Time for a little rant…

In an effort not to offend anyone, people more and more are trying to use more  political correctness in language. Calling someone an African-American because his skin is black even if that person doesn’t have any ties to Africa. Calling someone special, differently-abled or handicapable when handicap is probably the right word for it.

Not being able to use a word because someone somewhere might be offended… even if it is the right word for the job is just plain stupid.

It just dumbs down our language and our ability to communicate.

What drives me most nuts is the use of pronouns.

For example. When I am talking about one person, the proper pronoun is "he" or "she"… not "they."

Wrong: "I was talking to a friend the other day and they were saying…"

Right: "I was talking to a friend the other day and he was saying…"

Okay, so what if we don’t know the proper pronoun? What if you want to apply the pronoun to both mail and female? Using he or she is far more appropriate.

Right: "When talking to a customer you should be aware that he or she may…"

Use the right language for the right conversation and you won’t sound so wrong.

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Corey Smith is the Chief Web Architect for Dealer Marketing Systems and maintains a news service for the copier, printer and document management industry.

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