It was Charlton Heston who opined that political correctness is tyranny with manners.
Almost every other week, a word that has been commonly used for ages is struck off in favour of another moniker that is supposed to remove the sting.
Take for instance the oldest profession; prostitution. It is no longer acceptable in polite company to call the peddler of the flesh a prostitute.
These days the official title is sex worker. It is also frowned upon to call the lady who scrubs your floor a maid. It is considered classy to refer to her as a domestic worker.
However, these changes do not have a bearing on their job description. While many of us will agree readily that calling our fathers garden boys was insulting, the job still includes mowing the lawn and tending to the flower bed.
In government speak, beneficiaries of free houses live in human settlements as opposed to houses.
And, of course, these days of high unemployment, the government does not create jobs but job opportunities.
All these fancy terms were created to obfuscate and give a veneer of sophistication, which does not fool anyone.
It should be confusing to approach your bank to lend you money to purchase a human settlement.
The term sounds archaic and a throwback from our cavemen ancestors. And the masses of the unemployed cannot be flattered by the job opportunities waiting for their take-up.
I pondered these meaningless terms when I chanced upon a study by researchers at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology that recommended a ban of the word “cyclist”.
Yes, the learned friends found there was a link between the dehumanisation of cyclists and deliberate acts of aggression directed towards them on the road.
According to professor Narelie Haworth, research found that 55% of non-cyclists rated cyclists as “not completely human”.
She is now on the path to scrap the word cyclist and replace it with the term “people who ride bikes”.
I kid you not. Indeed cyclists are the bane of the motorists as they force them to pay a little bit more attention on the road. However, it is my contention most of us deem cyclists as fitness freaks and environmental warriors since their mode of transport does not emit obnoxious gases.
I am, of course, not speaking for all motorists since once in a while we hear of a cyclist being injured by an inconsiderate driver.
The point I am making, however, is that calling them people who ride bikes will not materially increase their survival prospects.
For instance, could those SANParks rangers who broke the arm of professional cyclist Nic Dlamini last month at Table Mountain have behaved differently if he was not deemed a cyclist? This got me thinking what word would go next. Will husband be next since it has its roots in husbandry, which is the care of plants and animals? Me thinks not.
For the record, I live in a house and not a human settlement.
Straight & 2 Beers
Vusi Nzapheza
Name changes do not add value
