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The Top Politically inCorrect Words and Phrases for 2005:

1.      Misguided Criminals for Terrorist:  The BBC attempts to strip away all emotion by using what it considers neutral descriptions when describing those who carried out the bombings in the London Tubes.  The rub:  the professedintent of these misguided criminals was to kill, without warning, as many innocents as possible (which is the common definition for the term, terrorist).    The phrase was selected by GLM as but one example in line with the published BBC Editorial Guidelines where it is noted that the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than aid to understanding.  Suggested alternatives include:  bomber, attacker, insurgent and militant, among others.  These and similar words are deemed to have no emotional or value judgments.   However, the word Terrorist can be used as long as it appears in a quoted attribution. [To see one example used by John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, Click Here.]

2.      Intrinsic Aptitude (or lack thereof) was a suggestion by LawrenceSummers, the president of Harvard, on why women might be underrepresented in engineering and science.  He was nearly fired for his speculation.

3.      Thought Shower or Word Shower substituting for brainstorm so as not to offend those with brain disorders such as epilepsy.

4.      Scum or "la racaille" for French citizens of Moslem and North African descent inhabiting the projects ringing FrenchCities.  France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, used this most Politically inCorrect  (and reprehensible) label to describe the young rioters (and by extension all the inhabitants of the Cites). 

5.      Out of the Mainstream when used to describe theideology of any political opponent:  At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream.  What's so great about being in the mainstream?

6.      Deferred Success as a euphemism for the word fail.  The Professional Association of Teachers in the UK considered a proposal to replace any notion of failure withdeferred success in order to bolster students self-esteem.

7.      Womyn for Women to distance the word from man.  This in spite of the fact that the term man in the original Indo-European is gender neutral (as have been its successors for some 5,000 years). 

8.      C.E. for A.D.:  Is the current year A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.?   There is a movement to strip A.D. (Latin for "In the Year of the Lord") from the year designation used in the West since the 5^th century and replace it with the supposedly moreneutral Common Era  (though the zero reference year for the beginning of the Common Era remains the year of Christ's birth).

9.      "God Rest Ye Merry Persons" for "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen":  A Christmas, eh, Holiday, carol with 500 years of history isnot enough to sway the Anglican Church at Cardiff Cathedral (Wales) from changing the original lyrics.    There are those who suggest going one step further:  "Higher Power Rest Ye Merry Persons".

10.    Banning the word Mate:  the Department ofParliamentary Services in Canberra issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in dealings t with both members of Parliament and the public. What next? banning 'no worries' so as not to offend the worried, or banning 'Down Under' So as not to offend those of us who live in the "Up Over".

HolidayBonus:  Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings for Christmas (which in some UK schools now label Wintervale).  However, the word holiday is derived directly from Holy Day, and in the word X-Mas, the Greek letter 'chi' represented by the Roman X actually stands for the first two letters of the name Christ.)  Now there are published reports of organization banning the traditional Christmas Colours of red and green.

Last year the Top Politically Incorrect words were:  Los Angeles Countys insistence of covering over with labels any computer networking protocols that mention master/slave jargon.  Following closelywere same-sex marriage for marriage and waitron for waiter of waitress.

 Australia bans the word 'mate'

GLM'S Language Police suggest these others: 'No Worries', 'Down Under', 'Barbie', etc.

San Diego, Calif. August 24, 2005.   Last week, the Department of Parliamentary Services in Canberra, issued a general warning to its security staff banning the use of the word 'mate' in any dealings they might have with both members of the Parliament and the public.  Almost immediately, Australian Prime Minister John Howard called the ban "absurd" while the Opposition labeled it "un-Australian".   The ban has since been rescinded.

   In direct response, the Global Language Monitor polled its readers (and enquired of its Language Police) to come up with further suggestions of slang words and informal language that might serve the public interest by being banned in Australia.  Earlier today, as a service to the international linguistic 'mateship' or community, GLM released its List.

     "We believe that if the Department of Parliamentary Services had a list of "Further Slang terms and Colloquialisms fit to be Avoided, Shunned, or Otherwise Banned," these are the words that would populate such a List," said Paul JJ Payack, President and the WordMan for the Global Language Monitor.  "To make the List, words had to be innocuous in themselves, but in the context of Political Correctness, potentially offensive to some segment of the populace".

     Recently, the BBC's use of the term 'misguided criminals' and 'bombers' when referring to the perpetrators of the recent London blasts stirred an international debate on politically correct language.  The BBC used those words to replace the term 'terrorist', which according to the BBC can "carry emotional or value judgments".

     GLM's List is an ongoing compilation; currently the list of words to be potentially banned with associated commentary follows:

   Barbeque -- The shortened form, barbie, can be an invidious reference to the Barbie doll, and hence sexist.

