Talk of brainstorming 'may offend epileptics' ("brainstorm" is not PC)

UK Telegraph ^ | 4.26.03 | Liz Lightfoot

[mhking]

The term "brainstorming" has become the latest target of political correctness, according to a charity.

Trainee teachers are being told to avoid the word for fear of offending pupils with epilepsy. Instead they are being advised to use "word storm" or "thought shower".

However, charities working with epilepsy say "brainstorming" is not offensive. "We had several inquiries from teachers about it so we did a survey of our residential home," said Gemma Baxter from the National Society for Epilepsy.

"We also contacted people with epilepsy in the community and the overwhelming response was that 'brainstorming' implies no offence to people with epilepsy, and that any implication that the word is offensive to people with the condition is taking political correctness too far."

People found it more offensive that the question was being asked of them, she said.

The Teacher Training Agency said it was not responsible for the suggestion that students avoid the word.

"We are responsible for overseeing the general quality of the courses provided by universities and colleges and we don't get involved in the minutiae of what they teach."

[mhking]

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[goldstategop]

LMAO!!! I'm have a Hold Muh Brainstorm Alert! over this regression in idiocy. Even for the PC Lefty Thought Police.

[stylin19a]

oh great ! Now we have to niggardly with how words are used.

[TomGuy]

Well,

"thought shower" is offensive for those with "bashful kidneys" and

"brainfart" is offensive to those with gas.

[Tax-chick]

All your thought are belong to us!

Whoops, sorry I was so offensive ...

[RAT Patrol]

Oh good grief. My niece has epilepsy and she wouldn't care.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

"We also contacted people with epilepsy in the community and the overwhelming response was that 'brainstorming' implies no offence to people with epilepsy, and that any implication that the word is offensive to people with the condition is taking political correctness too far."
People found it more offensive that the question was being asked of them, she said.

Praise be! There really is hope for mankind.

[goldstategop]

My goodness, just thinking about a brainstorm could actually give your neice an unwanted seizure. Obssessing about a particular word could endanger her life. <shudder

[Mears]

Gee,another word to add to the list of words we can't use anymore.

God help the young folks growing up in this PC world.

[Sofa King]

Perhaps "usless hunk of dog shit storming" would be more appropriate for these people to use. Let everyone else stick with "brain storming".

[Desecrated]

The English language may well be shrinking, due to the increasing number of words we are not allowed to say.

Very "Brave New World"-ish.

[reformed_dem]

Why is it that so many people are "offended" by things that don't affect them? Who says we have the right to go through life without being offended? I'm offended by all these people who find things offensive.

[davisfh]

" Talk of brainstorming 'may offend epileptics' ("brainstorm" is not PC)"

Sheesh! I must be offended by something. Now let me see - idiots, politically correct bedwetters, Bill, Hillary, Tom Daschle, Bill, Hillary, environmentalists, anti-SUV crowd, Bill, Hillary, Tom Daschle, . . .

[headsonpikes]

I think these wankers would prefer 'head-hugging', so as not to offend the brainless, and to be affirmatively nurturing.

"Let everyone else stick with 'brain-storming'." ;^)

[Revolting cat!]

Man, what's a bum to do? It's becoming hard for a housewife to orient herself with all these colored nuances of meaning. I think I'll go light me up a fag!

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Sofa King]

Not so fast there slappy! 'Head-hugging' might offend the families of people who were killed when those aliens burst out of their eggs, latched onto their heads, and implanted a baby inside of them that later burst out of their chest! We need a more sensitive term!

[Tacis]

Hey, all the living relatives of that poor woman in _The Wizard of Oz_ who was so cruelly and maliciously melted by that little bitch Dorothy, are deeply, deeply offended by the concept of "shower." "Word sh**er" is profanity to us, and is not an acceptable alternative to the phrase that offends them.

[Ken H]

Shakespeare ran afoul of PC in his time as well.

He had to retitle his original Julius Seizure.

[Consort]

thought shower?

What about golden shower?

[RAT Patrol]

LOL!

[gitmo]

The term "No brainer" is offensive to all liberals.

[Sonny M]

Tis reminds me of something that happened in college. We were talking about how some african americans had been mislead into thinking that word picnic was racist, eventually the school (Ithaca), said that even though the origin was not racist, the term, because of the uproar had now become offensive. Me and a friend of mine were talking about something in class, and started joking that the word "doorknob" was racist, my teacher argued it wasn't that easy to just take a word and give in racial conotation. After a semester, she saw me, and told me that, the very next semester, a girl asked her if she had heard that the term "doorknob" was actually a racist term. Strange ain't it.

[goldstategop]

I get the impression one has to walk on eggshells around liberals. One never knows what will offend them.

[1066AD]

Well I'll be gobsmacked !

[Quix]

GIMMMME A BREAK!!!! [KHQ SPOKANE]

This is getting beyond beyond beyond BEYOND ridiculous!

