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Political correctness in the workplace

Ardent

I work for an IT multinational. Today, after having spoken about IP whitelists and blacklists, I was politely informed by a colleague that I shouldn't use that terminology as it has racial connotations.

Sure enough, looking at our handbook, we have a list of terms we are discouraged from using, e.g., "rule of thumb" (violent implications). I know one fella here even got pulled aside for saying that customer support folks are the "shepherds" of the customer experience.

Anyone else experiencing this madness where they work?

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is_that_so

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

Lol. I suppose Bo is also construed as a sexist term related to Beau. Belle would make it seem like a White privilege term relative to its connoted meaning of Southern Belle. Welcome to Looney Tunes, Folks!

More likely to be a version of peek a boo. There's a reference to it in King Lear and the term may go back to the 14th century!

Conall Cernach

Ardent wrote: »

Shepherd is gender specific. We prefer gender neutral language.

The 'rule of thumb' has been said to derive from the belief that English law allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick so long as it is was no thicker than his thumb.

I don't think that's true given the context in which the phrase is used. It is used when you're estimating something roughly e.g. "it'll take about a roll of wallpaper for each wall so rule of thumb you'll need a dozen rolls for your bedrooms."

My understanding is that it comes from artists estimating the height of various features by using their outstretched thumbs e.g. "that tree is one thumb high and that tower is two thumbs so I better draw it twice the height."

ChikiChiki

Ardent wrote: »

I work for an IT multinational. Today, after having spoken about IP whitelists and blacklists, I was politely informed by a colleague that I shouldn't use that terminology as it has racial connotations.

Sure enough, looking at our handbook, we have a list of terms we are discouraged from using, e.g., "rule of thumb" (violent implications). I know one fella here even got pulled aside for saying that customer support folks are the "shepherds" of the customer experience.

Anyone else experiencing this madness where they work?

LOL ffs they are commonly known phrases in IT. Tell that goon to jog on the virtue signalling twat.

Hellrazer

Last week I heard someone calling a white board a "dry erase board"

FFS - In my daughters school blackboards are now called "chalkboards" <<<its referring to the colour of the board nothing to do with with slavery / oppression.

Now I am ginger and I do have a serious issue with Ginger Nut biscuits but thats a different thread altogether.

Its PC gone nuts.

Ardent

OP here. I have to laugh at the amount of people on this thread who don't believe me. I suppose it just goes to show how bizarre the whole thing really is. But trust me folks it's coming to place near you soon.

Drumpot

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Why don't we ban the actual colours black and white? And maybe red and yellow and brown as well. Just in case. We define these colours as non-existent and then we've jumped straight ahead into the 22nd century. Everyone's happy.

At least you can still tell somebody to go and f**k themselves.

Unless that’s racist or sexist or zenophobic or gender discrimination or snow flake intolerance Or some other sort of intolerance....

Badly Drunk Boy

Drumpot wrote: »

Unless that’s racist or sexist or zenophobic or gender discrimination or snow flake intolerance Or some other sort of intolerance....

But the person might suffer from erectile dysfunction!!! :mad:

Drumpot

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

But the person might suffer from erectile dysfunction!!! :mad:

That’s very sexist of you to presume a sex or that they even recognize themselves as any sort of gender.

Surely Body part mid range hip/bum on the front dysfunction is more appropriate?

[Deleted User]

Ardent wrote: »

OP here. I have to laugh at the amount of people on this thread who don't believe me. I suppose it just goes to show how bizarre the whole thing really is. But trust me folks it's coming to place near you soon.

It really depends on how much the government/media pushes it. Luckily enough, Ireland tends to be at the back end of such movements becoming established (it's already here somewhat), and people do resist the more idiotic/obvious signs of having their behavior controlled.

However, it will arrive in force within a decade or so, unless the PC crap is revealed for just how divisive and dangerous it really is. Thankfully, we're already starting to see signs of the stresses that are occurring in offices where males/females aren't comfortable working together for fear of a misunderstanding ruining their careers. The whole area of mentoring is showing that the PC environment is unrealistic and dangerous towards the framework of business operations...

[Deleted User]

cannotlogin wrote: »

I witnessed one of the nicest most inoffensive manager I know explaining a new process and referred to man hours verses machine hours and he was pulled up on it and advised that as 46% of the team were female that it has to stop using the term. Completely ott imo.

