On Wed, 21 May 2008 05:18:27 -0700, malcolm wrote:
> This has more to do with the appalling ignorance of the English language
> rather than political correctness.
N.B. a recent case in California, wherein vehicle license plate numbers
are, by default, designed as a single number, then three letters, then
three numbers. So, theoretically, 1ABC234 would be valid license plate.
A gentleman of Japanese heritage caught sight of a plate with the three
letters forming the word JAP, and brought a lawsuit claiming that the
State was propagating racist terms on cars. I believe the State of
California now special-cases out "JAP" license plates, along with "FUK"
and other potentially-provocative three-letter combinations.
Like so much else in life, there is a sliding scale, and some people
simply have their detectors set too sensitively. If this Japanese
gentleman were called by his immediate supervisor and all his colleagues
by that term; or if he was addressed thusly by a bank teller, or a maitre
d', or a store clerk, one could see a case. But imagine being the person
who was simply assigned the "JAP" plates, and now has to go through the
trouble of changing all his registration information, notification to
community groups, etc., as a result of a single gentleman's sensitivity
to a three-letter combination.
This one, that I just discussed, I contend, *is* a case of political
correctness gone awry, but there are boundary cases between linguistic
ignorance and political correctness, and it is sometimes hard to find the
seam. I wince when someone informs me he has been "gypped", or "jewed",
but not if he says someone "welshed" on a debt (despite my partial Welsh
heritage) -- his claimed ignorance of the racist connotations of each of
those terms fails to impress me. "Jew's harp" is a useful term for an
actual musical instrument, and most educated people would know what I
refer to if I say it, but if this phrase were off-limits, I don't know
how I would cir***locute the problem.
I happily prepare a hearty stew in my "dutch oven", and would cheerfully
tell guests so (with "dutch" being an old, racist term that means
something like "approximate" or "stand-in", to be contrasted with
"proper"), but would consider a reference to distilled spirits as "dutch
courage" (same connotation) to be fighting words.
As a further example, how many (educated) Englishmen realize they are
perpetuating religio-***ual derision of Bulgaria and Bulgarians when they
say "I'll be buggered"?
On my web log, I formalized a statement as McGee's First Law: "Everything
is more complicated than it at first appears, even when McGee's First Law
is taken into account."
"Can of worms" and "curly one" do not begin to approach this problem.
Fortunately, we are on a philatelic forum, so I believe we can safely
sidestep. I'll be done for now. But watch for me if someone claims
they've been "gypped" by a dealer -- I'll come in blazing.
--
Joshua H. McGee, Los Angeles, California, USA
Member: APS, ATA, ISWSC, AFDCS, MBPC, MCC, BPS
President: http://www.penguinstamps.org
Trade?: http://www.mcgees.org/stamp-offers/
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