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A couple times today I've had cause to wonder about this.



When I said "mentally retarded" another member pointed out that "special needs" was more appropriate. Some people say "mentally disabled." Some say "slow." What the heck is the right and decent term to use when you are describing this condition? Not the people, as they are people. Just the condition or disability they may have.



Also today another one came up. What is the acceptable term to describe one who is homosexual? I cringe at the word "queer" although I hear it being used in the gay crowd; I don't really care for the word gay and when you're describing a hetero person, why do we say "straight?" To me that infers that a homosexual person is somehow "crooked" and that makes me uncomfortable.



Fat. I am large and I can call myself fat if I want to or a myriad of things to describe my weight. But if someone else uses fat toward me, that's a fighting word. I prefer plump, big, heavy, voluptuous, etc. Overweight is okay but not that great. Do we even have a socially acceptable word for this?



Do American Indians generally prefer to be Amer. Indian...Indian...Native American or something else? Our local tribe hates being called Native American an dthey use Indian exclusively. So who's to know??



I could stretch the ethnic origin questions farther but maybe someone could just throw in what they think the right words are for any ethnicity. Should we say Hispanic, Mexican, Latino? What is preferred?



Are white people white or Caucasian? I prefer white but that's just me.

And theres kind of a point in there- with everyone being different in the world, how can we decide on terms that offend no one or at least few??

This politically correct world of labels we live in makes me sick. I don't buy in to it. I say what I want. Why soften something we're all already familiar with? Why soften anything at all? Why are we walking on eggshells around eachother?

Ppl are so keyed up these days that everything and anything is offensive to them. I say... Get over yourself and live a decent meaningful life without creating labels for others. It's almost as if we HAVE to stand for something or we're considered passive or insignificant. Screw that! Im sick of the entire political correctness age.

I get what you're saying, I just choose not to buy in to it. If someone were to correct my words, I'd tell them, I'm 50 years old, I am who I am, and I'll speak any way I damn well please. If you don't like it, tough.

It is quite exhausting...noticed you didn't touch on African Americans...have a good friend that told me one day "I'm BLACK"!! You just never know what people are going to or not going to be sensitive to.

I agree with Rain, PC is a PAIN...We are individuals and have individuality no matter what our disability, race or sexual preference is.

We use the word Gay as saying (weird, silly)....has nothing to do with homosexual. It used to mean happy!! Hard to keep up with what you should say.

I found myself trying to be so careful to watch what I say on here...it doesn't matter, seems I'm corrected or insulted anyway...so I'll just say my say...and try not to offend anyone in the process....

RedGlitter;485631 wrote: A couple times today I've had cause to wonder about this.



When I said "mentally retarded" another member pointed out that "special needs" was more appropriate. Some people say "mentally disabled." Some say "slow." What the heck is the right and decent term to use when you are describing this condition? Not the people, as they are people. Just the condition or disability they may have.



Also today another one came up. What is the acceptable term to describe one who is homosexual? I cringe at the word "queer" although I hear it being used in the gay crowd; I don't really care for the word gay and when you're describing a hetero person, why do we say "straight?" To me that infers that a homosexual person is somehow "crooked" and that makes me uncomfortable.



Fat. I am large and I can call myself fat if I want to or a myriad of things to describe my weight. But if someone else uses fat toward me, that's a fighting word. I prefer plump, big, heavy, voluptuous, etc. Overweight is okay but not that great. Do we even have a socially acceptable word for this?



Do American Indians generally prefer to be Amer. Indian...Indian...Native American or something else? Our local tribe hates being called Native American an dthey use Indian exclusively. So who's to know??



I could stretch the ethnic origin questions farther but maybe someone could just throw in what they think the right words are for any ethnicity. Should we say Hispanic, Mexican, Latino? What is preferred?



Are white people white or Caucasian? I prefer white but that's just me.

And theres kind of a point in there- with everyone being different in the world, how can we decide on terms that offend no one or at least few??






In the UK it's generally Special Needs although that's probably more generic that you're looking for.

What's wrong with homosexual and hetrosexual - says exactly what you mean without fear or favour.

Obese is a technical term and I'd hesitate to raise the subject in a personal environment - none of my business.

