There are so many things that we are not allowed to say any more. Old fashioned greetings like "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Easter" are fast being replaced by "Happy Holidays". A housewife is a domestic engineer and a stewardess is a flight attendant. It seems that political correctness is far more important than good, old fashioned English language.
Being PC, or politically correct started of as an American thing, but it is now catching on in many areas of the world and people are becoming ultra sensitive about the language used around sex, age, culture, race and disability, to mention just a few areas. A fireman isn't a fireman any more and we now have to use the term firefighter to avoid being accused of being sexist. There are no policemen, or policewomen anymore, because they have all become neuter , and we have to call them "police officers".
The use of swear words like sh** and f*** seem to be perfectly acceptable, but we are not permitted to call a deaf person deaf. They have to be referred to as being hearing impaired. Old folk using the internet are not old people any more; they are silver surfers.
So, what are you allowed to say? The rules are not always clear. Here are a few suggestions that you may find useful and which might (or might not) keep you out of trouble.
- Alternative dentation. False teeth.
- Chalkboard. Blackboard.
- Conversationally selective. Shy (or perhaps just not listening!)
- Cosmetically challenged. Ugly.
- Home invader. Burglar.
- Intellectually challenged. Stupid.
- Metabolically challenged. Fat.
- Motivationally deficient. Lazy
- Nasally inferior. Smell.
- Non-traditional shopper. Shoplifter.
- Terminally inconvenienced. Dead.
- Vertically challenged. Short.
