How politically correct are you?

[Eilonnwy]

It's possible to avoid the latest 'politically correct' terms without being an asshole. There is a difference between using a word like 'Indian' instead of 'Native American' and being intentionally offensive. I'm talking about IRL, obviously. Being an asshole online is easy. Being an asshole in real life is no fun.

Indian is not politically incorrect. While many Indians prefer to be called by their native tribe, most recognize it's hard to do so because there are so many of them, so they accept the general term Indian.

Also, the word Indian does not come from Columbus thinking he landed in India.

I am a firm believer that most historians are wrong when they credit Christopher Columbus for coining the word "Indian" because he thought he was landing his ships in India. In 1492 there was no country known as India. Instead that country was called Hindustan. I think that is closer to the truth that the Spanish padre that sailed with Columbus was so impressed with the innocence of the Natives he observed that he called them Los Ninos in Dios. My spelling may be wrong on the Spanish words, but the description by the padre means something like "Children of God."

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-giago/...67593.html

I'm not advocating the use of actually offensive words. There are plenty of words I won't say, and some I won't even type... but calling every black person in the country an 'African American' is, at best, inaccurate. How is 'black' offensive?

Um, it isn't? Otherwise what the hell do you call black people from Jamaica, they aren't African American, they're Jamaican. I have never heard of black being politically incorrect.

One thing though, when speaking of minorities in a general way, some people prefer to use People of Color to incorporate Indian, Hispanic, Black, etc...