I pulled up a manager for this. He said I'd be doing 110 man hours on a project, and I very lightheartedly said 'ah sure, womanhours for me', and he did NOT like it. He spent about 10 mins of the meeting explaining to me that it's a common industry term (I know it is).

There's nothing wrong with me giving a nod to the fact that I'm a woman, and I don't see how people take offence to the the idea that they've been offensive (which he hadn't, just to be clear). 'Political correctness' seems to be a term brandished by people who feel attacked by the idea that they've said something out of turn, and are attacking back by making out that the other person is being hysterical about it.

sligojoek

Ray Darcy on the radio the other day, talking about an upcoming charity event.

"...... Personning the phone lines."

Feisar

I heard someone ask for a neat coffee yesterday instead of a black one. No I didn't but I wanted in on the action!

na1

Google started blacklisting 'blacklist' back in 2017:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7226543/Googles-new-respectful-code-policy-politically-correct.html

Quote:
The set of two documents, one of which is referred to as the 'respectful code' policy, obtained by Daily Caller show the internet search giant has directed employees to remove references to 'blacklist,' 'whitelist' and 'master/slave,' among other things, from the programming that makes its products operate.

Feisar

true-or-false wrote: »

I pulled up a manager for this. He said I'd be doing 110 man hours on a project, and I very lightheartedly said 'ah sure, womanhours for me', and he did NOT like it. He spent about 10 mins of the meeting explaining to me that it's a common industry term (I know it is).

There's nothing wrong with me giving a nod to the fact that I'm a woman, and I don't see how people take offence to the the idea that they've been offensive (which he hadn't, just to be clear). 'Political correctness' seems to be a term brandished by people who feel attacked by the idea that they've said something out of turn, and are attacking back by making out that the other person is being hysterical about it.

In fairness he could have said "110 hours" there was really no need for the man part.

I work in construction the last bastion of the un-PC and we'd always say "operative" as opposed to man anything.

na1

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

But the person might suffer from erectile dysfunction!!! :mad:

That's a BLACK humour, if you know what I mean.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Thankfully, we're already starting to see signs of the stresses that are occurring in offices where males/females aren't comfortable working together for fear of a misunderstanding ruining their careers. The whole area of mentoring is showing that the PC environment is unrealistic and dangerous towards the framework of business operations...

They'll have to start having lady offices..

They could be all pink with nicer toilets and stuff..

[Deleted User]

Feisar wrote: »

In fairness he could have said "110 hours" there was really no need for the man part.

In fairness, people could try not to be offended by standardized language use.

You going to get annoyed when someone says "mankind"?

It's ridiculous. Man is a word with multiple meanings depending on the context being used. Hence woman, human, etc. People pushing the need to change the language are the ones being offended for the sake of it. In fairness... meh. Fair only to those who are offended, and not fair for those who wish to use the language the way it was intended..

I work in construction the last bastion of the un-PC and we'd always say "operative" as opposed to man anything.

And I worked in Finance (which has a very high ratio of women) where we'd use phrases like executive, or *gasp* Manager. It's not about the gender of the person. It never was.

gmisk

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It really depends on how much the government/media pushes it. Luckily enough, Ireland tends to be at the back end of such movements becoming established (it's already here somewhat), and people do resist the more idiotic/obvious signs of having their behavior controlled.

However, it will arrive in force within a decade or so, unless the PC crap is revealed for just how divisive and dangerous it really is. Thankfully, we're already starting to see signs of the stresses that are occurring in offices where males/females aren't comfortable working together for fear of a misunderstanding ruining their careers. The whole area of mentoring is showing that the PC environment is unrealistic and dangerous towards the framework of business operations...

PC crap...so your more of a Mac fan? Fair enough.

I don't think people taking a bit of care with their language and behaviour around colleagues is such a bad thing.

I remember working in a place with an older colleague making a joke in front of everyone in a small office about him not being a "queer" making a hand gesture etc.
I kind of cringed at it but said nothing. I am gay but didn't really feel the need to tell colleagues bar the couple I was close too.
It turns out a colleague took him aside on the QT after and said it wasn't acceptable, he was clearly mortified. So he took me aside a few days later and apologised he clearly meant absolutely nothing by it, but realised it wasn't really acceptable. We became quite pally after that.

Rodney Bathgate

sligojoek wrote: »

Ray Darcy on the radio the other day, talking about an upcoming charity event.

"...... Personning the phone lines."

Bell end.

