An interesting quote

In this day and age of "political correctness" adherents, and "thought police", many people (and I'm including myself, here) are having a difficult time to be able to say what they mean, without fear of being accused of something - like, being a racist, or sexist, etc. - and possibly having their lives turned upside down by someone suing them, over the simple use of a word.

Over the years, I have noted wih a certain amount of irritation, how our conversations have changed, with the addition of multiple word phrases that we are "supposed" to use, in place of the simple word those phrases have been created to replace, so as to not "offend" any individual or group.

A simple example, from my line of work, is the name of a tool. This particular tool is used regularly by people doing repair and installation work, from do-it-youselfers to professionals. The tool has two "proper" names - side cutters, or diagonal cutters - and this tool is used to cut electrical wires (it has other cutting uses, too, but I want this to be as short as possible). The name "diagonal cutters" is the older of the two names used for this tool, and way before I even knew this tool existed, the name was shortened to (gasp!) "dikes", which for some people is an "offensive" term, but the shortening of the tool name was never intended to "offend" - it was simply done out of a need for brevity in speaking.

Granting that the word "dikes" could possibly "offend" a small minority of people I come in contact with while I go about my work, and being mindful of the litigiousness of our society, I tend to not use that term very often anymore, unless I am specifically aware that there is no one within hearing distance that might be "offended". I instead refer to the tool as side, diagonal, or simply, wire cutters, while resenting the fact that to be "nice", I am forced into not using the term "dikes"!

All the above now leads me to the interesting quote, which is as follows:

Norman Lewis, in “Word Power Made Easy”, stated that, “Words are only symbols of things. They are not the things themselves, but many people fear to use certain words that symbolize things that are unpleasant to them. These people prefer circumlocutions; words that talk around an idea, or imply something, but don’t come right out and say so directly."

I'm usually a plain talker, but I'm also glad that I'm blessed with a fairly large vocabulary, considering how times are nowadays. I miss the "old days" when we could hold a conversation with one another using simple words or terms, without the nagging little thoughts floating in the back of our minds, asking if what we say is going to "offend" anyone.