Quick ***anese Question

[finlay]

People who moan about 'political correctness' are moaning that they're not allowed to insult people as they please. It annoys me.

New days - new expressions turning taboo. Expressions that were very much ok yesterday, but today someone all of a sudden decided that another/same someone is offended. I'm just waiting for the day when some scarf-wrapped batikgnome gets all upset just because one called the cleaning lady a cleaning lady (and not "hygienics technician" or "dust diagnostician").

This isn't anything new... this is an expression that's been very much not OK in a US- or UK-English context for more than half a century. If the equivalent is not considered offensive in Swedish, that's fair enough. As the wikipedia article notes, it's not considered offensive in Hong Kong or Singaporean English.

As for hygienics technician, I a) don't think anyone takes those kinds of titles seriously and b) think they're sort of as much the product of the kind of hysteria that regularly accompanies that kind of "PC gone mad!!!" mentality that I mentioned before.

[Shm Jay]

New days - new expressions turning taboo. Expressions that were very much ok yesterday, but today someone all of a sudden decided that another/same someone is offended.

Welcome to the concept of linguistic change.

[Bristel]

New days - new expressions turning taboo. Expressions that were very much ok yesterday, but today someone all of a sudden decided that another/same someone is offended.

"Well it's not my fault you chose to be offended!" is not the best excuse there is. On the contrary, it smacks of white/male/straight/cis/Christian/able-bodied privilege (combine as applicable).

So? You don't get to tell me that I can't say something because it offends you.

Also, I'm gay and agnostic, so doesn't that put me in a special category? No?

Then why does everyone else get the special "don't offend me" category?

Oh, because I'm white, and able-bodied...

but wait, being gay and agnostic... well, wait, how does that make me different or the same?

Well, I'm male, so I definitely can't insult women, or "wymyn", I should say... because that's misogynist... or is that fine now?

I'm also part Japanese, so by the definition of many black people, I should be considered "Japanese-American", which means that I should be offended at this egregious use of the word Jap!

[Shm Jay]

So? You don't get to tell me that I can't say something because it offends you.

Of course he does. It’s called "teaching you how to behave like a grown-up instead of a teenager".

[Bristel]

So? You don't get to tell me that I can't say something because it offends you.

Of course he does. It’s called "teaching you how to behave like a grown-up instead of a teenager".

It's called "anything could be considered offensive" and "let's pretend that these terms are the most horrible things in the world, so we can turn our children into a bunch of thin-skinned pussies", plus "letting an 'offensive' term offend you gives it power".

Of course it's childish to use offensive words towards someone... but the problem today isn't using racial words, it's the fact that almost any word can become offensive...

[MisterBernie]

So? You don't get to tell me that I can't say something because it offends you.

I'm not telling anybody what they can or cannot say, but just as everybody is free to choose their words any way they please, I am free to tell them if I don't like it, and to draw my own conclusions about their character.

[sirred]

Not using Jap is not political correctness gone too far. We don't live in a World War II recruitment poster. Sure, it was once a word that was used without batting an eye. So were many words on that list. Times and standards change. This is a much different animal from "sanitation specialist" given that one is an occupation and the other is an ethnic group.

[Ser]

I... didn't know "jap" was a slur for Japanese people. I use it all the time myself, even in front of them (and they never said anything?).

[Ulan]

Will the new title make you sleep better at night?

[masako]

Will the new title make you sleep better at night?

Some might get it confused with Lebanese.

[faiuwle]

It's called "anything could be considered offensive" and "let's pretend that these terms are the most horrible things in the world, so we can turn our children into a bunch of thin-skinned pussies", plus "letting an 'offensive' term offend you gives it power".

Of course it's childish to use offensive words towards someone... but the problem today isn't using racial words, it's the fact that almost any word can become offensive...

Do you remember when you (or, maybe someone younger than you) was a little child, and your mother told you that you shouldn't do or say things, shouldn't be unnecessarily rude to people (even if you really didn't like them), shouldn't insult their appearance/cooking/etc., maybe that you shouldn't use certain types of words in certain situations? And I'm sure you were incensed that anyone would arbitrarily tell you you couldn't do things, when no one had ever said you couldn't do that before, and well heck, your mother could just arbitrarily decide that anything you did was wrong, and how would you know? But by now you realize (or at least, I hope you realize) that not all language is appropriate for all situations, and making actual attempts to not offend people is both useful and necessary if you want to live in society and be considered an actual human being instead of an entitled brat.

You'd think this would have taught you that sometimes (nay, probably most of the time), when people tell you that certain words are not acceptable or are offensive, they are actually telling the truth, and not just being big bad arbitrary meanies who want to spoil your fun, but maybe not.

(RE the original subject heading: for a long time I actually only knew Jap as the acronym for Jewish American Princess, and did not realize that anyone used it to refer to Japanese people, either in a good or a bad way.)

[Aurora Rossa]

Will the new title make you sleep better at night?

Some might get it confused with Lebanese.

Lebanese isn't a language, though, is it?

[faiuwle]

Technically I think it's called Lebanese Arabic, but if someone posted "Quick Lebanese Question" I think everyone would understand.

[zompist]

People who can't be civil can be gone.