General Discussion

MineralMan

(150,954 posts)

69. The easiest thing to do is not to refer to people's

Sun May 12, 2013, 02:18 PM

May 2013

physical characteristics at all when talking about or to them. What does it matter if the person is short or tall, thin or heavy, or any other characteristic? If asked to describe someone to the police, perhaps, a literal description would be useful. Otherwise, I don't see how it is.

Instead, refer to the person by name, if you know it. If you don't know their name, then why would you be referring to them at all?

As my mother said, "It's never polite to refer to someone's appearance."

She's very smart.

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Politically correct or intellectually rude?? [View all] MichelleB May 2013 OP

You'd be amazed at the many shades of meaning of a smile accompanied by the words, freshwest May 2013 #1

Good advice. truebluegreen May 2013 #28

I see English as a toolbox Half-Century Man May 2013 #2

My default reply to a rude personal attack... defacto7 May 2013 #3

"vertically challenged" sounds way worse than "short" JI7 May 2013 #4

Short people got no reason OriginalGeek May 2013 #5

Wow... you're a lot more politiclly correct than I am. Jasana May 2013 #6

"Politically correct" is a RW term loyalsister May 2013 #7

I get called fat all the time. Mr. X May 2013 #13

Good for you loyalsister May 2013 #17

"There is a difference between calling a man or woman fat" - oh, piss off. sibelian May 2013 #32

Whose cold harsh truth? Iris May 2013 #18

To my above... Mr. X May 2013 #31

callling someone "illegal" really grates on me. CTyankee May 2013 #64

the thing is, when polite people notice something that's socially considered a flaw -- like being HiPointDem May 2013 #22

But we do refer to people with diabetes as 'diabetic,' to people with disabilities as 'disabled,' HiPointDem May 2013 #21

Some people do loyalsister May 2013 #42

In my world, people can be tired, handsome, a dancer, diabetic, young, and deaf, all at the same HiPointDem May 2013 #46

Your point is valid loyalsister May 2013 #47

as i'd already said i try to call people as they chose to be called, not sure why the lecture is HiPointDem May 2013 #48

And I explained why words matter loyalsister May 2013 #50

As I've already explained, there's nothing in the language itself that categorizes them in limited HiPointDem May 2013 #52

It wasn't always rucky May 2013 #27

I recall "politically correct" beginning as a left wing term meaning the person referred to has so byeya May 2013 #35

Exactly loyalsister May 2013 #43

Thanks. It's good to know my memory has not failed me here. byeya May 2013 #49

I generally tell people I'm short, fat, have brown hair. Shrike47 May 2013 #8

Political correctness is simply GOOD MANNERS. Zoeisright May 2013 #9

It sometimes *is* difficult, because different people take offense to different things, and HiPointDem May 2013 #23

Political correctness is simply NOT GOOD MANNERS. RC May 2013 #36

Here, here. +++++!! Locut0s May 2013 #66

Kinda like.... TnDem May 2013 #67

Find another job if you can't pretend to be nice. Quantess May 2013 #10

I've been in customer service for 20 years.. MichelleB May 2013 #12

Fortunately for me, I wasn't in public service. Shrike47 May 2013 #14

a huge sparkly bouncy ball Quantess May 2013 #16

Great feed back!!! MichelleB May 2013 #11

If someone called me "vertically challenged" ... dmr May 2013 #15

I once thought of a thing Beearewhyain May 2013 #19

A friend of mine suggested LostOne4Ever May 2013 #20

I love that example. It's very much like something my father told me one day when I was puzzled. freshwest May 2013 #44

I think your example is better LostOne4Ever May 2013 #57

Same feeling and logic. Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Alan Watts influenced me as a teenager. freshwest May 2013 #60

this really feels like a right wing post cali May 2013 #24

I thought the same. Squinch May 2013 #25

Yep. Sheldon Cooper May 2013 #26

"-this could be amusing and educational all at once. " Brickbat May 2013 #29

I don't think the term short is offense. Travis_0004 May 2013 #30

Vertically challenged indicates a problem. Tall and short are lengths. freshwest May 2013 #61

I'm short... a la izquierda May 2013 #63

the RW BS is strong in this thread.... KG May 2013 #33

Wasn't it, though. But there were some good replies, too. freshwest May 2013 #45

You don't consider "vertically challenged" as rude? Cleita May 2013 #34

If asked to describe a person's height I think it's better to say "about"5'1" or 4'11" whichever byeya May 2013 #37

That is fine. Even calling someone short is not insulting. It's a fact, but Cleita May 2013 #38

I would, and have, filled out reports and said "Shorter than the average man, approx, 5'6" and I do byeya May 2013 #39

I don't think asking for body shape is an appropriate question even for an accident report. Cleita May 2013 #40

I agree with you and this was 40 years ago. I don't think this question appears on current motor byeya May 2013 #41

Of course!! MichelleB May 2013 #56

aww. poor you. such a hard life you live La Lioness Priyanka May 2013 #51

I cannot pretend to be nice or to actually care about others. Dash87 May 2013 #53

:D MichelleB May 2013 #58

I think you're punking us. Nine May 2013 #54

call me whatever you want.. janlyn May 2013 #55

calling anti-woman right wing nuts "pro-life" arely staircase May 2013 #59

For those of you being accused or accusing someone of being "right winged" MichelleB May 2013 #62

Actually I think the first part you said you are fine with is stupid... Locut0s May 2013 #65

Option C: Trolling dog whistle. (nt) Heidi May 2013 #68

The easiest thing to do is not to refer to people's MineralMan May 2013 #69

...agreed MineralMan!! :D MichelleB May 2013 #70