Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)
Studies - Pál Csontos: Is Political Correctness Politically Correct? A Tour along the Alleyways of the Shambles Called Political Correctness
society but you notice that "the times they are a'changing," in order to feel safe and comfy you need reliable guidelines to be able to comply with the new rules. But pray, where do you get those surefire guidelines? This is just one of the first questions you come up against when trying "to survive in the be-sensitive-or-else nineties" (Beard vii) but the number of additional questions it generates is legion. The foremost concern is, of course, one of language. Language, because it expresses attitudes, it communicates beliefs and, as such, it is "not merely the mirror of our society; it is the major force in 'constructing' what we perceive as 'reality' (Beard ix). When you are uncertain about what is all right to say and to whom, or what is not and why, when you are in two minds concerning what opinions and concepts are acceptable and which ones you want to discard, you need an authority to take you by the hand and show you the way. One such authority —as far as self-advertising goes —appears to be The Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook. Authors Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf contend that theirs is a comprehensive and exhaustively researched reference work and, indeed, if we look at the source notes section of their book, we do find it impressive. While we should not. for a second, forget about the "Humor" label, we all the same have got to concede freely that the "Source Notes" section impresses us not just because of the sheer number of the items included but also because of the diverse and compendious quality they display. 1 6 The four parts of the Handbook cover an impressive array of items: "A Dictionary of Politically Correct Terms and Phrases" is supplemented by "A Politically Incorrect/Politically Correct Ranging from other dictionaries and handbooks (like ,4 Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk. Dictionary of Cautionary Words and Phrases , Random House Webster's College Dictionaiy, The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing, A Woman s Thesaurus . The New Words Dictionary, A Feminist Dictionary , or The Efemcipatecl English Handbook) through books and articles of a relevant nature (including Nigel Rees' The Politically Correct Phrasebook , Amoja Three Rivers' publication called Cultural Etiquette: A Guide for the Well-intentioned, Racism and Sexism: An Integrated Study by Paula S. Rothenberg, articles from newspapers and magazines like The New York Times, Village Voice, or New York magazine) down to handouts and pamphlets authored by college administrators (such as "Definitions" from Smith College or "How to Speak Post-Modern, Being a Glossary of Actual Post-Modern Terminology in Current Usage Made Sensible for the Un/informed and Semi(initiated)" from Princeton University). 33