I'm used to Amerindian or Native American (from our local contact group) but they know who they are, ask them.

Mexicans are Mexicans, Peuto Ricans are Peuto Ricans and I'm British - so is my friend Maz who was born in Manchester and my mate Tadeuz who was born in Leicester and my collegue Avi who was born in London.

Oh yeah...I'm pleasantly PLUMP!! Never liked "Big Boned"...my bones aren't big, it's the stuff surrounding them!!

On another board a few years ago I was asking why ppl are turning in to stick ppl. That the "too skinny look" is 3rd worldish, and imo I like to see women with curves. The Marilyn Monroe's The Mae West's. BOY! Did I ever hear from the skinny ppl. They raked me over the coals for using the word skinny. Well..... what should I have said? Fat challenged? Buruther :-5

Rain;485662 wrote: On another board a few years ago I was asking why ppl are turning in to stick ppl. That the "too skinny look" is 3rd worldish, and imo I like to see women with curves. The Marilyn Monroe's The Mae West's. BOY! Did I ever hear from the skinny ppl. They raked me over the coals for using the word skinny. Well..... what should I have said? Fat challenged? Buruther :-5


Can never win can ya?

I called a girl skinny one time, and she started crying, that she was insulted...GEESH....now she's "pleasantly plump, volumptious, big boned, Overweight"...definately not calling her fat!!

The problem with PC is that it keeps changing.

It's not the words it is how they are used. George Carlin gives a great explanation on it.

I called a girl skinny one time, and she started crying, that she was insulted...GEESH....now she's "pleasantly plump, volumptious, big boned, Overweight"...definately not calling her fat!!




LMHO!!! :wah: Ah, go ahead! ROTF!

Goofy ?

Flopstock, there's a great new Carlos Mendoza (stand up comedian) routine now where he goes on about how to treat a disabled person in a wheelchair. No, it isn't bad like it sounds, it's actually good. It's about treating them disabled or treating them like "regular" people. Oh geez, I'm saying it all wrong. But you reminded me of that. His new thing is called "Not for the Easily Offended" I believe. Very funny and has valid points to it too.



Bryn, please tell me where English comes in. Do people from England prefer British instead of English? I'm embarrassed that I don't know this.

Nomad;485689 wrote: Goofy ?


Nomad!! That poor dog! :wah:

These are mostly from http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/pol ... ty-related, the New York Times and Wikipedia.

RedGlitter;485631 wrote: A couple times today I've had cause to wonder about this.



When I said "mentally retarded" another member pointed out that "special needs" was more appropriate. Some people say "mentally disabled." Some say "slow." What the heck is the right and decent term to use when you are describing this condition? Not the people, as they are people. Just the condition or disability they may have.Backward, imbecile, moron, and idiot became mentally retarded, which in turn became slow, then mentally handicapped, to mentally disabled, on to mentally challenged, and now developmentally disabled. Modern terms used by health and social care professionals include special needs and learning difficulties, although both of those terms are more general than mentally retarded.RedGlitter;485631 wrote: Also today another one came up. What is the acceptable term to describe one who is homosexual? I cringe at the word "queer" although I hear it being used in the gay crowd; I don't really care for the word gay and when you're describing a hetero person, why do we say "straight?" To me that infers that a homosexual person is somehow "crooked" and that makes me uncomfortable.Up until the sexual revolution of the 1960s there were no widely known terms for describing the people in these groups other than the derogatory terms used by the straight community; third gender, in use before the second world war, fell out of use after it. As people began organizing for their sexual rights they needed a term that would say who they were in a positive way. (Compare heteronormativity)

The first term used, homosexual, carried too much negative baggage and was replaced by gay. As lesbians forged their own identity, the term gay and lesbian became more common. This was soon followed by bisexual and transgender people also asking for recognition as legitimate categories within the larger community. However, after the initial euphoria of the beginnings of the Stonewall Rebellion wore off, starting in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a change in perception and some gay men and lesbian women were not very accepting of bisexual or transgender people, and disparaged them.

They accused transsexual people of as acting out stereotypes; and bisexual people of actually being gay men or lesbian women who were simply too afraid to "come out".

Not until the 1990s did it become common for people to speak of "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people" with equal respect within the movement.

