It may have been the butt of tabloid humour, but political correctness has had a positive effect on language, reports Alan Thomson
Political correctness swept university campuses a decade ago, dividing academics into PC and anti-PC camps, inspiring column inches of coverage in the American press and spawning a mass of jokes.
But did all those arguments really change anything? According to many academics, they did. On the brink of the new millennium, academic champions of political correctness are claiming to have changed society for the better. But in what way?
One premise for the PC movement was that what people say influences the way others think and act, that language can be used as a tool for changing society. PC proponents focused long-standing political struggles, for disabled people or black civil rights, through linguistic campaigns. So feminists argued for the replacement of terms like "manpower" or "chairman" with gender-neutral alternatives, while words and phrases like "spastic", "old fogey" and "dyke" were frowned upon, as were Jewish or Irish jokes.
The evidence is that this highly controversial attempt at language planning did indeed change the way many people use the English language. And it changed it for the better. Political correctness has, according to its academic supporters, made people more aware of their responsibilities in using language.
John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, says: "The effect on English has been quite substantial. There are still jokes about what is seen as the extreme edge of political correctness but what has changed in the middle has been very positive." And Tony Thorn, director of the language centre at King's College, London, agrees: "What has happened in Britain is that political correctness has sensitised people to watch what they say and to the fact that there are issues underlying the words they might choose to use."
For Deborah Cameron, too, professor of English at Strathclyde University and author of Verbal Hygiene, the PC debate has been positive. Its impact on the usage of English, she points out, is not because of hardline thought policing since there are really only two pieces of legislation in the United Kingdom directed specifically at the way language is used. These are the Sex Discrimination Act and the Race Discrimination Act. Both acts govern the wording of job adverts, which, in the case of the race act, make it a criminal offence to incite racial hostility. What has happened, says Cameron, is that people have internalised the need to think before using words that might be offensive in some situations.
But the effects of the PC campaign on the English language have not always been predictable. Cameron cites the case of "Ms". "The term was meant to replace Miss and Mrs but it has become a third term, giving its own clues to a woman's marital status. In other words, Mrs means married, Miss means young unmarried and Ms is taken by many to mean older and single, or divorced, lesbian or rabid feminist," she says.
In the United States some universities have gone so far as to adopt their own campus speech codes, setting out in writing the rules governing verbal relations between the sexes and different races. But in Britain, where the PC tide never reached the heights it did across the Atlantic, only a handful of institutions have followed suit.
But despite the lack of codified rules, British universities do not seem to suffer unduly from political incorrectness - at least there have been few high-profile cases. It is a situation that may begin to change as universities continue to widen participation among under-represented ethnic groups, and women make more of an impact at senior levels.
British universities may yet find themselves with a vociferous, genuinely multicultural student intake - and then they will have to look at introducing speech codes that tackle issues more subtle than abusing someone because of the colour of their skin or their sex.
As Cameron says: "There is still an enormous amount of language used that causes people distress, and it is done largely through ignorance."
THE NATFHE GUIDE TO POLITICALLY CORRECT LANGUAGE
Lecturers' union Natfhe has had a detailed guide to politically correct language for the past six years - the Equal Opportunities Guide to Language. The code acknowledges problems with such guidelines because of the dynamic nature of language, but says that language is not neutral and so care should be taken.
Sexism
"Manpower" should be "workforce" or "staff", "manning" should be "staffing", and "man-made" should be "artificial" or "synthetic".
Racism
"Ethnic minority" contains cultural and religious bias. "Black" is an acceptable description, but sensitivity is recommended in using black in negative associations, such as "black magic" or "black mark".
Disability
"Disability" is accepted, but seemingly sensitive terms such as "special needs" may not be acceptable to some. Use "person with disability" or "mobility impaired" not "cripple", and "development disability" not "insane".
Sexuality
People may call themselves "queer" or "a dyke", but it is not acceptable for heterosexuals to use such terms.
Ageism
Do not use "old fogey" or "geriatric". Use "more experienced" or "long-serving".
LANGUAGE CODE AND CONDUCT IN TWO 'OLD' UNIVERSITIES
The institution has no politically correct speech code, but has adopted a piecemeal approach to rooting out sexist language. There is no definitive ruling on chairs, chair people, chairmen or chairwomen. According to deputy registrar Ian Ewart, some women are happy to be called madam chairman. The university managers have not tried to alter the university's royal charter, which, dating back to 1837, is a historical document.
Ewart says: "We have tried not to go overboard on political correctness, while moving with the times and recognising that there are women in the university."
Cambridge University
The university has a policy on using gender neutral language in official publications. But this code does not stretch to cover official meetings and communications between staff. Staff who feel that inappropriate verbal language has been used can seek redress through the university's anti-bullying and harassment policies. It is left to the person concerned to decide whether they are chairman, woman or person, or just chair. Cambridge has an over-arching policy that encourages sensitivity to people of other cultures.