Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

102 Forbidden Words
in the face of more general social change. What political correctness has
done is create a climate of tacit censorship. 34 One reason for hostility
towards political correctness is that a breach of PC protocol can quickly
become an inquiry into a miscreant’s character. When people without natural
cover express themselves in an ‘incorrect’ way, there is always the danger that
their audience will judge them on what is known about the character of others
who have spoken in a similar way: true racists, true homophobes, true
misogynists – in other words, real bigots, whose motives are malevolent.
People are always mindful of what an expression might sound like (the MCPC
comes into play). If, for example, advocates of diversity insist that Australian
Aborigines be referred to as Kooris, then the safest thing is to adopt the PCapproved
terminology. Of course, if the group itself wants this label, using it
is a matter of simple civility. However, the term Koori is controversial
because not all Aboriginal groups wish to go by that name.
All taboos are controversial, whether they involve sanctions against bodily
effluvia, death, disease or dangerous animals. Any derogatory or unfavourable
denotation or connotation within language expressions will dominate the
interpretation of their immediate context. 35 Speakers will not risk appearing
to use a taboo term when none was intended; therefore they are quick to drop
the homonyms of taboo terms. Just as our nineteenth-century forbears used
dark meat and white meat in place of leg and breast when speaking of a
cooked fowl, some modern-day speakers prefer coffee with (or without) milk
in place of white (or black) coffee. In the case of a failure to follow a PC
regime, there is much more at stake. Just look at the now shocking nature of
those flippant references to niggers and chinks, which were once second
nature to writers like Rudyard Kipling. Use non-PC terms now, and doubts
are raised about your basic moral commitments; the safest course to steer is
one which carries the PC stamp of approval. The manufacturers of Darkie
Toothpaste apparently had this in mind when they changed the English
tradename of their product to Darlie Toothpaste, see Figure 4.1. Note how
the human image changes from stereotypical black minstrel (left) to a racially
indeterminate black and white face (right).
Even words and phrases that are similar to non-PC terms are avoided. In
1999, there was a controversy sparked by the use of the word niggardly by an
employee in the Washington, DC, mayoral office. David Howard told his staff
that, in light of cutbacks, he would have to be ‘niggardly’ with funds. Many
connected this word with the taboo word nigger and the uproar that followed
resulted in his resignation. In the blog ‘American political correctness and the
word “niggardly”’, Anders Jacobsen describes another incident in September
2002, where Stephanie Bell, a fourth grade teacher at Williams Elementary
School (Wilmington, IN), taught the word niggardly to her students and at
least one parent wanted her fired. 36 In links to Jacobsen’s posting, a number