Sounds like an interesting assignment. First, I think you’re right in that the pc meter does deflect differently for different types of writing.

PC Examples: Using the feminine (she, her, hers) instead of the masculine. Crafting the words you want to say with what you think would be the least offensive to any number of group or people.

PI Examples: Slang/slurs known to be offensive to folks, Charging straightforward in your writing with virtually no concern for the readership.

Jerry, those are some generic examples, I’ll bet the readership here may be able to come up with more.

George

I am new here and was going through all these wonderful comments/replies.
As a part of my aasignment in school, I am supposed to give my point of view on “PC in writing”. I started of by saying that-”Political correctness depends on the purpose of the message, whether it is to inspire, educate, simply state one’s opinion or share a random thought”. Then i got stuck..ha ha. Now i need to submit instances of PC and political incorrectness. Can you help me in the same?

Cheers!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yes! You managed to say what I was trying to say with that post. I struggled because I just could not think of the perfect example. And just like that – ka-POW! you hit it out of the park.

Perfect.

Cheers, and by the way it’s good to see you around again.

George

You know best how I feel about being centered. A certain degree of sensitivity tempered with a reasonable standing of your ground is the best strategy I think.

George

For me, my time in Grad School forever changed the way I write. For example, if you used a gender-specific pronoun when it wasn’t necessary, you were likely to get dinged. Agree with it or not, it’s just the way it was.

The thing is that, although my professors were mostly reasonable people, they didn’t care if my heart was in the right place; inappropriate use of a gender-specific pronoun just wasn’t accepted.

So it just became habit for me to avoid gender-specific pronouns whenever possible.

I get compliments, at times, from clients who notice how careful I am in this area. I’ve never had a client complain about it, either, so it’s been a good business practice for me.

Now, should it be this way? In the grand scheme of things, is all of this OK? Heck if I know. It sure as heckfire bothered me when it all started, but now I suppose I just think there are more important things to worry about – in both directions. I don’t worry about being extra PC, but I do take basic precautions.

Great post, George. Very thought-inspiring!

Bob Younce at the Writing Journey´s last blog post..Don’t Blog If You Suck At Writing: How Copyblogger Got It Wrong