Poll: Politically incorrect, or descriptive?

"Old" is a relative term, it can be offensive to older folks.

But we refer to the lesbian house two doors down all the time.

> I'm confused. Was I being politically incorrect by calling them "the old lesbians"?
Mildly, in that context, I think. More so in Portland than in Norman. "Gay" would have been more appropriate, some means of identifying them other than by their sexuality even better.

I don't see a problem. I know a number of lesbians and most don't mind being called lesbians and refer to other lesbians with that term. Same deal with all the old people I know (including myself). It's the context that usually tells whether a phrase is derogatory -- I can't see a problem with yours here. If you had said "We're finally getting rid of those old lesbians across the street," -- different story.

"I'm confused. Was I being politically incorrect by calling them "the old lesbians"?"

No, had you called them "the old queers" that would have been politically incorrect. :'(

Same sex couples wish to be recognized and you simply recognized them. Of course, leaving out "old" would have been more sensitive. I guess you could have said the mature same sex couple three doors down. These days you might have to specify to the left or the right.

Disclaimer: The statement above has not been reviewed and approved by the Board of Appropriateness.

I'm confused. Was I being politically incorrect by calling them "the old lesbians"?

For folks from our generation, no.

But these kids now a days have been brought up differently. So for them I'd have to say yes.

Personally, I'm trying to "adjust" my mentality to the way things are now, not how they were in the 60s. But I'm not trying to tell you what to do, it doesn't offend me.

I don't think so, it's an apt and quick description of which house, and the term wasn't offensive on it's own I don't think. I have some lesbian friends, and they call themselves gay or lesbian.

It might be wrong if the you had many old lesbian neighbors. Then you are thinking of them only by those traits, instead of it just being the quickest way to convey which house.

Mark

> ...some means of identifying them other than by their sexuality even better.

I understand completely what you're saying.

I don't know their names. Although my wife and I sometimes refer to the houses in the 'hood by their street number, this is a duplex. I guess my main concern is whether or not we can describe each other with descriptive adjectives anymore without offending someone.

"That fat old surveyor on the corner.." works real well if you want to describe me. I'm not offended by what I understand is obvious. I wasn't really calling them out because of their sexual orientation, that is just what is most obvious to me.

Somehow I'm thinking that "those two middle-aged and portly tattooed women with military style hair cuts" might, while still being descriptively sensitive, get me in more trouble than "the old lesbians". B-)

It might have been how you said it other than what you said. Even though you were not trying to be offensive others interpret it as such.
This happens frequently to me. You can't control the perceptions of others.

>I'm confused. Was I being politically incorrect by calling them "the old lesbians"?

I tend to refer to the late middle aged female gym teachers who share a house behind mine as "Sappho's Daughters". I think that classes up the joint.

On a related note - in the same sex marriage era, can I still use the euphemism "confirmed bachelor"? 😀

Lesbian is correct until they find it offensive and move along to the next term.

I am sure we could write out a very long list of more offensive terms that would raise the hairs on the back of Wendell's neck and cause him to hand out account suspensions. I am so tempted to add some of my favorites...

Would you be offended if someone pointed to your house and called it the one with the old hetero couple?

Mark

What's wrong with "the 2 women across the street", or "the 2 women who live together in the house across the street"? It's the fact that you identify them by their sexuality rather than by any of their many other distinguishing characteristics (their fatness, the car they drive, the color of their house, their profession, the noise they make, etc.) that gets you in political trouble here. I understand what you mean about appearances, but do you really know that they are gay? Or are you perhaps pronouncing judgement on their personal style?

Mark

Ugh, white people.

> > I'm confused. Was I being politically incorrect by calling them "the old lesbians"?
> Mildly, in that context, I think. More so in Portland than in Norman. "Gay" would have been more appropriate, some means of identifying them other than by their sexuality even better.

Maybe in Portland, but in actuality referring to a person who happens to be homosexual as "gay" is a misnomer.

I refuse to use that term to describe someone's sexual proclivities. It is a misuse of a perfectly acceptable word with a general meaning of happy, carefree, etc.

Also Lesbian is a perfectly acceptable description of a female homosexual. I happen to know more than a couple of them and we get along just fine.

Old as has been stated is a state of perception.

B-)

Mark

That's exactly my point.

Can I no longer say, "That bald guy over there." ?

Or, "That short lady." ?

There was a previous post about how insanely surveyor's notes describe the pins they find. I apparently believe that descriptive adjectives are useful when communicating. Is common conversational English doomed between two humans for the fear of describing someone in a way someone don't like?

I think I'm going to stick by my guns on this one. If the term "old" or "lesbian" is truly derogatory to someone, I will quickly apologize. But neither of those terms are anywhere near derogatory to me. I will probably continue to use them in my "book of terms" when I need to describe someone.

Funny Post-Script:

The house next to the one I've talking about use to be occupied by a young man. He had a lot of other young men as friends that visited frequently. A house fire behind them brought out all the neighborhood gawkers (including me) and I had a chance to talk with him. He described himself as gay. So I started calling it "the gay guy's house". Another neighbor lady corrected me. The young man had graduated school and was now an architect!

Now I just call it the architect's house...and grin.....:snarky:

At times it seems that no matter what terminology is used to describe someone else it can be viewed negatively by someone somewhere somehow.

In our casual, private lives we tend to be more prone to descriptors that narrows the field quite quickly such as:

a)The girl who must be 13 months pregnant (some start to show on the morning after)
b)The guy who works at the car wash
c)The couple with 800 grandkids
d)The woman with the chartreuse microbus
e)Mr. Clean (a neighbor we had who would have melted if hit with soapy water)
f)Ol'Mr. New Overalls Once per Year
g)The kid whose mother was a parrot (different color hair every month)
h)Wilma's son's wife's son
i)Speedy
j)Joy and Kathy (the old lesbian couple down the road)
k)Miss America (her mom drug her around trying to get people to pay for her to compete in a beauty contest when she was 14 and had three kids when she was 16)

"Would you be offended if someone pointed to your house and called it the one with the old hetero couple?"

Hey Thadd - actually that would be considered a compliment compared to "that nutcase deranged surveyor and his ole Lady". 😉

> "Would you be offended if someone pointed to your house and called it the one with the old hetero couple?"
>
> Hey Thadd - actually that would be considered a compliment compared to "that nutcase deranged surveyor and his ole Lady". 😉

Either one still works for me...without even a flutter of an eyelash.

Well that about sums up everybody in town.