Old sayings that have hidden bias and need to go. Or do they?

I really care about taking harmful stereotypes out of marketing, media and advertising and yet still I find myself accidentally calling up old expressions as part of my every day language. I even surprise myself how often I am perpetuating hurtful beliefs that reinforce engrained stereotypes and decided to share them so that others can catch themselves too. The question is now if the use of the term has moved into a new generation and the original source reference is so far in the distance that it is no longer relevant. Many grammar freaks think that language is fixed in time (Wow, nearly said ‘Grammar Nazi’s’… point made?). Linguistics teachers freely accept that our language and the use of punctuation is an ever-evolving ecosystem and should never be fixed into one set of ‘right and wrong’. (An aside - this also means if my grammar isn’t perfect you can get over yourself! Just saying…)

The issue is not just that we use them in real life but individuals in marketing perpetuate them and they are used at scale. We need to be more accountable than anyone.

Take the word ‘Queer’ which used to be a slur against a homosexual person but is now proudly and loudly used by the transgender and pansexual community to describe themselves and give them their own voice and identity in the landscape of sexuality. This was one of those harmless words in real life before it was assigned to the queer community. It was about something being a little ‘odd’ and different. Adopting it as an insult came after that. The word is no longer seen to be offensive when describing this community if said with respect. When used with a derogatory tone and harmful intent any word can become offensive.

The word ‘Gay’ is another of those terms that I recall started as the ordinary explanation of a happy or cheery moment and later became a slur against the homosexual community. Now the homosexual community use this word confidently and anyone can use it without fear (putting aside the potential for any word to be used in vain) and sometimes groups up those of same sex couples in males and females into one community, despite the term ‘Lesbian’ being distinctly female. This helps separate the Gay community of both males and females from the other groups such as the Transgender community, intersex, queer, bisexual and others.

“Blind spot”

Referring to the term ‘Blind Spot’ when talking about a part of our line of site in a vehicle that is blocked from our view seems harmless, as it is contained to a visual impairment. When we start to use this term as a short cut for a psychological or cognitive impairment it is harmful to the vision impaired as it is reinforcing the outdating thinking that if someone is visually impaired that they are also lacking intelligence or other cognitive abilities too. Like the expression ‘Deaf and Dumb’ it is well and truly out the door, thank goodness, but this use of ‘Blind Spot” still remains today and people often don’t even question it and ignorant to the subconscious embedding of a negative to the visual impaired community.

“Master”

Depending on the use of this term it can seem like another harmless term, like a ‘Master tape”, “Master of Ceremonies” or “Master Builder” for example. The truth is that the use of this term has been derived from the slave industry and further embedding the concept of a superior breed, and in many cases is aligned with males and embedding male superiority. The word “Master” is the male pronoun for young boys. We don’t often see female dominated industries using this term so it hasn’t yet become neutralised like the word ‘Queer’ has above. Caution is needed and replacements like ‘Chair person’ are advised.

”Indian Giver”

This is sometimes used casually to suggest someone who has given a gift but asks for it back at a later time or expects something of equal value in return. Not only is it offensive to refer to a Native American as ‘Indian’ because it was a term applied by white explorers thinking they were on another continent, it is offensive to suggest a nation is not generous and a cultural difference in the ritual of giving is of lesser merit. Rather than this be a true representation of something rude it was likely rooted in cultural misunderstanding by those who felt superior. Who says that the white culture of the time is the superior thinking? This would be one of those terms that it is not negotiable that it should cease.

”Chinese Whispers”

Used often to suggest that whispering that is misunderstood and passed on between many people is considered a ‘Chinese Whisper’. It was turned into a children’s game to see the impact of passing on messages incorrectly and the power of gossip. The term seems to have come from the racist concept that the Chinese language is not understood by the English speaking. The USA seems to have adopted the concept of the children’s game, and now call it the ‘Telephone Game’ (much less offensive).

