Where did the Term "Politically Correct" Come From?

Professor Carla Freccero:

Long before the right-wing and mainstream media discovered the term, "politically correct" was a phrase that radical left-wingers and progressives (not liberals) used among themselves. It was often a joke, as in, "Which is more politically correct, cranberry berry juice or orange juice?" It could be used in a kind of self-ironic way, to tease ourselves and each other about living a life of political commitment—in other words, the idea was, if you were politically committed, everything in your life was held up to political scrutiny and judged according to your and your community's political beliefs and convictions. That was the gentlest and most playful use of the term.

Then there was the derogatory use of the term to designate someone who was overly dogmatic-dogmatic to the point of insisting that clothes, haircuts, jewelry, food, drink, friends, etc., all had to conform, and without any contradictions., to his or her political beliefs. It was also used as a derogatory designation for leftists or progressives who were more concerned with appearance than substance-people whose vocabulary, whose opinions, whose clothes conformed to some kind of political standard but who had very little heartfelt conviction about issues or who were confused.

Finally, the term was used seriously to convey the sense of the aphorism "practice what you preach," or "the personal is political."

Adapted from a statementby Associate Professor ofFrench & Italian Carla Frecceroat a forum on politicalcorrectness sponsored by Fire& Skoal Senior Society during the spring term.

Freccero knows what's PC.