Thinks ‘politically correct’ a misnomer
When I hear or read the term politically correct and examine the sentence in which it is used, it does not seem correct at all in its context. It usually is correct only from some frame of reference out in left field. Using the term “politically correct” sometimes gives way too much credit to something far from correct.
When we look at an Indy 500 car or design of a winning pine wood derby car, we say it is aerodynamically correct — a valid use of the word correct.
When the freaks of the 1960s called themselves the new intellectuals, George Wallace revised that to pseudo intellectuals, i.e. not intellectuals from the conventional frame of reference.
In mathematics when you have a curve represented by an equation that is messy and difficult to manage, sometimes you can establish a false origin and simplify the equation by reducing its terms. That is a pseudo origin, and the curve has pseudo coordinates. In many cases instead of politically correct, I suggest that speakers and writers consider using the term politically pseudo correct.
Gill Harris
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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