Politically Correct

Hi all... it's another day in my head.  Time to empty out the thoughts and ideas before it explodes!
Today I am pondering if there is such a thing as TOO politically correct.

     So as a lot of people know, and for those of you who do not... I am short.  I've always been short.  There are many ways of saying this.  Tiny, petite, small, little etc.  If someone tells me I am short I feel like I should say, "Good Job!! Yay... you have 20/20 vision yaaaaaaay."

  lol  Then I could jump up and give them a high five and miss since I cannot reach their hand because I am short!  I am not offended because, get this... I am short!

     When I was young, (note I didn't say little lol) I couldn't reach the cabinets to get glasses, bowls, plates etc.  So I climbed them!  Now that I am older I still cannot reach the cabinets, but because of arthritic knees I can't climb anymore. I found a solution... I had a son!  (step stools are great but dangerous or annoying because you have to move them constantly or find place to store them)
     In school people used my head for an arm rest walking down the hallways.  It annoyed me but I wasn't really offended.  Kids would ask, "how's the weather doing down there?"  You hear that so many times and all you can think is (that is so not original, or is that the best you've got?).
     As a baby I wore baby doll clothes my mom made from McCall's dress patterns.  As an adult the pants drag the ground so much I have holes in them so I am automatically cool and in style with the teens! lol  As a child I got hand me downs from my brothers, and now I get them from my kids! (still savin' and not offended)
     As an adult the kids measured their growth spurts against me. (they all passed me up by the age of 11).
     Going furniture shopping is fun!  I get to sit on the furniture and let my legs stick straight out or dangle uselessly in the air!  Wheeeeeee!

     Two years ago for Christmas, my mom and cousin gave me a pretty white rocker for my front porch.  I loved it!  I hopped up there... and then the room erupted in laughter.  I couldn't push against the floor to rock as my legs didn't reach!  Well it was funny, and I was not offended.  I learned as a child how to rock and swing without having to touch the ground. Easy Peasy...
     Today my daughter witnessed something that shocked me.  A woman, who is short, was so offended at being referred to as short, she lashed out claiming the person should have been politically correct!  She WANTS people to call her diminutive in stature, vertically challenged, height unrealized?  COME ON!  lol
     Short is short.  There is nothing wrong with it!  People who see (visually lucky?), tend to describe what they see with the best or most descriptive words possible.  If I see a bald man I am going to say bald man, not  follicly  challenged.  My friend, who is blind, is not sight challenged, or visually impaired.  I think those terms imply something negative like they are less than normal.  When my kids build a snowman it is not a snow person.  I don't think they need to make it anatomically correct for you to understand what it is or is not!
     There is nothing ambiguous about short, whereas saying "a person of color" is!  I don't know if they are Indian, Asian, black, etc.  I have friends and family who are gay, black, blind, deaf, short, fat, tall, hairy, blonde, freckled, missing a limb  etc.  Now by my description above, you can imagine them to a point.  If more description is needed, I will fill it in.  By making my description ambiguous it muddies the image I am trying to achieve.
     I am not saying that there are not offensive words out there, certainly there are, but do we now go too far in attempting to not offend someone?  If I call my friend fatty fatty two by four can't get through the bathroom door...that is offensive!  Shouldn't we just rely on most of the people to not purposefully offend rather than assume everyone will?  We need to create special phrasing?
     I am not white. I am a peachy pink ivory color, but I don't demand someone try to describe me that way.  My black friends would crack up if I referred to them as caramel mocha with a drop of cream.  Hey wait.. that sounds delicious, maybe they would want that?!

     I can see that some forms or descriptions need to be addressed, but hey people let's not take it so far that it is ridiculous!  I mean it's not like there is an online dictionary of politically correct words... oh wait, there are several!  (see the links at the bottom)
     Who is to say that the "new" politically correct terms won't be offensive in 20 years?  This is a hot topic in that there are many young people today referring to themselves, and others, as retarded.  Not cool and pretty offensive.  Many years ago this term was normal.  It was spoken clinically by doctors to mean something completely different than how it does today.  This just goes to show how words can develop over time from one meaning to the next and to evolve into an offensive term.
   
I hereby demand to be called a munchkin-American!

     I leave you with these politically correct dictionary websites!  They are a great read and good for a belly laugh.  Have a great day all! :-)

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