politically correct
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more politically correct
form: most politically correct
form: PC
form: P.C.
Etymology: The earliest known attestation is in late 18th century United States, in response to a toast made to “the United States” instead of to “the people of the United States”.
In the early twentieth century the term was associated with the dogmatic application of Stalinist and Communist Party doctrine, and later popularised by Mao Zedong in his 1963 essay Where Do Correct Ideas Come From? which equated “correct” with “the disciplined acceptance of a party line”.
In the 1970s it was adopted by wider left-wing politics. The first known use in this sense was by Toni Cade in her 1970 anthology The Black Woman. It was subsequently used in a statement by Karen DeCrow in December 1975 in her capacity as president of the National Organization for Women.
In the 1980s it acquired the pejorative sense when used to mock conformist liberal academics, their stereotypical political views and alleged attempts to control language.
Senses: examples: text: Sentiments and expressions of this inaccurate kind prevail in our common, even in our convivial, language. Is a toast asked? ‘The United States’, instead of the ‘People of the United States’, is the toast given. This is not politically correct.
ref: 1793, U.S. Supreme Court, Chisholm v State of GA, 2 US 419 (1793)
text: [On] the one hand we should demand that the poet's work conform to the correct political tendency, on the other hand we have the right to expect that his work be of high quality. … I want to show you that the political tendency of a work can only be politically correct if it is also literarily correct. That means that the correct political tendency includes a literary tendency. For, just to clarify things right away, this literary tendency, which is implicitly or explicitly contained in every correct political tendency – that, and nothing else constitutes the quality of a work.
ref: 1934/1970, Walter Benjamin, "The Author as Producer" (address at the Institute for the Study of Fascism, Paris, April 27, 1934), as translated by John Heckman for New Left Review 1/62, July-August 1970
text: I am here to tell you that we are going to do those things which need to be done, not because they are politically correct, but because they are right. We are going to pass a civil rights bill if it takes all summer.
ref: 1964 March 23, Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks in Atlantic City at the Convention of the United Auto Workers:
text: Lenin gave an all-round substantiation of the impossibility of implementing the United States of Europe slogan under capitalism. He said this slogan merged with socialism and acquired political meaning only under socialism. It was politically correct also from the standpoint of the need to overthrow the three reactionary monarchies of Europe—that of Russia, of Germany and of Austria-Hungary.
ref: 1969, Y. F. Sopin, chapter 5, in The Bolshevik Party's Struggle Against Trotskyism, page 214:
topics: government
politics
synonyms: dogmatic
orthodox
antonyms: heretical
unorthodox
politically incorrect
glosses: Possessing or conforming to the correct political positions; following the official policies of the government or a political party.
examples: text: A man cannot be politically correct and a chauvinist too.
ref: 1970, Toni Cade, The Black Woman:
text: Why do they call camels "Ships-of-the-desert" ?
[...]
Because they're full of Iranian seamen.
(NOW, being politically correct you must, of course, substitute "martian"
What a clever joke this becomes! Hopefully, there are no martians listening. )
ref: 1981 December 14, G:kirk, “Yet Another Camel Joke”, in net.jokes (Usenet), message-ID <anews.Apopuli.106>:
text: The geth serve as a cautionary tale against the dangers of rogue AI, and in Citadel Space they are technically illegal. Advocacy groups argue, however, that an AI is a living, conscious entity deserving the same rights as organics. They argue that continued use of the term "artificial" is institutionalized racism on the part of organic life, the term "synthetic" is considered the politically correct alternative.
ref: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Computers: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Codex entry:
text: It appears that in trying to solve one problem - bias - the tech giant has created another: output which tries so hard to be politically correct that it ends up being absurd.
ref: 2024, Zoe Kleinman (technology editor), "Why Google's 'woke' AI problem won't be an easy fix" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-68412620 (BBC News)
glosses: Sensitive to giving offense on the grounds of race, sex, etc.
examples: text: Don Imus, Bernard McGuirk, Trent Lott, Larry Summers, the Duke lacrosse team, Jimmy the Greek, the kid who yelled "water buffalo" at Penn, Howard Cosell, Jon Stewart, Chief Illiniwek, Jackie Mason and "South Park" all have in common only one thing: They have not been Politically Correct.
ref: 2007 May 3, Daniel Henninger, “After Imus: End the Executions”, in Wall Street Journal:
text: From foie gras produced without making birds suffer to "sustainable" fish, British retailers and restaurants are fast embracing politically correct food, helped by celebrity-fuelled pressure.
ref: 2010, “Politically correct food on the menu in Britain”, in The Independent:
text: Even when mounted in the context of animal-centric conferences or events, exhibits of “animal art” routinely display works consisting of animal parts or taxidermied animals—most of which can be viewed while people are eating their politically correct vegan lunch.
ref: 2017, Linda Kalof, The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies, page 434:
topics: government
politics
synonyms: word: right-on
glosses: Stereotypically left-wing; possessing or conforming to stereotypical left-wing social views.
Related terms: political correctness
political incorrectness
politically correctly
politically correctness
politically incorrect