Eduard Khil

I'd ask them to leave it at the door as you are there to work not social justice or vet long accepted words and terms that describe your work and job tasks. Its really getting scary how invasive people's attitudes and actions are getting, getting fired up over anything trivial can create a very toxic hostile work environment. Just tell them you are busy or try to be busy at all times otherwise you are open for engagement.

na1

Deleted User wrote: »

In fairness, people could try not to be offended by standardized language use.

You going to get annoyed when someone says "mankind"?

It's ridiculous. Man is a word with multiple meanings depending on the context being used.

The next step is to rewrite the Bible:

And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Or at least make the disclaimer on the first page of each Bible, about "historical context"

Feisar

Deleted User wrote: »

In fairness, people could try not to be offended by standardized language use.

You going to get annoyed when someone says "mankind"?

It's ridiculous. Man is a word with multiple meanings depending on the context being used. Hence woman, human, etc. People pushing the need to change the language are the ones being offended for the sake of it. In fairness... meh. Fair only to those who are offended, and not fair for those who wish to use the language the way it was intended..

And I worked in Finance (which has a very high ratio of women) where we'd use phrases like executive, or *gasp* Manager. It's not about the gender of the person. It never was.

OK Boomer:D

topper75

Ardent wrote: »

Today, after having spoken about IP whitelists and blacklists, I was politely informed by a colleague that I shouldn't use that terminology as it has racial connotations.

As a person with black hair I have no problem with this term. Now I don't have black skin but who makes people with black skin the arbiters of what does and doesn't fly? Let's not have vile skinnism here!

CageWager wrote: »

Wait till the Google and Facebook offices reopen. They’ll force everyone to take a knee before every meeting.

It is more than them IT outfits though nowadays. I had some laugh watching the soccer over the pond there on the box lately. If they thought doing cats tumbles around the field before the game would make them look more virtuous, they would probably do it. When I hear about these culture wars in the media I just hear it as code language for 'ordinary people versus nonsense'.

topper75

gmisk wrote: »

...

I remember working in a place with an older colleague making a joke in front of everyone in a small office about him not being a "queer" making a hand gesture etc.
... meant absolutely nothing by it, but realised it wasn't really acceptable. We became quite pally after that.

A story with a happy ending, always good to read ... but perhaps not connected with the point raised by the OP concerning the alteration and replacement of necessary long-standing work terms and procedures that never had ill intent, merely to accommodate ludicrous sensibilities of a few cranks.

[Deleted User]

gmisk wrote: »

PC crap...so your more of a Mac fan? Fair enough.

:rolleyes:

I don't think people taking a bit of care with their language and behaviour around colleagues is such a bad thing.

It's not though, is it? It's not about taking a little care. Why downplay it? [Especially since most professional workplaces already had codes of conduct long before this PC crusade came along]

I remember working in a place with an older colleague making a joke in front of everyone in a small office about him not being a "queer" making a hand gesture etc.
I kind of cringed at it but said nothing. I am gay but didn't really feel the need to tell colleagues bar the couple I was close too.
It turns out a colleague took him aside on the QT after and said it wasn't acceptable, he was clearly mortified. So he took me aside a few days later and apologised he clearly meant absolutely nothing by it, but realised it wasn't really acceptable. We became quite pally after that.

Not sure how your example, compares with the other posters example? You don't find them to be different kinds of behavior? (And I'm bisexual.. so I have encountered all manner of remarks, and attitudes.)

Dick phelan

I kid you not, My old manager told me I shouldn't use the term "brainstorming" as it might be offensive to people with epilepsy. I almost laughed in her face, seriously if your so sensitive that a well established term like brainstorming upsets you, you shouldn't be in a workplace.

Better Than Christ

I see Shania Twain has been forced to rerecord one of her classic '90s hits.

Person, I feel like a person.

silverharp

My wife does some work for Twitter and she was saying that Twitter have got rid of the term "white list" it has to be changed to "allowed list".

Rodney Bathgate

Better Than Christ wrote: »

I see Shania Twain has been forced to rerecord one of her classic '90s hits.

Person, I feel like a person.

Where did you see that?

Better Than Christ

Rodney Bathgate wrote: »

Where did you see that?

It was reported on Sky News and the BBC a few months ago. The old version of the song has been removed from all radio playlists and replaced with the new version. I have the Come on Over album on cassette, so it doesn't effect me. Still a shame though.