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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP Remember that your parents are from a different generation, they may not even know all the relatively new politically correct terms[/quote]
PP sure maybe but at the same time let's not throw out the "omg politically correct" buzzword. Don't use racist language, don't be a thin-skinned overly sensitive martyr if you do get called out on using specific language. Learn and move forward. [/quote]

It is undeniable that in the last decades there is much more attention about what expressions are acceptable or not, and not only when talking about different ethnicities. For example, to describe a child with developmental or physical delays, my parents would used the term handicapped, I grew up using the term disable, my DC’s generation uses the term special needs. This doesn’t make my old parents jerks, they just were [b]not educated about the different implications of the words used. [/b]I think the best thing is to gently redirect and educate my parents (or people from a different genearation) not shaming them[/quote]

It's inevitable that "special needs" will become the offensive word in 20 years. After all, what exactly is offensive about handicap or disabled? They describe the situation accurately. Your parents or grandparents were not insensitive, it's *you* that decided inoffensive words suddenly were insensitive and made them insensitive. The concept is still there regardless of the word being used to describe it, and that is why well-meaning people will forever be changing the words in a perpetual hunt for the offensive. Will the day come when we eventually run out of inoffensive words?

I am not sympathetic to OP. Her mother did not use the term "Chinese eyes" in a derogatory manner but as a flattery. I do think it would be fine to gently point out that child is not of Asian heritage and there are people who would find it uncomfortable, but to turn it into an existential angst is silly. But dare I say that no one is as delicate and easily offended as the white progressive female. Particularly someone who clearly has other issues with her family. [/quote]

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