Monday, October 23, 2006

Oh, no ... does this make me a liberal?

The latest post on the excellent Babalu Blog is titled "Why liberals (really) piss me off (Part 3)." Naturally, it caught my attention.

George Moneo is ranting about silly PC speech codes that are supposed to protect feminine ears from "sexist" language. But I gotta take issue with ya, George. You said, to your female coworker, "Love, I'll say what I damn well please!" And I say, "Mind your manners, sir."

Yeah, I think we've gone too far with banning words such as "manpower," but don't call me "dear" or "love" unless you're (A) my fiance or (B) a male relative who is at least my age.

It's not a matter of sexism -- it's a matter of propriety. It is improper to call someone by a pet name in a business setting. Common sense should tell you that. (I mean, would you really want your wife's male boss calling her "honey?") And for that matter, I don't appreciate women calling me pet names in a business setting, either.

In our resistance against political correctness, we can't chuck simple manners. Used to be, society had elegant rules about how to address people. First names were inappropriate outside of family and close friendships, much less pet names. I really would like us to return to more decorum and away from calling people what "we damn well please."

Please. Sir.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Well spoken, love. ;-)

Does anyone know what actually happened to manners? Was it just "the '60s," or did the erosion begin before that? My guess is that it did.

And, no, sweetness, it doesn't make you a liberal. Libs tend to be some of the rudest people I know, and rude you definitely are not. ;-)

-Rich