“Hip Hip Hooray”

Some consider the origins of this expression anti-Semitic as it is derived from the phase ‘Hep Hep” which is a German herding call used as they forced Jews from their homes across Europe. Adding ‘Hooray’ was just adding fuel to the fire by celebrating the whole nasty thing. Some say that the phrase didn’t start in the world as a racial slur but was later applied to become a racial insult. The end position is that some will be sensitive about the origins.

”Paddy Wagon”

The term is often used to describe a police van designed to hold prisoners in the back. However the term originated as a slur against the Irish with any Irish person referred to as Patrick and then “Paddy” as a collective, and either stemmed from a lot of Irish policemen in the role or the perception that the Irish are rowdy drunks who were often arrested by the police.

“Uppity”

Generally this is used to describe any person who is being a little arrogant or stuck up, but historically this was used to describe Black people that were accused of not knowing their socio-economic status and pushing outside the racist position that they were to hold a lower place in society. Seriously.

“Trannie” or “Tranny”

This is one of those terms that I nearly wrote without using the whole word exposed - like we might with the racial slur “N——er” these days. This is the Voldemort word of the real world that should never be written and never uttered for the offensive nature of it to the Black community. On the same scale we now have the word ‘Trannie’ that is equally offensive to the Queer or LGBTQIA+ community. Some mistake it as a term of endearment for the transgender or transsexual community and perhaps it may be heard used as a term of endearment between fellow queers. But, like ‘Wog’ to the multicultural community in Australia it is only ever acceptable between peers and never acceptable from someone of privilege. Using the ‘T Word’ to describe any Drag Queen (a man or woman wearing clothing and posing as the opposite gender in a flamboyant style) is often mistaken as a Transgender identity too which is further compressing this problem as it is just not correctly assigned. A trans person is considered another gender than the one assigned to them at birth. Forgive me for being blatant but I want people to learn about this having a transgender son - our body parts don’t dictate how we feel about our identity and gender and more likely it our hormones and DNA that decide what we identify with or feel aligned with as who we are. (For those who don’t realise that our sexuality is different than our gender; that is worthy of a mention here too).

Ultimately the over-riding decider for whether a term is now acceptable or not acceptable to say is what the actual originally marred community thinks of it. Like ‘Queer’ this has been owned by the queer community, and used correctly, it is a positive statement. All the others, however, have roots in harmful stereotypes and perpetuating them isn’t the right of the privileged to decide for them. Playing back on old themes of racism and prejudices has historic significance and therefore we need to start replacing these terms with more inclusive versions. “Blind spot” can be replaced with ‘Blocks’, ‘Master’ can be replaced with ‘Speaker’ and ‘Original’ or ‘Single Source of Truth’ when it comes to data. The ‘Paddy Wagon’ can be simply called a ‘Police Van’ or ‘Panel Van’. ‘Uppity’ can be replaced with ‘Up yourself’ …maybe?? (Or am I missing something on that one too?)

Having found myself in a place of privilege for some characteristics, and yet still discriminated against in others such as gender and age, I struggle to get it right all the time. I might have said that I have ‘Blind Spots’ only I now will say that I have ‘Blocks’ and ‘Limits’ that don’t let me know a problem is a problem. The learning I have is to listen when someone explains something I’ve missed and respectfully hear their point of view. To argue with them is not my right as my view would come from a place of privilege. The key is in being brave enough to say ‘I don’t get it. Would you mind explaining?’. From my own experience learning from my transgender son, there is a lot of tolerance if you are genuine and want to learn and be respectful. Once you learn then you correct yourself until it becomes natural to refrain or replace it.

On the other hand I know plenty of people that have genuine respect for all people but still say some pretty racist things at times. Their heart is in the right place but the language hasn’t caught up with the latest learnings. Definitely the respect and inclusion is better than someone ceasing use of the linguistics but harbouring a bias and disrespect.

No matter what we do with our linguistics we can’t get rid of the biases and prejudices that reside behind people’s use of this language. Stopping use of the language is not going to cure everything. Now that’s another issue!