A different kind of PC

[philmophlegm]

I came across a new politically-correct term this morning. Apparently now, if you wish to refer to a lady who is not white, you should refer to her as a "woman of color". (American spelling because obviously this sort of thing usually comes from the US, or at least, certain parts of the US.) You can abbreviate this term to its acronym, "woc

Comments

[allaboutweather]

They're full of double standards as well.

[andrewducker]

Yeah. As far as I can see a new term comes up, and is used because the older terms have been used abusively. This lasts about three weeks before the new term has also been used abusively, and then _another_ new term is needed. (See, for instance "special")

Now, there are some words/phrases which are pretty much only used abusively. But coloured person vs person of colour is clearly one of those ones where it's just ridiculous.

[bunn]

I think the people who come up with the new terms are well-intentioned and desperate not to hurt feelings, but perhaps lack... perspective and knowledge of human nature.

[louisedennis]

Woman of colour/person of colour has been in use for a while but my understanding is that its fairly specifically American and isn't necessarily popular in the UK (different history of usage which makes it less anodyne). I've seen several quite intelligent discussions about how one should refer to non-white people, specifically if you want to refer to a larger group than say, African-Americans or British Asians or whatever, most of which conclude there is no good terminology - almost anything available either a) has a history of (badly) abusive use often related to profiling and segregation, b) is made up and looks pretty silly (e.g., chromatic) or c) suggests that white is some default standard against which others are measured (e.g., non-white).

As far as I can tell most sensible people seem to reckon you pick the least offensive/ridiculous one you can based on the context you are in at the time and be prepared to apologise if you hit someone's nerve.