As someone born in the 1970s, I experienced a lot of vernacular usage of the word "gay" and the word "retarded." I participated wholeheartedly in same.
Now that both of these slang terms have been identified as offensive slurs -- complete with public service announcement and mea culpa from Lady Gaga -- I have striven to remove them from my vocabulary. (Except for, as my excellent friend points out, literal usage. I mean, I hope it's still OK to compliment someone on their gay apparel? At least when accompanied by a hearty "Fa-la-la?")
I slip up occasionally. Just the other day, I used the word retarded. I immediately slapped my hand over my mouth and apologized, but still. But anyone who was the appropriate age when, say, the movie Valley Girls came out, or who ever had a poster of DuranDuran taped to their wall, knows that these two words took up an inordinate amount of real estate in our developing vocabularies. Old habits die hard.
It's easy to grow weary of the PC police. I mean, the front line coppers in the realm of disabilities have called for us to eliminate the terms "developmentally disabled" and even "blind." (I believe the correct term for both is now "differently abled.") I get where they're coming from. I truly do. But it can be difficult for even the most well-meaning person to keep up with what's potentially offensive.
Wearily, I will admit that this is probably exactly how my grandparents felt about the words "negro" and "colored person."
"What do you mean, that's offensive?" (I can hear Grandpa grumbling.) "It's a perfectly nice thing to say!" (Yeah, about 15 years ago, Gramps.) So maybe my withering wits are just incapable of keeping perfect track of the twists and turns of today's cultural linguistics. Or maybe I'm growing old and stubborn, stuck in my ways. Or maybe the demands of the PC police really are getting just a bit out of hand.
God forbid anyone's feelings get bruised in the Millennium Of Sensitivity.
Now that both of these slang terms have been identified as offensive slurs -- complete with public service announcement and mea culpa from Lady Gaga -- I have striven to remove them from my vocabulary. (Except for, as my excellent friend points out, literal usage. I mean, I hope it's still OK to compliment someone on their gay apparel? At least when accompanied by a hearty "Fa-la-la?")
I slip up occasionally. Just the other day, I used the word retarded. I immediately slapped my hand over my mouth and apologized, but still. But anyone who was the appropriate age when, say, the movie Valley Girls came out, or who ever had a poster of DuranDuran taped to their wall, knows that these two words took up an inordinate amount of real estate in our developing vocabularies. Old habits die hard.
It's easy to grow weary of the PC police. I mean, the front line coppers in the realm of disabilities have called for us to eliminate the terms "developmentally disabled" and even "blind." (I believe the correct term for both is now "differently abled.") I get where they're coming from. I truly do. But it can be difficult for even the most well-meaning person to keep up with what's potentially offensive.
Wearily, I will admit that this is probably exactly how my grandparents felt about the words "negro" and "colored person."
"What do you mean, that's offensive?" (I can hear Grandpa grumbling.) "It's a perfectly nice thing to say!" (Yeah, about 15 years ago, Gramps.) So maybe my withering wits are just incapable of keeping perfect track of the twists and turns of today's cultural linguistics. Or maybe I'm growing old and stubborn, stuck in my ways. Or maybe the demands of the PC police really are getting just a bit out of hand.
God forbid anyone's feelings get bruised in the Millennium Of Sensitivity.
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