Sensitive Words The Words We Speak May Be Hurtful To Others. By Pat Beaven We live in an incredibly exciting time – in countries of ever-increasing diversity. People of various races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds are becoming responsible world-citizens – learning to tolerate, understand, even embrace our differences. While we often cannot speak each other’s language, words and language we use play a large part in either creating harmony or causing misunderstanding and resentment. We use language to define and describe people; we are all aware that ethno-cultural slights and loaded words are unacceptable. They insult and disrespect our neighbors, leading to prejudice, stereotyping, and an inability to deal with people as individuals. But people who would not in a million years indulge in outright racial slurs are sometimes nevertheless guilty of linguistically offending others, often without even being aware of doing so. We have to move into “Phase II”, becoming sensitive to words or terms that have come into common usage, but that are perhaps no longer appropriate to use as we have grown up using them. ___________________________________________ For Jewish people, “Kosher” refers to food or premises in which food is cooked, eaten, or sold, fulfilling the requirements of Jewish law. Colloquially, it means anything that’s legitimate or correct. Does this offend those of the Jewish faith? ___________________________________________ At a family gathering a couple of weeks ago, someone mentioned a certain city being “a real mecca for fashion”. “Oh sorry,” said Auntie Kay to my daughter’s boyfriend, “I guess that means something else to you.” My daughter’s boyfriend, who is Muslim, gently explained to us that it’s highly offensive to people of his religion to hear the name of their holy city, birthplace of Muhammed and chief place of Muslim pilgrimage, used in this way. And although I am aware of the historical and spiritual significance of this city in Arabia, I’m sure that I too have used it numerous times to refer to a place that attracts people with similar interests. It had never occurred to me that such usage might be insensitive to someone’s religious beliefs. And the revelation made me wonder if there might not be other similar expressions – religious, racial, cultural - that we need to think about. For Jewish people, “Kosher” refers to food or premises in which food is cooked, eaten, or sold, fulfilling the requirements of Jewish law. Colloquially, it means anything that’s legitimate or correct. Does this offend those of the Jewish faith? I’m suggesting that we need to find out. Likewise with the word “Guru”, a revered Hindu spiritual teacher. How do Hindis feel when they hear an infommercial refer to Richard Simmons as “the exercise guru”? The term “rasta” is employed frequently to describe styles of pop music, hair and clothing. Not everyone knows that “rasta” is short for Jah Ras Tafari, His Imperial Majesty the Divine Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Hence “Rasta” is inappropriate for trivial matters like naming fashion choices: consider substitutes - using “dreadlocked” when talking about hairstyles, for instance. Even when we are not borrowing terms from the religious sphere for everyday use, we need to become aware of examining our speech for words that may wound in one way or another. Recently Canadian Prime Minister Chretien was asked to expel a Liberal MP from caucus and from the federal party if he didn’t apologize for a remark he made likening Canada to Nazi Germany. Of course words like “Nazi”, “gestapo”, and “Hitler” are acceptable only in the context of discussing history or the Holocaust. Have you ever used the word “gyp” to mean “cheat or swindle”? Some object, feeling this casts the nomadic Romany people – gypsies - in an undeserved and unfavorable light. We need to give some attention to tossing off things like “Indian giver” and “Don’t get your Irish up!”, expressions that were once commonly considered good-natured taunts, just innocent, friendly banter. And do you know today’s way to refer to what I grew up calling a ghetto-blaster? Personal sound system is okay. So is boom box. All this is not about being politically correct, a concept that started from a good place but has careened out of control and become somewhat of a joke. No, “Phase II” is the next stage in fine-tuning our sensitivity to the diversity of the world around us. “Phase II” is reassessing words and language that we’ve always taken for granted. After all, language isn’t supposed to alienate people, it’s supposed to bring them together. Pat Beaven is an actor, educator, and freelance journalist who revels in the spirit of cultural diversity where she makes her home in Toronto, Canada. Her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across North America; she has a special interest in culture-specific movement disciplines, and is a staff writer for several dance publications. This website: Copyright © 2001 Studio Q Int'l Inc / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.