. . . but some (hell, most) of the PC weasel-wording is ridiculous. "Height-" or "vertically challenged"? Come on! That sounds like the condition is something that can be responded to, that the "vertically challenged" person can rise above the problem and *overcome* the challenge. And aside from lifts in my shoes, that's not possible. If I'm short, I'm short, and that's the end of it.

Not long ago, in a piece of fiction, I used the term "Oriental" to describe a character who had Chinese or Japanese features. The narrator of the scene doesn't know which the character is, so he uses "Oriental." My editor suggested "Asian." "'Oriental' sounds like a carpet."

I responded, "Fine. But folks from Myanmar, India, and Kazakhstan are Asian too. If I use 'Asian,' how will we know what that character looks like? She's an extremely minor character; I'm not going to go into detail about her looks. It's a thumbnail sketch. You're asking me to use a less accurate word to keep from offending some mythical reader."

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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino