Page 105 - Essentials of Human Communication

84 Chapter 4 Verbal Messages

Communication Caribbean and in South America whose origins are African, Native American, French, or Por-
Choice point tuguese. Chicana (female) and Chicano (male) refer to persons with roots in Mexico, although
Misusing Cultural it often connotes a nationalist attitude (Jandt, 2010). Mexican American is generally preferred.
identifiers Inuk (plural, Inuit), also spelled with two n’s (Innuk and Innuit), is preferred to
During a conversation a Eskimo (a term the U.S. Census Bureau uses), a term applied to the indigenous peo-
group of classmates all use negative self- ples of Alaska and Canada by Europeans and that literally means “raw meat eaters.”
reference terms. Trying to be one of the The word Indian technically refers only to someone from India, not to members
group, you too use these terms—but almost of other Asian countries or to the indigenous peoples of North America. American
immediately realize that the linguistic privi- Indian or Native American is preferred, even though many Native Americans do re-
lege allowing insiders to use self-derogatory fer to themselves as Indians and Indian people. The word squaw, used to refer to a
names does not apply to outsiders (i.e., you). Native American woman and still used in some U.S. place names and textbooks, is
You don’t want anyone to think that you clearly a term to be avoided; its usage is almost always negative and insulting.
normally talk this way. How can you try to
reverse their impressions or at least minimize In Canada indigenous people are called first people or first nations. The term
their negativity? native American (with a lowercase n) is most often used to refer to persons born in
the United States. Although technically the term could refer to anyone born in North
or South America, people outside the United States generally prefer more specific
designations such as Argentinean, Cuban, or Canadian. The term native describes an indige-
nous inhabitant; it is not used to indicate “someone having a less developed culture.”
Muslim (rather than the older Moslem) is the preferred form to refer to a person who
adheres to the religious teachings of Islam. Quran (rather than Koran) is the preferred term
for the scriptures of Islam. Jewish people is often preferred to Jews, and Jewess (a Jewish
female) is considered derogatory.
When English-language history books were being written exclusively from a European
perspective, Europe was taken as the focal point and the rest of the world was defined in
terms of its location relative to that continent. Thus, Asia became “the East” or “the Orient,”
and Asians became “Orientals”—a term that is today considered inappropriate or “Eurocentric.”
It is preferable simply to refer to people from Asia as Asians, just as people from Africa are
Africans and people from Europe are Europeans.

affectional Orientation Generally, gay is the preferred term to refer to a man who has
an affectional preference for other men, and lesbian is the preferred term for a woman who
has an affectional preference for other women. (Lesbian means “homosexual woman,” so the
term lesbian woman is redundant.) Homosexual refers to both gays and lesbians, but more
often to a sexual orientation to members of one’s own sex. Gay and lesbian refer to a gay and
lesbian identification and not only to sexual behavior. Gay as a noun, although widely used,
may prove offensive in some contexts, as in “We have gays in our office.” Because most
scientific thinking holds that sexuality is largely biologically determined, the terms sexual
orientation and affectional orientation are preferred to sexual preference or sexual status
(which also is vague). In the case of same-sex marriages—there are two husbands or two
wives. In a male-male marriage, each person is referred to as husband and in the case of
female-female marriage, each person is referred to as wife. Some same-sex couples—espe-
cially those who are not married—prefer the term “partner” or “lover”.

age Older person is generally preferred to elder, elderly, senior, or senior citizen (which
technically refers to someone older than 65). Terms designating age are rarely necessary.
There are times, of course, when you need to refer to a person’s age group, but most of the
time you don’t—in much the same way that gender, race, and affectional orientation terms
are usually irrelevant.

sex Generally, the term girl should be used only to refer to very young females and is equiv-
alent to boy. Neither term should be used for people older than 13 or 14. Girl is never used to
refer to a grown woman, nor is boy used to refer to people in blue-collar positions, as it once
was. Lady is negatively evaluated by many because it connotes the stereotype of the prim and
proper woman. Woman or young woman is preferred.
The term ma’am, originally an honorific used to show respect, is probably best avoided
since today it’s often used as a verbal tag to comment (indirectly) on the woman’s age or
marital status (Angier, 2010).