225BatonRouge.com - Blogs

Investigative reporter, author and former federal agent Chuck Hustmyre has seen the ugly side of life, from A to Z. Here he gets the last word on politics, crime, local government and pop culture.

You know what hacks me off? The torture of our language to appease the PC police.

Words I grew up with -- policeman, fireman, cowboy -- they're out, sacrificed on the twin altars of gender neutrality and political correctness. The PC pirates can't even get their lips around words that have direct male or female equivalents. I once heard a ranking member of Congress, the head of some committee or other, say, "The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from (whatever state she was from)."

In that one twisted sentence you can see everything that has happened to our language, which, of course, is just a reflection of what has happened to our culture. The congressman (for that is what he was) not only could not identify himself as the chairman of whatever committee he happened to head at the time, he couldn't even bring himself to, in any way, identify the sex of the person to whom he was speaking.

The female equivalent of gentleman is lady, not the garbled non-word gentlewoman.

It is certainly a sign of the times when a man fears insulting a woman by calling her a lady. It used to be a compliment, connoting high social status and refined manners.

By the way, sex and gender are not synonymous. Gender is a grammatical term that defines whether nouns in languages such as English, Latin, Greek and German are masculine or feminine. It wasn't until the mid-20th century -- when hypersensitivity, aka political correctness, was in its infancy -- that we became so afraid of the politically incorrect word "sex" that we tossed it overboard in favor of the grammatically incorrect word "gender."

In today's PC climate, Angie Dickinson's 1970s TV cop show, Police Woman, would have to be called "Police Officer." The 1980s Australian rock band, Men at Work, which got the name from a highway construction sign, would have to call themselves "Workers Ahead." And instead of being called "the chairman of the board," Frank Sinatra would have to settle for being the chairperson, or maybe just the chair.

Speaking of road signs, "flagman ahead" is out. I guess it's now "flagger ahead" or "flag waver coming up." And manholes have become person-holes or underground access portals. Since when are women afraid of having a man's name associated with a tunnel that leads into a sewer? "Dead End" is now "No Outlet." I guess some dead guy -- excuse me, dead person -- got offended.

And don't get me started on sports teams. I'd hate to insult someone by calling him or her a Brave, a Chief or a Seminole. On second thought, maybe I'll get in on the game and sue somebody. My family is from Germany by way of Lafayette, and if there's enough money in it I can work up a heaping helping of righteous indignation over ULL's Ragin' Cajuns or the dish sauerkraut.

Has anyone checked with the Norwegians to find out if they're insulted over the name Minnesota gave its NFL team? I mean, weren't Vikings fierce barbarians from the frozen north who raped, pillaged and burned everything in their path?

What's next, PETA seeking an injunction against LSU to stop the university from using the name Fighting Tigers because it implies that all tigers are mean-spirited?

Perhaps if everyone wasn't searching for a chance to be insulted with every passing word, we could use the words for what they actually mean and communicate more clearly.

What do you say?

Chuck out.

Share your tips and opinions with Chuck below.