Politically correct: what is and how important is it?

I really hate political correctness! You can't even say 'actress' or 'hostess' anymore. My air hostess daughter is now 'cabin crew'. Short people are 'vertically challenged'. What's with that? I'm short!!! You can't even call people black or white. For goodness sake ... it is what it is - and I'm not politically correct at all, I'm afraid!

Hello, mclendon! I'd like to find a list like that, but in Portuguese. I'm sure there are many cases like those in my language. I'm sorry, but in English I don't know of any others. Thanks for sharing this with us! Respectfully, Munhozmib.

Oh, and I remember even as recently as the 80s, "utility holes" were called "manholes", and that just doesn't sound right! :)

I try not to correct, but many so-called PC terms are for a good reason. For example, "little person" is because many little people don't have dwarfism, so to call every little person a dwarf makes no sense.

Some terms we use started out as a descriptive term rather than an insult... It's how people used it over the years that made it that way, as an insult... If a person is over weight, then he or she is fat... Being fat is not a bad thing as in he/she's a bad person, it is possible to be slightly fat, or slightly over weight... According to my doctor, I'm 10 lbs over weight... He told me it's not too bad but to be aware of it & try to keep in under control... You know what that means? That means I'm 10lbs fatter than I should be... Without going in to medical technicality, if I'm fat, I'm fat... It's a descriptive term that describes my condition... It's the contant it's used under... Word "retard" is not a bad word, or even insulting word... Mentally retarded if used in it's true definition, it just describes a person's mental state or a person's mental state due to a medical condition or whatever... I'm not sure how true this is but the term, "s*h*i*t" supposed to be a medical term, "substance from human intestant track"... Again, I'm not sure how true it is but supposedly, that's where the word came from...