Politically correct terminology | mothermuckerme

When I was doing my teacher training many years ago, one of the aspects of the course that astounded me was that we were expected in no small way to adhere to certain rules governing terminology. I don't mean specific, subject-led terminology….I mean general, socially acceptable terminology. In educational establishments, which inevitably are an amalgamation of diverse social groupings, terminology has always been a matter of courtesy and common sense. Doubtless there are sections of the teaching population who have blatantly and consistently ignored both of these tenets and these characters create bad feeling and discomfort for students and colleagues alike. But I was more than surprised by the drilling we received, as student-teachers, in what sort of language was allowable. We were under no illusion that certain phrases and words would lead to severe marking down of our theses and, by extension, adherence to the 'list' would ensure higher-marked work. In most instances, the vocabulary promoted was simple modern day useage and we would most probably have drawn on it or similar anyway.  However, there were certain terms which, to my ears, made a nonsense of the English language. And as English is my subject, this rattled me. I won't bore you with a recitation of all these words and phrases, I'm sure they have become more than familiar to you over the last decade or two of political correctness.

I was, though, reminded of this irritation recently when I came across a snippet in a magazine entitled 'Spirit of the age'. It went as follows:  We should not refer to domestic animals as "pets" as the term is demeaning. Dogs, cats, budgies and hamsters should instead be referred to as "companion animals", and their owners as "human carers", says an editorial in the Journal of Animal Ethics. Professor Andrew Linzey and his co-editor also suggest that "wild" animals be described as "free-living" or "free-roaming", as "wildness" is synonymous with "unrestrained, barbarous existence".

Oka-a-a-ay. Well, I hereby give permission for anyone to call me "wild" and I look forward to an unrestrained, barbarous existence. Waiting….