Orwell would be proud. A bit about language and choice of words.

Of all the things ailing our present oh-so-wonderful mass-communication society, none anger me quite like political correctness. In fact, if you were to ask me on a particularly bad day, I would tell you that I believe conservatives invented political correctness as something to tar and feather liberals with. This essay by Steve Kangas tells a lot about why I find this a credible belief.

“Boy, I fear you may be legally retarded…”

In recent years, and of late there seems to have been a slight resurgence, there have been campaigns to discourage people from using this or that word in a given situation. Sometimes, there is even an attempt to outlaw a conjunction of words by proxy. In all cases, such calls are based in such ignorance that it makes me wonder exactly what the people responsible think they are trying to achieve. In fact, it brings to mind a line by Darrell Hammond during one of his appearances impersonating Sean Connery during Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches on Saturday Night Live. As the man impersonating Robin Williams delivers another trademark Williams-esque stream of incoherent babbling, Hammond as Connery says to the Williams impersonator what I believe every Human being with an IQ above 120 (or the real Patch Adams, for that matter) would like to say to Robin Williams. “Boy,” he says, “I fear you may be legally retarded…”