EU bans use of 'Miss' and 'Mrs'...

[Daenerys]

... (and sportsmen and statesmen) because it claims they are sexist
Using 'Miss' and 'Mrs' has been banned by leaders of the European Union because they are not considered politically correct.
Brussels bureaucrats have decided the words are sexist and issued new guidelines in its bid to create 'gender-neutral' language.
The booklet warns European politicians they must avoid referring to a woman's marital status.
This also means Madame and Mademoiselle, Frau and Fraulein and Senora and Senorita are banned.

'Political correctness gone mad': The European Parliament has banned MEPs from using 'Miss' and 'Mrs' because it claims they are sexist

Instead of using the standard titles, it is asking MEPs to address women by their names.

And the rules have not stopped there - they also ban MEPs saying sportsmen and statesmen, advising athletes and political leaders should be used instead.
Man-made is also taboo - it should be artificial or synthetic, firemen is disallowed and air hostesses should be called flight attendants.
Headmasters and headmistresses must be heads or head teachers, laymen becomes layperson, and manageress or mayoress should be manager or mayor.
Police officers must be used instead of policeman and policewoman unless the officer's sex is relevant.
The only problem words that do not fit into the guidelines are waiter and waitress, which means MEPs are at least spared one worry when ordering a coffee.

They have reacted with incredulity to the booklet, which has been sent out by the Secretary General of the European Parliament.

Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson described the guidelines as 'political correctness gone mad'.

He said: 'This is frankly ludicrous. We've seen the EU institutions try to ban the bagpipes and dictate the shape of bananas, but now they seem determined to tell us which words we are entitled to use in our own language.

'Gender-neutrality is really the last straw. The Thought Police are now on the rampage in the European Parliament.

'We will soon be told that the use of the words "man" or "woman" has been banned in case it causes offence to those who consider 'gender neutrality' an essential part of life.'
West Midlands Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourn is calling on the Secretary General to reveal who authorised the publication of the booklet and how much it has cost.
He described it as 'a waste of taxpayers' money' and 'an erosion of the English language as we know it'.
'I will have no part of it. I will continue to use my own language and expressions, which I have used all my life, and will not be instructed by this institution or anyone else in these matters,' he said.
'I shall also expect the many translators who sit in the European parliament to translate accurately the language I use. I find this publication offensive in the extreme.
'The Parliament, by the publication of this document, is not only bringing itself as an institution into more disrepute than it already suffers, but it is also showing that it has succumbed to the politically correct clap-trap currently in vogue.'

Source - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...ss-Mrs-sportsmen-statesmen-claims-sexist.html

What are your thoughts on this? I'm inclined to agree with the Tory MP, it's political correctness gone mad. Gender Neutrality? Would anyone REALLY be offended if they were referred to as Miss or Mrs? It's just ridiculous

 

[Franice]

So...men get to be called Mr. X, while women are only called X. We don't get titles now? How is that not offensive?

Although, I must admit, it's certainly a step in the right direction. Such social importance is placed on marital status. If someone calls me "Miss" everyone will know I haven't got a husband and I'll be gang raped by all of those chauvinistic pigs in that there European Union. Heck, I'm even uncomfortable with people knowing I have a vagina.

Anyways, they should take it further and make all conversation in French, German, and Spanish gender neutral. It's offensive that pens get to be male and tables are female. I'm sick of it.

...In all seriousness, I just don't get it. Dworkin-esque feminism makes me chuckle. I can't believe that many people actually take it seriously enough to pass asinine laws like this. It certainly says something about the pedigree of our politicians.

 

[Vladislak]

I think it's ridiculous. It's not like we men have a secret clubhouse where we come up with new ways to put down women in various subtle manors. >_>

In addition, some of the things that people ban, like saying "Adam and Eve" needs to be changed to "Eve and Adam" are only being changed to have the opposite effect.

