OK. I'll start off.
How do folks feel about the habit of changing the descriptive terms used to describe people and conditions with which there is some political discomfort. I'll give a series of examples to illustrate what I mean.
Negro - Colored - Black - African American
Moron - Mental Handicap - Learning Disordered
Mad - Insane - Mentally Ill - Mental Health Problem
Crippled - Handicapped - Disabled
Queer - Homosexual - Gay.
Generally these terms are changed to reflect 'more enlightened' views with the hope of changing prejudices but rarely achieve this in my opinion. Are certain groups right to take on older terms and use them as proud labels? Did the 'Black is Beautiful' and 'Black Power' campaigns of the seventies do anything to establish Black as a more positive term? If they did why has african-american come into use? More generally can changing the word used to describe a condition actually change general attitudes?
