It could be construed as a black day for the English language — but not if you work in the public sector.
Dozens of quangos and taxpayer-funded organisations have ordered a purge of common words and phrases so as not to cause offence.
Among the everyday sayings that have been quietly dropped in a bid to stamp out racism and sexism are “whiter than white”, “gentleman’s agreement”, “black mark” and “right-hand man”.
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has advised staff to replace the phrase “black day” with “miserable day”, according to documents released under freedom of information rules.
It points out that certain words carry with them a “hierarchical valuation of skin colour”. The commission even urges employees to be mindful of the term “ethnic minority” because it can imply “something smaller and less important”.
The National Gallery in London believes that the phrase “gentleman’s agreement” is potentially offensive to women and suggests that staff should replace it with “unwritten agreement” or “an agreement based on trust” instead. The term “right-hand man” is also considered taboo by the gallery, with “second in command” being deemed more suitable.
Many institutions have urged their workforce to be mindful of “gender bias” in language. The Learning and Skills Council wants staff to “perfect” their brief rather than “master” it, while the Newcastle University has singled out the phrase “master bedroom” as being problematic.
Advice issued by the South West Regional Development Agency states: “Terms such as ‘black sheep of the family’, ‘black looks’ and ‘black mark’ have no direct link to skin colour but potentially serve to reinforce a negative view of all things black. Equally, certain terms imply a negative image of ‘black’ by reinforcing the positive aspects of white.
“For example, in the context of being above suspicion, the phrase ‘whiter than white’ is often used. Purer than pure or cleaner than clean are alternatives which do not infer that anything other than white should be regarded with suspicion.”
The clampdown in the public sector has angered some of the country’s most popular writers.
Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider children’s spy books, said: “A great deal of our modern language is based on traditions which have now gone but it would be silly — and extremely inconvenient — to replace them all. A ‘white collar worker’, for example, probably doesn’t wear one. An ‘able seaman’, under new regulations, could well be neither. ‘Spanish practices’ can happen all over Europe. We know what these phrases mean and we can find out from where they were derived. Banning them is just unnecessary.”
Marie Clair, spokeswoman for the Plain English Campaign, said: “Political correctness has good intentions but things can be taken to an extreme. What is really needed is a bit of common sense.”
So for a handy quick-reference guide:
- "Black Day" is now "miserable day"
- "whiter than white" is now "cleaner than clean"
- "gentleman's agreement" is now "unspoken agreement"
- "right-hand man" is now "second in command"
- "Master Bedroom" is now "the biggest bedroom in the house where the owner(s) usually sleeps"????
Most people will be able to see where some could be sensitive to "black day", but as you go down this list and the phrases being replaced are more and more mundane (ie "right-hand man" & "master bedroom") it should start to click in place (if it hadn't already) that the entire PC movement is built on such an open-ended premise as to be entirely absurd.
One of the main arguments against political correctness has always been to point to how the philisophy produces patently absurd objections to completely innocous words and phrases when taken to its logical conclusion. Well we've arrived at those patently absurd objections, brought here by those who support the movement ironically enough, and yet they continue the search for more words to object to.
Hell, why don't we get rid of "black light" since "black day" is on the list, and of course you can't say "white light" then either. We've already had elected officials object to "Black Hole(s)" as well so we should also strike "White Hole(s)" from our vocabs too. Maybe we should also get rid of "Black Cat" since it is associated with bad luck, and lets toss in "Black Letter Day"/"Red Letter Day" as well (the latter because it might offend Native Americans). Maybe we should just stop talking altogether? That seems to be where this is headed.
With the rise of political correctness we also got the concept of "hate speach" which has been passed into law in several nations around the world. It should make people curious how we get hate speach laws (most of which are passed with good intentions) in concert with more and more words being deemed offensive. It's impossible to know if the movement is deliberately organized to that purpose (I very highly doubt it) but it is quite obvious that it is being used to silence free speach and it is a concept that becomes more and more accepted every day with every word that people forsake on the off chance that it might...possibly...maybe...offend someone.
I would much rather a bigot speak his mind without fear of reprisal, and out himself in that process, than ask others to keep silent for fear of the possibility of offending someone. I would much rather have an entire world of people offended by what they hear, than have a single person afraid to speak their mind. It is incomprehensible to me that anyone could disagree with that sentiment - to understand why one only has to look at the horrors that have been committed for lack of those willing to speak their mind when it mattered most.
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