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"...even the wicked get worse than they deserve." - Willa Cather, One of Ours

Monday, March 22, 2004

Limp wrists and slant eyes must go as political correctness demands new signs for the deaf

Telegraph (UK conservative newspaper)

Political correctness has caught up with sign language for deaf people. Gestures used to depict ethnic and religious minorities and homosexuals are being dropped because they are now deemed offensive.

The abandoned signs include "Jewish", in which a hand mimes a hooked nose; the sign for "gay", a flick of a limp wrist; and "Chinese", in which the index fingertips pull the eyes into a slant. Another dropped sign is that for "Indian", which is a finger pointing to an imaginary spot in the middle of a forehead...

...Polly Smith, the acting chairperson of the British Council for Disabled People, said that the changes were a form of discrimination. "The programme makers at Channel 4 are interfering with deaf people's language, culture and view of society, and that is a form of discrimination," she said...
Usually I consider political corectness to be pretty silly. But, well...things that were once thought to be perfectly normal are now considered obviously offensive. This seems to fit in that category.
Posted by: Zayphar / 3/22/2004 12:31:00 AM


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