Things like this make me cringe

In a medical story today, New York Times reporter Jennifer Bayot refers to Viagra and similar pharmaceuticals as "impotence drugs." I don't expect much of the public at large, but I would think that the Times would know by now that we don't call it "impotence" anymore, and with good reason. To say that a man is impotent is to imply that the total person is ineffectual. It is a terrible term for that reason, and so we have referred to the condition as "erectile dysfunction" for some time now.

Of course, I constantly hear all kinds of people, including people in the news media, say "stewardess" instead of "flight attendant." Not only does the catch-all term "stewardess" exclude the many men who perform the job, but a few decades ago, flight attendants protested the word and ask that we not use it. They found it objectionable because it implied that theie only duty was to serve food and beverage, when they really do a lot more.

Is this so-called political correctness? No, it's good old-fashioned correctness. And if you want to call it political correctness, fine. But whatever you call it, it's the reason we no longer say "crippled" and "colored people" and "harelip." We don't say those things anymore because they were offensive. And as slow as social evolution is, it cannot advance at all if the language doesn't go with it.