• Abso-bloody-lutely -- Though the term bloody can signify an intensive, this use could also heighten insensitivity to the plight of farm animals that animal rights activists have long warned against.
• Down Under --  Down Under signifies the existence of an Up Over, which obviously is in the superior position of Uppness.  Might be taken as ignoring the very real consequences of the North/South global division.
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  • G'day  --  G'day is the shortened form of 'Good Day'.  Some etymologists believe that good can be ultimately traced to an earlier word for God.  Hence, G'day could represent a conspiracy to insinuate the theistic world view into everyday life.
• Mate  --  From classmates at male boarding schools. Obviously sexist, also elitist.
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• Nappy  --  Diaper, might offend those who illegally download music to their hard drives, and narcoleptics.
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• No Worries -- This is offensive to those with OCD, and others who are plagued by constant self-doubt and apprehension.
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• Plonk  --  Inexpensive wine (in the US it's called ripple).  Plonk is perhaps a contraction of vin blanc; this might offend francophones.
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• Ta  --  Thank you. In the spirit International Harmony, the French s'il vous plait is preferred.
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• Vegemite  --  A plot to foist upon a defenseless world, the supposed utopian ideal of what a meatless sandwich might be. 
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• Zed  --  The letter Z.  Not exactly slang, but a candidate for banishment nonetheless on general principles. 
• Nought -- the number 'zerio'.  If this caught on, the English-speaking world might finally have a name for the first decade of the 21st century:  the Noughties.

To contribute to the List, CLICK HERE.

To Read the Story from the Aussie perspective, CLICK HERE.

'Terrorist' Or 'Bomber'?  BBC Stirs Debate on Political Correctness: Filtering Events of All Emotional Content

San Diego, California (July 15, 2005) The BBC's use of the term 'misguided criminals' and 'bombers' when referring to the perpetrators of the recent London blasts have stirred an international debate on politically correct language.  The words replace the term terrorist, which according to the BBC can "carry emotional or value judgments".

  According to the Global Language Monitor's exclusive PQ (Political-sensitivity Quotient) Index, the term 'terrorist' appears 700% more frequently on the web than 'bomber' when linked to terror-related activities such as suicide bombings, and the like.   When tracking global news articles only, the word 'bomber' can be found in about 40% of the articles, though usually in combination with 'terrorist' or 'terrorist-related' words.  The phrase 'misguided criminals' is found only about 5000 times on the entire web, many times linked to the emerging BBC story.

     BBC guidelines state that credibility should never be undermined by the "careless use of words which (sic) carry emotional or value judgments".

     "The primary function of a news organization is to detail events as they occur in their existing cultural milieu, thereby recording the first draft of history.  The BBC seems concerned with overstepping this boundary into what was once called yellow journalism.  The greater danger here is to filter emotion-laden events of all emotional content in their pursuit of the non-judgmental," said Paul JJ Payack, President (and the WordMan) of the Global Language Monitor.

     The PQ Index is a proprietary algorithm that tracks politically sensitive words and phrases in the print.  The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, thereby separating the spin and the hype from the facts.   The PQ Index is published quarterly.




Political Correctness Advocates Rail  Against the Western Calendar: 

A.D. 2005 or 2005 C.E.? 

The Traditional Western Practice is to Reckon Time from the Birth of Jesus

San Diego, Calif. May 16, 2005. MetaNewswire.  A small but vocal element is voicing opposition to the traditional Western practice of dividing time, measuring events as occurring before or after the birth of Jesus or B.C and A.D., according to a survey by The Global Language Monitor (GLM), using the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI). 

     The survey found that in the worldwide electronic and print media, and on the Internet, the current convention of A.D. and B.C. was found to be nearly 50 times as prevalent as that of the C.E. and B.C.E. convention.  Nevertheless, the fact that the newer conventions were now found to be used at all indicates significant inroads, where until recently none existed.

     The C.E. and B.C.E. conventions were introduced about a century ago in the Jewish and Scientific communities, but have been adopted increasingly by those who want to place some distance or obscure the Judeo-Christian roots of Western Civilization. The issue has become increasingly polarizing on college campuses, school textbook publishers, and in the various religious communities.

     The Western Calendar is especially pervasive because all major electronic and computer systems have it deeply embedded in their basic instruction sets, or operating systems. This means that all electronic commerce, commercial applications, scientific, airlines, electronic games, automobiles, clocks, etc. are based on the Western Calendar.

"As with most language-based PC issues, the battle is intense, however, no authority or group can mandate linguistic change, said Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor.  "The fact is that both C.E. or A.D. both acknowledge the centrality of Jesus to the Western Calendar, (actually shorthand for Western Christendom), since both A.D. and C.E. both refer to the birth of Jesus as the time marker for the West."

     (In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the revolutionaries made anill-fated and short-lived attempt to restart the Western Calendar, which was to begin on September 22, 1792: the day of the declaration of the first French Republic.  Months were cited by Roman numerals and named after meteorological conditions.)

     Payack added, "Jesus, of course, was born in 749 AUC (ab urbe condita) from the founding of the City), since the Roman Calendar was dated from the mythical founding of the City by Romulus in 753 B.C. It is also interesting to note that when Dominus Exiguus, the 5^th Century monk, created the current Calendar, he miscalculated, which is why it is now generally accepted that Jesus was born in the year 4 B.C, that is four years before the year of his birth."

     There are several major calendar systems in addition to the Western system currently in use.  These include the Hebrew, Islamic, Buddhist, and Chinese. 

   The Hebrew Calendar dates from the Creation (current year 5765); the Islamic Calendar dates from the Hegira (current year 1425); the Chinese Calendar dates from the Emperor Huangdi, in 2637 B.C.; and the Buddhist Calendar dates from  the birth of the Buddha, 543 years B.C., making 2005 the year 2548 of the Buddhist Era.

     The Predictive Quantities Indicator is a proprietary algorithm that tracks specified words and phrases in the media and on the Internet.  The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.  In this case, the words tracked were Anno Domini (A.D., literally Year of the Lord), Before Christ (B.C.), the Common Era (C.E.) and Before the Common Era (B.C.E.)

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