The use of politically incorrect language should be avoided.

Many thanks to my opponent, Kierkegaard (the student who calls his teacher a spastic), for his most impressive response! I am sorry if I didn't make my contentions explicit, I hoped that they were implicit through the examples I gave. Nevertheless, I shall spell them out. Whilst we all have the legal right to say pretty much what we like to anyone we please, we should avoid politically incorrect language because it may cause offence to others (which is immoral) and also because it may damage our own social standing (assuming that is important to us). Please allow me to illustrate my second point. Imagine my opponent is invited to a right posh dinner party for toffs and snobs and after a slap-up feast; the guests retire to the drawing room… . Sir Montmorency de St. Leger – I say, wouldn't it be spiffing fun to sing comic songs around the piano? Lady Jemima Fortnum-Mason – Oh, what a jolly wheeze, Monty, yes, let's! I propose young Kierkegaard goes first. Kierkegaard – Well, as it happens, I was watching Sunderland play Manchester United recently and some of the supporters' chants were frightfully amusing. I particularly liked this little ditty… (Singing) He's queer, He's bent, His arse is up for rent! Christiano Ronaldo, Christiano Ronaldo. Lady Jemima Fortnum-Mason – Oh, how perfectly dreadful! Cecil Civil-Ceremony – Yes, we are gay men and we are deeply offended, aren't we Quentin? Quentin Civil-Ceremony – Yes, and Christiano Ronaldo happens to be a very close personal friend of ours. Sir Montmorency de St. Leger – I think we've had just about enough of Kierkegaard's charming wit for one evening, don't you everyone? I say, Bentley, fetch this young gentleman's hat and cloak, there's a good chap. . At this juncture, the butler returns with my opponent's puffa jacket and escorts him off the premises, thus depriving him of the opportunity to seduce luscious teen lovely (and notorious nymphomaniac) Helena Carter-Farque. Notice how I used the romantic term "nymphomaniac" rather than "slapper", "tart". "slut" or "slag", which are derogatory to women in general. But don't get me wrong. There are people who don't know where to stop when it comes to political correctness. For example, there have been calls for the type of chest of drawers known as a "tallboy" (1) to be renamed "tallchild" when the "boy" in tallboy is actually a corruption of "bois", the French word for wood. Others have suggested replacing words such as manipulate with non gender-specific terms when the word does not derive not from the English word for adult male, rather from the Latin "manipulus", meaning to handle. Certainly some (usually self-appointed) "experts" go too far. For example, workforce diversity specialist and performance improvement consultant, Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP, (2) advises her clients not to use the term "gifted child" but say: "advanced leaner" instead. Sorry, but I don't imagine many parents would be too upset if someone told them they had a gifted child! Her bizarre advice continues when she suggests the following: Replace "No culture (when referring to parts of the U.S. where the opera and the theater are scarce or nonexistent)" with "Lacking European culture" Replace "White lie" with "Lie (Calling it white does not make it okay)" Replace "Don't go postal on me!" with "No alternative; someone in your audience may have relatives who are postal workers" I'm not saying people should go to extremes like frothing nutjobs such as Lenora Billings-Harris suggest. Essentially, my argument is just that by avoiding overtly offensive language, you are demonstrating a delicacy of feeling for other people, which is all about good manners and nothing at all to do with suppressing your freedom of expression. Thank you. . (1) http://www.antiques.tv... (2) http://www.sideroad.com...