Posted by Mike Stevens on March 28, 2002 at 22:40:00 from 195.92.67.70:
In Reply to: Welsh (was: Forbidden Words) posted by Robert Hill on March 28, 2002 at 18:13:49:
Can't let this one go by, although I don't want to get into an English Welsh argument. The fact is that there hardly any 'English' words at all. Almost 50 per cent of English is French/Latin, the rest either German or a collection from all over the world. ie Chemistry, Admiral, Taxi, blood and thunder.
Anyway, the point that I wanted to make is that without our consent, certain words are suddenly declared offensive. Some six years ago, the organisation that I worked for decided that the word 'handicapped' was offensive and that ' disabled' should be used. I am connected with the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign and when I mentioned this PC nonsense to several people who have MD they complained that 'disabled' has the connotation that they cannot do things, whereas, given the right aids and equipment they are as able as anyone else. As previous contributors have noted, it is the useage to which the words are put rather than the words themselves. For many years the Spastics Charity used the word spastic in their name, when they found that it was becoming perjorative, they changed their name to Scope, only to find that they had to spend a lot of money telling people their new name Also, some of the people with spasticity were not to happy about it. Is it not time to stand up for plain old English. English is such a successful language because of its very fluidity and changeable nature and attempts to restrict it only impoverish us all. Slavish adherence to PC attitudes does nothing to lessen racism and prejudice.