I suppose the introduction of commercial based 'newspeak' might not be considered political correctness by those who don't think commercialism and marketing are forms of political activity, although they certainly have more direct affect on my life than political feminism. As to John Lewis's although it is an unequal stratified organisation it is fundamentally syndicalist and my experience is that this general means the staff appear happier and give a warm and more human service. The difference mainly being that John lewis use a term that reflects the actuality, if imperfectly achieved, of their set up and other store are using language to try and give an impression of a set up that does not exist.

One of the great achievements of feminist thinking is to show how powerful language can be in molding personal and political behaviour. However, I remain of the opinion that it is mainly a matter of good manners to use language which does not exclude people, when these people should be included. At times this requires though, care and expressions which seem a little convoluted but I hold that inconsideration and laziness are poor excuses for being rude.