If "Adam and Eve" is sexist towards women for listing Adam first, wouldn't "Eve and Adam" be sexist towards men for listing Eve first? It's just nonsense.

Other banned things are banned for having the word "Man" in it (like the Man-made example). But these people fail to realize that Man is simply another word used for Human, as in referring to the species, not the gender. It has nothing to do with men trying to be dominant or anything.

People are looking so hard to get rid of sexism that they're attacking things that have nothing to do with sexism.

In fact, I could be wrong, but the earliest usage of the word "man" was genderless. To quote Wikipedia:

"The term man (from Proto-Germanic *mannaz or *manwaz "man, person") and words derived from it can designate any or even all of the human race regardless of their sex or age. This is indeed the oldest usage of "man".

It wasn't until Old English was around that the term "man" began to be used the way it is today. So it's not unnatural that the old meaning of the word "man" and the new meaning would confuse people at times.

Regardless, my point is, these things aren't there to discriminate against women.

I fully respect women just as much as I respect men. And as far as I know, most men don't go out of their way to put down women anymore than women go out of their way to put down men. In the end, it's only the morons who do put the other gender down.


On a similar note, a list of banned words and phrases was released a few years back. Apparently the word "elf" has been banned and is suggested to be replaced with "fairy".
Or was it the other way around... I don't remember.

 

[Lockhart]

I think this sounds like a really stupid idea, and i dont know what the point is. because calling a woman 'miss' or 'mrs' doesnt really count as sexist because it doesnt really have anything to do with being a woman, it's just "are you married or not?" and thats not something bad. I thought it was like, that when you said miss or mrs to someone, it showed respect to them.

i dont know anyone who has reacted on words like sportsmen, statesmen, firemen, head master and man-made. and i have never heard about anyone reacting to it. i think this is sooo stupid, i dont know how they let these things just come out. its probably because the people in politics and EU are so afraid people will think bad of them that they just agree with things like this.

 

[noctits]

whaaaaaaaaaaaat. seriously, this is all rubbish semantics and i can't understand how this is in anyway a step forward into gender-neutrality. More like a prime example of today's trend of creating a shitstorm over virtually nothing. i wasnt even aware any of this was sexist, and still don't see how it's supposed to be. They're trying way too hard man.

People are looking so hard to get rid of sexism that they're attacking things that have nothing to do with sexism.

This.

I can see it from now: soon enough, languages that refer to nouns as either female or male will also be deemed sexist and need a changin'. Really, dustbin in french is refered to as female? SEXIST, AND DEGRADING. REVOLUTION NAO FOLKS.

 

[Icarus]

So? Most foreign languages (or at least Spanish and French) have things that are considered masculine and "degrading", as you put it. Example: Burro means jackass in Spanish, the o making it masculine.
But as for this topic, it's just more politically correct bullshit made by people who want to please everyone, which you can't (if "everyone" refers to a whole country). For example, how can you protect a bigot's right to free speech? I'm sure some European women will use this opportunity to push around men even more. Next thing in the news: "European Man Sued for Saying 'miss'".

 

[noctits]

So? Most foreign languages (or at least Spanish and French) have things that are considered masculine and "degrading", as you put it. Example: Burro means jackass in Spanish, the o making it masculine.

Three words:

SAR-CA-SM.

But I guess I should drop thanks for explicitly reinforcing my point of how utterly stupid the entire thing is. :cassy:

 

[Icarus]

Sorry . I tend to take things seriously on this forum, and pissed off Placebo a while back when he was still a regular member (which I think was a better group for him) as a result.

 

[Donald Trump]

Sorry . I tend to take things seriously on this forum, and pissed off Placebo a while back when he was still a regular member (which I think was a better group for him) as a result.

