PC PCs

Heh. The Global Language Monitor has released their annual report on the Most Politically Correct Phrases and Terms for 2004.

1. Device for master and captured device for slave in computer networking terminology — As reported here when it happened. Allow me to once more say that it’s freakin’ goofy. I am sensitive to language use, and probably overly-sensitive about not offending folks, but it’s a perfectly legit technical term. If “master” and “slave” are now officially taboo words, we’re in a lot of trouble.
2. Non-same sex marriage, for marriage used in Democratic Presidential Primaries — I didn’t run across this one. I think I can understand where it’s coming from (if marriage is to be deemed as open to both gay and straight couples, it’s probably useful to have a term to distinguish them, especially since we already have the “same-sex marriage”); I wouldn’t call this one PC, but I’d call it rather clumsy.

3. Waitron for waiter or waitress — Oh, gag me. Okay, it’s less clumsy than calling them “one of the waitstaff,” but “server” also works pretty well, from what I’ve experienced. Unless that starts to verge into #1.

4. Red Sox Lover for Yankee Hater during the ALCS playoffs — Shrug. I guess it depends on where it’s coming from and who it’s being implosed upon.

5. Higher Power for God — Well, that’s hardly new (AA’s been using the term for decades. Depending on the context, it may even be a better term (since it encompasses a broader range of religious thought).

6. Progressive for classical liberal — Actually, there’s a lot of battle going on about the “liberal” label, with some folks shunning it, some folks arguing that they deserve it, and some folks scratching their heads. It may actually be a better term (as a better antonym for “conservative”).

7. Incurious rather than more impolite invectives for President Bush (such as idiot or moron) — Actually, I think “Incurious George” is a lot more clever (both as wordplay and as a descriptor) than the rather prosaic alternatives. In some ways it’s more descriptive and less pejorative per se, yet can be taken easily as a negative by those who want to. And, frankly, anything that’s less impolite is likely to be a good thing in my book.

8. Insurgents substituting for terrorists in Iraq — This is a tough one, because there are aspects of the folks fighting in Iraq that qualify for both labels. What I object to is the insertion of one phrase for the other for reasons other than accuracy of description. If someone commits a terrorist act (which I would consider sawing off kidnapping victims heads on video to be), then call them terrorists, at least in that context. If someone is fighting against the established authority, or for a different regime, call them insurgents, at least in that context. Rejecting one term or the other just because it makes a better political point in what should be a characterization of the facts is where I get torqued off.

9. Baristas rather than waitrons — Only at Starbucks, baby.

10. First year student rather than Freshman, though Frosh is still acceptable — Gag me. Unless we’re going to go that route with all the labels (and, frankly, on a college level, it’s an increasingly obsolete term, as folks pursue more terms that are shorter or longer than the Frosh-Soph-Junior-Senior quartet describe, at least formally), it’s irksomely PC. And, heck, wait’ll they realize what “sophomore” means, or wait until the anti-agists decide that “senior” is a pejorative term as well …

So, actually, looking at the above, I don’t have too many objections. Languages evolve, whether we like it or not (and we usually do both). When they evolve not because folks are seeking a better new term, but because someone gets the vapors over an older term — then we move back to a Victorian era of bowdlerization, whether the objectors realize it or not.