LGBT became increasingly common from the mid 1990s and as of 2005, LGBT has become so mainstream that it has been adopted by the majority of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community centers and the LGBT press in most English-speaking countries.RedGlitter;485631 wrote: Fat. I am large and I can call myself fat if I want to or a myriad of things to describe my weight. But if someone else uses fat toward me, that's a fighting word. I prefer plump, big, heavy, voluptuous, etc. Overweight is okay but not that great. Do we even have a socially acceptable word for this?A fat person became a heavyset, large or a person of substance. Some of these replacements have fallen out of favour, replaced by overweight or obese. However, with the rise of body-positivity and 'fat-positivity,' the simple term 'fat' has been reclaimed. 'Overweight' and 'obese' have connotations of disorder, sickness or disease; fat-positive theory states that people are of all different sizes and size is never an absolute indication of health or wellness.RedGlitter;485631 wrote: Do American Indians generally prefer to be Amer. Indian...Indian...Native American or something else? Our local tribe hates being called Native American an dthey use Indian exclusively. So who's to know??Indians became Native Americans or Indigenous People in the United States. American Indians and Amerindians are also gaining popularity. Similarly, they became known in Canada as First Nations or aboriginal peoples.RedGlitter;485631 wrote: I could stretch the ethnic origin questions farther but maybe someone could just throw in what they think the right words are for any ethnicity. Should we say Hispanic, Mexican, Latino? What is preferred?Hispanic, which was previously the politically correct term, has largely been replaced by Latino or, in some cases, Chicano.RedGlitter;485631 wrote: Are white people white or Caucasian? I prefer white but that's just me.

And theres kind of a point in there- with everyone being different in the world, how can we decide on terms that offend no one or at least few??

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. ... The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. ... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else."

That's Theodore Roosevelt speaking in 1915. It still looks OK to me.

Spot, thank you for taking the time to put forward such a thoughtful and informative reply. I appreciate it. I am surprised to learn that gays and lesbians did not accept bisexuals at one time. I did not know that.



I have to think about the Roosevelt quote for a while. I see where he was coming from and there is a valid point. When my grandparents came from Germany, only English was spoken, even at home and my grandfather was adamant that they were American. Not Americans from Germany. On the flip side, I don't mind the hyphens myself because I think it's possible to have pride in both sides. But I'll be thinking about it.

RedGlitter;485700 wrote: Flopstock, there's a great new Carlos Mendoza (stand up comedian) routine now where he goes on about how to treat a disabled person in a wheelchair. No, it isn't bad like it sounds, it's actually good. It's about treating them disabled or treating them like "regular" people. Oh geez, I'm saying it all wrong. But you reminded me of that. His new thing is called "Not for the Easily Offended" I believe. Very funny and has valid points to it too.



Bryn, please tell me where English comes in. Do people from England prefer British instead of English? I'm embarrassed that I don't know this.




I'm here for you Red, We watch him frequently, well I listen to him while on computer, seein' how I'm a computer junkie!! Is there a PC name for that?? Internet Addict??

:wah: Yep, Internet Addict sounds good to me. No wait...that should be challenged...."Housework Challenged!" :wah:

Rain;485662 wrote: On another board a few years ago I was asking why ppl are turning in to stick ppl. That the "too skinny look" is 3rd worldish, and imo I like to see women with curves. The Marilyn Monroe's The Mae West's. BOY! Did I ever hear from the skinny ppl. They raked me over the coals for using the word skinny. Well..... what should I have said? Fat challenged? Buruther :-5


Don't you mean Lolly pops (big head little body ) that's what i call em.

RedGlitter;485700 wrote:

Bryn, please tell me where English comes in. Do people from England prefer British instead of English? I'm embarrassed that I don't know this.


Personally I prefer British - English has too many associations with the BNP (British Nationalist Party, the old National Front) and, with apologies to the Northern Irish, "a Citizen of the United Kingdom" is just too much of a mouthful.

No one is PC at my job. They are all sexist, racist, homophobic bigots here. I cant stand it anymore.

Bryn Mawr;485880 wrote: Personally I prefer British - English has too many associations with the BNP (British Nationalist Party, the old National Front) and, with apologies to the Northern Irish, "a Citizen of the United Kingdom" is just too much of a mouthful.


