year student" rather than freshman.
Unless your working at Scraafts.
One euphemism that continues to grate on me is "partner," used to describe a homosexual lover or a concubine or a sugar daddy, e.g., "I'd lkke you to meet Bruce and his partner, Wendell."
lol
Not only that, Not all Africans are black. Ask Terri Kerry.
There's the ole "Hard Drive", and "Floppy". When I was learning Apple Basic, I had to do alot of "peeking" and "poking". Lots of Nibbles and Bytes too...
Selected not elected!
Selected not elected!
Selected not elected!
Selected not elected!
Selected not elected!
Selected not elected!
It's no longer PC to say fudgepacker. they are bum-bandits.
LA County's purchasing department has too much money and time on its hands, if it seeks to control others' language.
Yankee Hater is okay in my opinion-----everyone in my area(Massachusetts) had Yankee Hater hats and not a complaint was heard.
The entire thing is hysterical.
All those Master and Slave stations!
Right. Just about every 'race' has been enslaved at one point or another throughout history.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Does anyone remember when Rush got in trouble a few years ago for using the term "water buffaloes"? Supposedly this was racist. I had been using the term frequently for a huge (white) guy who ruined a remodeling job on my house, and never in a million years would have guessed that the term had anything racial connotations attached.
The Global Language Monitor is actually pretty offensive to me. Are they like the fashion police for words? What's next?
BTW: Why all the fuss from the Irish folks when their whiteness is called in to question? Do they have something against being non-white? That sounds like intolerance, to me... ;>)
I wrote an article for a journalism class that used the word crippled. We read our article aloud to hear the flow. When I read the word crippled the whole class stopped breathing. The professor condescendingly lectured me that I can't say "cripple" because I was never in that situation. How would I feel if I blah blah blah. I let him spout off a truckload of PC BS until I told him I was crippled for a couple of years after a major accident. He turned from PC to liberal pissed in a heartbeat.
I habitually used the discarded words from the NY Times Stylebook in my faux articles. I'll never understand why I received a B and C when all my work was A material HAHAHA guess I was CRIPPLED by political incorrectness.
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