Hears some more thoughts...

If I shouldn't use the term "Celtic" for music because it's not technically correct, what other term should I use for the collective music that is commonly known by that word? And what about other musical terms that arn't technically correct and/or misleading--like country & western (or country),new age,r&b,etc?

For several years I have described Enya's overall style as Celtic-new age (more new age than Celtic), even though I know her music is technically not "new age" since it has nothing to do with the so called "New Age" religion.But since that is the only common word that is really used for that type of sound (and others with a similar sound or structure) that is the word I use.I wouldn't say "new age music" is a meaningless term since it actually does mean a certain type of music, but it's not technically correct of alot of music in that style.So how should I accurately classify Enya's music without using either the word "Celtic" or "new age"?

Another reason that is given to discredit the term "Celtic music" is because it lumps to many different sounds together in one category.But the music that is commonly called "African" or "black African" (the term I prefer to use) lumps even more different types of music together, and includes music from a much wider area.Yet nobody seems to really discredit this music category for all the music it lumps together."Traditional Native Indian music" (or what some call First Nations) includes the music of this group of people from both North & South America and the Arctic.What I'm trying to say is that if "Celtic music" is to be a discredited category then it should only be on the basis of it being technically and culturally not correct, not because it's a "lumping category".But if we do that we should be consistent by not using other musical terms such as "country" or "country and western".

Yet another argument is that "Celtic music" is just a marketing term that is often applied very loosely, thus making it meaningless.But most common terms for music styles and sounds are marketed to some degree or another.For instance the word "jazz" these days is often applied to easy listening sounds that have little to do with real jazz.Often the label "jazz" is applied to music that really isn't jazz.But this in itself does not make "jazz" a meaningless term.It just means it is being to loosely used.

If using the word "British music" solves the problem of being culturally incorrect and divisive, it would make a even larger lumping category.