Thanks Bryn. I will keep this in mind.

Bryn Mawr;485880 wrote: Personally I prefer British - English has too many associations with the BNP (British Nationalist Party, the old National Front) and, with apologies to the Northern Irish, "a Citizen of the United Kingdom" is just too much of a mouthful.


It USED to be seen as the sign of those rascist scum, but in the last few years we've claimed our flag back! As an Englishman, I'm proud to display the St Georges cross.... I don't mind being called British either!, but I'm not having my nationality taken away by a bunch of Fascists....!:)

Can I call myself German even though I never lived there but all my ancestors did on both sides of my family?

dubs;486089 wrote: It USED to be seen as the sign of those rascist scum, but in the last few years we've claimed our flag back! As an Englishman, I'm proud to display the St Georges cross.... I don't mind being called British either!, but I'm not having my nationality taken away by a bunch of Fascists....!:)
I'm English and proud of it.

abbey;486095 wrote: I'm English and proud of it.


Same here Abbey and Dubs :-6

I'm a biege American. A sheet of paper is white and I am not white. So in the future please refer to me as a Biege American. Than you very much.

:wah: Ok!

YZGI;486120 wrote: I'm a biege American. A sheet of paper is white and I am not white. So in the future please refer to me as a Biege American. Than you very much.


:yh_rotfl :yh_rotfl

Are you a slender beige American? In the event we need to give further description??

WonderWendy3;486131 wrote: :yh_rotfl :yh_rotfl

Are you a slender beige American? In the event we need to give further description??
Yes. Or better yet lets go with Well Built Biege Amercan Male. Or just WBBAM.

I have cerebral palsy and I prefer to use phrases like: people with a disability or people with a physical challenge. I always like to put the person first and then disability.

My brother has 25% use of his legs after a motorbike accident, he finds the whole pc thing pretty stupid, he's crippled therefore a crip. He would rather not be but there you go. **** happens.

Ive a friend who is pretty mangled physically with polio, he refers to himself as a spastic. He's got spastic limbs so where's the problem?

Seems able bodied people have more of an issue with pc than those who have disabilities.

i am site challenged somewhat...always ask who ever i am with , can i follow you at night. walking....it amazes me at how easy you can read someones character by the ones willing to help and the ones who walk away and can't deal with it........:-6

guppy;486748 wrote: i am site challenged somewhat...always ask who ever i am with , can i follow you at night. walking....it amazes me at how easy you can read someones character by the ones willing to help and the ones who walk away and can't deal with it........:-6
You are sight challenged? Have you seen my picture yet? I am a stud muffin. Check it out, I think you will agree.

Well the consensus appears to be with English which is great - the less power we give the likes of the BNP over us the better.

I'll stick with British on the grounds that I was born in Wales

YZGI;487298 wrote: You are sight challenged? Have you seen my picture yet? I am a stud muffin. Check it out, I think you will agree.


of course i have seen your pic. you have a wonderful personality too.!!!!:)



like today i went to kroger and they rearranged the bloomin store. half way through i got so frustrated i just left the buggy and walked out. will have to take one of my kids tomorrow and help me figure out where everything got moved...i am used to memorizing where everything is......

guppy;489804 wrote: of course i have seen your pic. you have a wonderful personality too.!!!!:)



like today i went to kroger and they rearranged the bloomin store. half way through i got so frustrated i just left the buggy and walked out. will have to take one of my kids tomorrow and help me figure out where everything got moved...i am used to memorizing where everything is......
Dang it you can see better than I thought.

Why do people need to be categorized.????

They prefer to be themselves, unlabeled, and individual.

It's like canned vegetables. Without the occasional label you don't know the peas from the corn.

Golly...what do you think someone means when they call you "a pig?"

Hey Lulu! You already have your own thread for that! Get outta here! :wah: :wah:

Lulu2;503732 wrote: Golly...what do you think someone means when they call you "a pig?"Erm........:yh_pig

theia;486100 wrote: Same here Abbey and Dubs :-6


Me too - It's distinct to being scottish or irish or welsh - though I can claim a bit of them too...........