Politically correct

Andrea Burns post 4

A topic of discussion that came up last class was being politically correct. My question is who decides what's politically correct? Who is the one to figure out which terms are considered appropriate to use for certain groups of people? From that when a politically correct term is decided, why does it change? What causes it change? How is one ever suppose to know if they are being politically correct if the terminology continues to change? One day a term could be acceptable, the next it could be deemed inappropriate. An example that was brought up earlier in the semester for the various terms for being black. At one point it was negro, then it was colored, then it was black, then African-American. With all these different terms, how is one suppose to know which is okay to use in conversation without being at risk for offending someone? I also found it interesting that this is not the only language that faces issues with political correctness. I'm currently taking a 200 level sign language class here at Fredonia, and the textbook we use is slightly outdated. We came upon a unit that dealt with signs for different ethnicities, and the professor explained that some of the signs in the book were no longer considered to be politically correct. However, like English, ASL is always evolving so she was unsure as to what signs were considered to be politically correct.