I suppose we could all stop TRYING to communicate verbally.

We could just go around like

her unroyal lowness,
her hideous heinous--
Bwitch Shrillery Antoinette
de Fosterizer de JReno-suckface
de poopy-sprayer de Sade

AND

just spray poopy every time we open our mouths.

Nah.

Being human is about as close as I care to get to that demon spawn. Please God, spare me any behavioral similarities.

[TerryInRiverside]

Maybe it's time to change languages, even pig latin would do fine! Actually, it's fun to irritate liberals. (especially queers)

[TXBlair]

'Man, what's a bum to do? It's becoming hard for a housewife to orient herself with all these colored nuances of meaning. I think I'll go light me up a fag!'

LOL! I am literally crying with laughter. Thanks for ruining my mascara!!

[TXBlair]

'oh great ! Now we have to niggardly with how words are used'

LOL! I was talking about that word with my family just last night. Gosh, I hope you don't get fired for daring to use it. What's that you say? It's not a bad word? Well, no matter...the very sound of it might offend the ignoramuses. Better to punish YOU than to educate THEM.

[Revolting cat!]

THIS JUST IN:

-- Actress Karen Black changes her last name to African-American;

-- Elvis Presley's recording of In the Ghetto is electronically enhanced to become In the Economically Depressed Area;

-- The word 'homeowners' is to be purged from government documents, replaced by 'gayowners'.

[kayak]

"word storm" or "thought shower"

But ... but ... but what about the meteorologists? Don't they have sensitivities, too?

[TXBlair]

Honestly...you're killing me here! ;^)

[goldstategop]

You know this silliness is beneath comment. I can't imagine how these people ever make it through life.

[Sonny M]

Walking around on eggshells is an understatement, especially with minority liberals, who are obsessed with race. White liberals are always looking for some term or name that is offensive, while minorities are looking for a racial slant on everything. When Private Lynch came back, many liberals turned it into a racial thing. Elizabeth Smart, was turned into a racial thing (Just look at AOL commentary boards, and you'll see it). When sammy sosa and mcgwire were going at it, conspiracy theroies kept popping up in my class. One girl who wouldn't know what a baseball from a football was, got nasty when somone said that sosa hit a homerun the night before and named the pitcher (who happened to be spanish) and team. Boom, WW 3 in class. I'm glad I'm not in college now, its scary how it doesn't even matter what color you are, you can still be persecuted by the racial police. If your black and you dare say you like rice and powell, suddenly its okay in class to call you an Uncle Tom and threaten you.

[Pharmboy]

[muawiyah]

Being offended? Hey, here's the deal - I had to adhere to 508 "guidelines" on my website (it's federal). In fact, it was the very first website at my agency to meet the 508 standards.

We were doing real good and then this young woman who works for Larry Speaks (remember him? - the Bush batboy from way back) beat up on my website over the issue of how I reported URLs for a number of businesses.

She was snippy. She said we must adhere to these standards lest the "visually handicapped" have problems.

I have a visual handicap - a really bad one too. I have no blue receptors and twice as many red receptors as are normal. (Let me tune in your color TV!)

I was at the same time trying to get a small brochure out and the same people (Mr. Speaks cronies again) beat up on me over an element in the design. They told me that if we needed "program identification" that instead of using a logo we use "color coded symbols".

My EEO case will be on the way shortly.

What happened here was I was quite willing to go along with the 508 guidelines since most of them really are helpful. When the "style nazis" came out of their closets and began telling me that the only way I was going to get out of their clutches was to do something which I could not do because of my visual handicap (and which no one else is required to do in the first place) they made me an enemy of the 508 guidelines. They also made themselves into my personal enemies. They offend me. Their behavior should offend everyone.

So, sometimes it's not really that "I am offended"; rather, it's "I have been abused by petty tyrants" and it's long past the time to fight back.

[WaterDragon]

Decades ago, the PC nitwits would have claimed "barnstorming" was insulting to farmers. Sheesh.

[TigersEye]

I get the impression one has to walk on eggshells around liberals. One never knows what will offend them.

Unless you're performing chicken abortions you've certainly offended the fowl minded and bird brained among us.

[TigersEye]

The term "brainstorming" has become the latest target of political correctness, according to a charity. Trainee teachers are being told to avoid the word for fear of offending pupils with epilepsy.

I wonder what spaz came up with this?

[thulldud]

I wonder what spaz came up with this?

Some stercoencephalopathic goob or other.

[MEGoody]

Oh good grief. Soon we'll all have to be carrying around at least a three volume set of books to tell us what we are no longer allowed to say. It will take 3 hours to have a 5 minute conversation.

I can see it now. "Then he, er, uh, I mean, the individual conducted a brainstorming session, er, I mean a, oh damn, let me look that one up."

[k2blader]

Thought showers? How unbecoming.