Comrade woman

The European Parliament considers the word “politician” to be politically incorrect

Members of the European Parliament made a significant contribution to the triumph of political correctness - the leadership of this respected body called on their colleagues to abandon traditional appeals to representatives of the fair sex. “Mrs.,” “Frau,” “Madame,” and other time-tested addresses emphasizing a woman’s married status were considered offensive by parliamentarians. Equally, in their opinion, an unmarried female parliamentarian should be offended if she is called “Miss”, “Fräulein”, “Señorita” or “Mademoiselle”. Issued at the initiative of the Secretary General of the European Parliament, Harold Romer, a brochure entitled Gender-Neutral Language (which can be translated as “Gender-Neutral Language”) instructs women to be called exclusively by their first and last names and in no way hinting at their marital status. Apparently, according to the initiators of the politically correct language reform, this can be regarded as a manifestation of male chauvinism and almost gender discrimination.

In addition, Mr. Romer (by the way, note that the word “master” was not included in the obstruction), in fact, proposes to turn the political lexicon into real newspeak, correct in all respects. As the British Telegraph reports, deputies are strongly advised to avoid compound words where the particle man appears in any way (athlete, record holder, policeman, etc.), because this very “man” (“man”) is a clear sign of sexist discrimination. For example, instead of “sportsman” you should say “athlete”. It is strange that the creators of the “neutral language” overlooked the fact that “athlete” in English, as well as in Russian, is masculine. Let's hope that in the next editions of the Newspeak Dictionary this annoying mistake will be eliminated.

The words fireman or salesman should be avoided at all costs. One of the synonyms for the term “politician” - statesman (literally translated - “statesman”) was considered incorrect and offensive. True, until a corresponding “unisex word” has been invented, it is allowed to call a midwife (in the English word midwife, wife was edited in) a midwife. The word “waitress” was also included among those temporarily permitted.

Not all members of the European Parliament are delighted with the language innovations. “This is some kind of politically correct madness,” The Telegraph quotes Scottish Conservative MP Struan Stevenson as saying. “We saw how the EU authorities tried to ban the playing of bagpipes (in 2002, when adopting a law on acceptable noise levels, MEPs almost outlawed the Scottish national instrument. - Ed.), then they tried to standardize the shape of bananas, and now they are trying teach us what words can be used in our own language!” - Mr. Stevenson is indignant. “I will speak as I have spoken all my life,” another Conservative MP, Philip Bradbourne, supported his colleague, according to whom, such initiatives are a pointless waste of taxpayers’ money. However, they fear a “retrograde”; politically correct jargon may become everyday practice, like many other strange initiatives of European bureaucrats (for example, an official regulation requiring that every pair of rubber boots be supplied with an “instruction manual” in the 12 official EU languages).

Examples of the fight against “discriminatory” words and expressions are known on both sides of the Atlantic. For example, often instead of the “offensive” chairman (chairman), the neutral chairperson is used. And for the “winter holidays” (this euphemism is proposed to replace the mention of “religiously colored” Christmas), some people sculpt not a traditional snowman (snowman), but a “snow person” - snowperson.

Americans and Western Europeans hardly take the lead in eradicating “wrong” words, including addresses. After the October Revolution, “Mr.” and “Mrs.,” which hinted at belonging to the exploiting classes, were replaced by the general equalizing word “comrade.” Which, probably, would also hardly suit Mr. Romer, because it is a masculine word. The ideal state in this regard is the People's Republic of China, because there is no gender category in the Chinese language, and therefore the official address “tongzhi” (“comrade”) can be applied to both men and women.

Mikhail MOSHKIN