Swine flu named 2009's most politically incorrect word
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Taking precautions: A kids wears a mask to protect himself from swine flu.‘Swine flu’, the word used to describe the killer viral infection, has been named the most politically incorrect word of 2009 by Global Language Monitor, a group that studies word usage. |
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'Swine flu', the word used to describe the killer viral infection, has been named the most politically incorrect word of 2009 by Global Language Monitor, a group that studies word usage. "Though hundreds of millions know of the current pandemic as swine flu, various governments and agencies for political motives ranging from protecting pork producers to religious sensitivity have chosen to address the virus by its formal name, influenza A(H1N1)," the GLM said. 'Flush toilet', 'green revolution', 'minority' and 'saint' follow 'swine flu' in the list that was prepared from a proprietary algorithm by tracking the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the blogosphere, as well as accessing proprietary databases. The terms 'politically correct', 'oriental', 'founding fathers', 'black sheep', and 'senior citizen' complete the top 10. "Once again, we are seeing that the attempt to remove all bias from language is itself creating biases of their own," said GLM's chief word analyst, Paul JJ Payack. "At this point it is becoming increasingly difficult to engage in any form of public dialogue without offending someone's sensitivities, whether right, left or centre," he said. The GLM analysis also said that 'minority' is a politically incorrect word as "talking about minorities is considered insensitive to the community since this can make them feel, well, like minorities". "The term politically correct, itself, is now politically correct," the GLM said, adding "be careful how you use it". In the US, the word 'oriental' is considered offensive to Asians because the term is based on the geographic relationship of Asia from a Western perspective. "In Europe (and in most Asian nations), however, 'Oriental' is acceptable," the GLM said. 'Founding fathers' was another incorrect word in the list. "Though all the signers of the American Declaration of Independence were men, this is considered sexists in some quarters," the GLM said, adding it is better to use the term founders.
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语言研究组织全球语言监测机构（GLM）日前公布“2009年政治错误用语”排行榜，用以描述（最近流行的）致命性流感病毒的“猪流感”一词居榜首。 全球语言监测机构称：“尽管起初人们都知道眼下的流感为猪流感，但各国政府和政治性机构或是出于对猪肉生产商的保护，或是出于宗教敏感性的考虑，后来将其正名为学名‘甲型H1N1流感’。” “抽水马桶”、“绿色革命”、“少数民族”和“圣人”位居“猪流感”之后。全球语言监测组织使用一种专用数学模型来追踪词和短语在全球纸质和电子媒体、互联网和博客圈中出现的频率，并通过访问专项数据库编撰出了该榜。 跻身该榜前十位的词汇还包括“政治上正确”、“东方”、“创始之父”、“害群之马”和“老年人”。 全球语言监测机构的首席词语分析员保罗•JJ•帕亚克说：“我们又一次看到，试图摒除语言中存在的所有偏见的做法，结果是制造出了另外的偏见。” 他说：“现如今，在参与任何形式的公共对话时做到不触犯任何人的‘神经’越来越难，无论是右派、左派还是中间派。” 分析还指出，“少数派”在政治上是一个错误用语，“说少数派被认为是对这一群体的漠视，因为这会让他们感到自己是少数派。” 全球语言监测机构说：“‘政治上正确’这个词本身现在在政治上也正确了”，“但在运用时要小心”。 在美国，“东方”一词被认为是对亚洲人的冒犯，因为这一说法是基于以西方的视角来看待亚洲的地形关系。 全球语言检测机构说：“不过，在欧洲（以及亚洲大部分国家），‘东方’一词可以被接受。” “创始之父”也犯了“政治错误”。 全球语言检测机构称：“虽然美国《独立宣言》的所有签名者都是男性，但在某些地区该词被认为带有性别歧视意味，”因此用“创始人”一词更好。 |