Monday, November 28, 2011

The Death of a Euphamism

“They can’t use the term illegals,” Sanchez said. “At best it’s undocumented immigrant, at worst it’s illegals and illegal aliens, and both are pejorative and condescending.”
 As Mickey Kaus asks:
Is this one of those cases where we just need a new term every decade or so as the old term becomes tarnished by popular opprobrium? Or is the whole idea of distinguishing between people who have complied with immigration laws and people who haven’t complied with immigration laws now a forbidden thought for those who would pander to a strategically ultrasensitive ethnic group “expand the coalition that supports Republicans” to “[include] Hispanics and Latino Americans”? Maybe “undescribable Americans” would be the best term. Or “superAmericans.” You can’t suck up to this crucial swing group enough!
I'm old enough to remember that certain melanin enhanced folk with recent ancestors from Africa were called negroes in polite society (now my PC spell check doesn't even acknowledge the word) before they were blacks, before they were African American (even in cases when they aren't from America).

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