Glad I left my earmuffs in the fridge. Though a word of warning, had you been talking of any other moderator, I would have infracted you. Insulting moderators is against the rules.
Also burro means donkey not jackass.
But on topic, it's the EU, they do stupid things. The commission which oversaw the introduction of the Euro had twenty members resign because they were corrupt. So they replaced that lot with Prodi, who couldn't even get a vote of confidence in his own country. Even more ridiculously, Kilroy-Silk is an MEP, a xenophobe and a racist who has done nothing since becoming a MEP.
That being said the Daily Mail and other "newspapers" like it are terrible. There was an article in the Daily Mail suggesting that an increase in crime rates was due to the legalisation of gay marriage.
Also I assume a vote was taken? So even if it's PCness gone mad, it's still democratic, so surely the female MEPs have agreed with this.

 

[Fusilli]

This is absolutely ridiculous! WHO decided that these titles were sexist? Honestly! Not once when somebody has called me 'Miss Turner' have I felt like I was being degraded because of my gender. As a woman I actually feel MORE insulted by this whole thing.

I hate PCness in general though, it should go away. All it does when taken to ridiculous extremes like this is show people just how phony all of these politicians are, because they're all so afraid of being accused of being sexist or racist or discriminating that they actually become MORE sexist or racist or discriminating. It'd be laughable if it wasn't so bloody pathetic.

 

[Crazee Dayzee]

I personally don't really care about most gender-rooted words... I will address a female mailcarrier as a mailman, simply because the word "man," in most context, addresses people as a whole. And "Mayoress"? wtf, I didn't even know the word existed. Just call it all mayor. >.<

However, I am not too fond of the distiguishing between "Ms." and "Mrs."... Women should simply be addressed as "Ms." If it doesn't matter if a man is married, why should it matter if a woman is married?

 

[DLFlux]

This is stupid.

I've always been brought up to believe that calling someone Mr/Miss/Mrs before their last name was a mark of respect, etiquette and so on. Not just with older people, for example with school and teachers, but with employers during interviews and such like. Would seem strange walking into an interview being conducted by a woman and calling her by her first name.

 

[poker king46]

i agree this is uber ridiculous.and i cant wait to see how long it'll be untill somebody in the united states suggests the same thing.

afghan whigs:i agree that burro means donkey but at the same time in English jackass means donkey so in a sense chaspel is correct

 

[The Illusive Man]

The Brussel sprouts do it again! I swear there is something severely wrong with that bunch....

What next all cartoons banned because they are not realistic and have a negative effect on a childs IQ or some bullshit?

I have a great idea, how about the idiots in the EU parliment ban speaking about stupid subjects and retarded ideas and get onto subjects that are REALLY important, the global economic crisis and the ever looming threat of the taliban.....

Bloody morons!

 

[Vladislak]

I'd just like to add something I've been thinking about that relates to this...

Personally, I think women are lucky to have prefixes that determine whether or not they're single. I wish both genders had that, then you would always know who is or isn't married.

After all, there'd be less cases of people accidentally hitting on married people. It's a commitment issue, if I'm married to someone I want to belong to them and them alone, nobody should try to get in the way of that (either unintentionally or intentionally).

 

[SABR]

Aaahhh... a day in the life of an earthling. Just another wonderful attempt to degrade our sense of self and individualtiy, and to turn us all into lifeless, mindless, idiotic, identical gray blobs. What're they gonna do, cut off my penis at birth and insist that all babies are made by zapping gametes with rays? What's next, bleaching all our skins the color of liquid-paper? You know what comes after that, right? They'll take away our guitars and our books and our PS2's and our colored pencils, and we're left with nothing but a world of gray blobs who can't think, speak, do, or be anything that's not *just like everyone else.*

You've all probably read this at some point when you were younger, but it really reminds me of "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. If you haven't read it, it's a short and well-crafted novel about everyone becoming the same. I wouldn't be surprised if things start heading that way in the far (or maybe not-so-far future).

Sorry. I ramble about some things. PC-ness is one thing that really annoys me. Maybe it's because I'm just a little different, I don't know.