[Callers] Politically Correct?

[Ryan Smith]

While it's true that language is often not the problem, it's less relevant
to the discussion of what words to use as a caller than you might think.

Scenario A:
If we have to keep finding new ways to describe square dancing because it's
viewed as an activity only danced by weird old white people, then square
dancing is the problem and changing the name isn't going to help.

Scenario B:
If the problem is that an activity like square dancing has borrowed
terminology that has become dated over time, then it can avoid becoming
scenario A by updating its terminology to match the moving target of
society or in some cases it can discard that terminology in favor of
something that is less likely to attract baggage.

As regards the original question for this post, how we refer to people is
going to be a moving target.  If you want to avoid offending people, you
should probably find a term that is considered respectful in the current
era in which you are living.  If you don't care about offending people,
then the question is moot.

As regards other terminology concerns, if you find that you have a dance
term that refers to specific people or groups (gypsies, contras, etc.)  you
can, in fact, avoid the problem (possibly forever) by moving the term to
something less likely to get wrapped up in the identities of groups or
cultures.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35349619

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 10:58 AM, Donald Perley via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> When history shows a number of new terms introduced over the years,
> and each, after a while, picks up the taint of being derogatory, you
> eventually figure out that
> the word itself isn't the real problem.
>
> Using the tainted water analogy, if the person serving your water has
> typhoid, asking for a new glass from the same waiter won't help much.
>
>
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