Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

96 Forbidden Words
correct’ terms for student residences, resale shops and actors. Residence halls,
consignment shops and background actors are a long way from the original
world of political correctness. These are certainly preferred (or ‘correct’)
terms, but not out of any commitment to a body of liberal or radical opinion
on social issues. They are simply chosen by speakers as felicitous expressions
for these concepts; the dispreferred terms – student residences, resale
(second-hand ) shops and extra actors – could hardly be construed as discriminatory
or pejorative. The phrase politically correct is now completely entangled
with euphemism and jargon.
Euphemism is driven by many different things: euphemistic expressions
can of course be motivated by a desire not to offend, but they are also
motivated by the wish to display in-group identity markers, the wish to
upgrade whatever they denote, and even the display of wit. Euphemism can
have a more sinister motivation too: to blur reality, not so much to avoid
offence, but to deceive. In the next example, the epithet ‘euphemistic’ could
easily substitute for ‘politically correct’ to describe the sort of relabelling
exercise illustrated here:
Companies continue to be fascinated by – pick your own politically correct term –
downsizing/rightsizing/RIF (reduction in force).
Politically correct has been extended well beyond its original sphere of use.
We shall see how it became confused with euphemism.
PC language – euphemism with attitude?
It is contentious to say that PC-inspired terminology is euphemistic, and there
are many people who will disagree with us, some vehemently. In fact, the
quarrel stems from different understandings of what constitutes euphemism.
Modern dictionaries of euphemism like Neaman and Silver (1983) and
Ayto (1993) include PC expressions among their entries. Yet contemporary
handbooks of non-discriminatory language 16 go out of their way to deny that
their guidelines are euphemistic; they put forward the view that PC usage
calls for a more precise and accurate use of language. For instance, since
women can chair meetings, chairperson is not euphemistic, it is simply
accurate. Moreover, they reflect social change: many handbooks stress that
political correctness is a matter of calling groups by the names they prefer.
There are numerous examples. In many places, the terms married and de facto
spouse only include those relationships sanctioned by law. A term such as
partner sidesteps that issue, and is therefore representative of relationships
other than heterosexual. The term queer, and more recently the umbrella
alphabetism GLBTIQ, 17 are preferred by non-heterosexuals because they
include groups which the terms gay and lesbian do not.