The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #63627   Message #1035634
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
14-Oct-03 - 05:14 PM
Thread Name: BS: political correctness
Subject: RE: BS: political correctness
I take it that these are all things that have happened to your knowledge, rather than being versions of things that happened to a friend of a friend.

Obviously I'd call them all daft - and I'd be very suspicious of the intentions of anyone who tried to impose those kind of rules. My suspicion would be that they had some kind of dodgy agenda. They might for example be trying to ridicule the notion that words can hurt. Or it might be a ploy in some kind of office politics - "I'll show them I'm in charge".

So far as Christian names go, obviously it is not a good idea to ask someone what their Christian name is unless you have some reason to believe that they were actually Christened - even aside from any possible question of offence, for example to someone who might be a Moslem or Jew, it's a nonsensical use of the term. Like asking an unmarried person for their married name. "First name" or prerably "given name" (allowing for the fact that given names aren't always first names, especially with Chinese people) is a better expression to use when asking questions. But obviously nobody has any business to tell someone they shouldn't use the expression when referring to their own names.

If the expression "politically incorrect" were ever a term worth using, it'd be appropriate to use it of the kind of petty tyranny and bigotry demonstrated in such episodes.