Whiter Than White, Right-Hand Man,

even the American made expression 'Gentleman's Agreement' have been banned! Matthew Elliott above said 'Most people assumed that this sort of PC madness went out in the 1980s, but it appears not, Government quangos have issued fresh lists of phrases they are seeking to ban to avoid causing offence, staff at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission have been advised to use 'miserable day' instead of 'black day', the Commission claims that certain words carry a 'hierarchical valuation of skin colour', do these statements really cause racial tensions? well here is another one that has not been commented on yet, the word whitewash, I have always thought it means that one team has scored the final result but the other team scored zero, but I guess it is just a matter of time before it to fails the race test, so no more using the phrase Black Monday to describe the 1929 Wall Street crash! well it should be Black Thursday, Black Friday, then Black Monday, and Black Tuesday all four are appropriate, for the crash was not a one-day affair, so that is 4 phrases stricken from the public record, opps! I forgot about the Financial Times article on the Black Monday of 1987! the Learning and Skills Council wants staff to 'perfect' their brief rather than 'master' it, while Newcastle University reckons 'master bedroom' can be problematic, the National Gallery in London says the 1888 American phrase gentleman's agreement may be considered offensive to women and suggests using 'unwritten agreement' or ' agreement based on trust' instead the phrase right-hand man is also considered taboo, with 'second in command' thought more suitable, advice issued by the South West Regional Development Agency says: 'terms such as black sheep of the family, black looks and black mark have no direct link to skin colour but potentially serve to reinforce a negative view of all things black, equally, certain terms imply a negative image of black by reinforcing the positive aspects of white, 'for example, in the context of being above suspicion, the phrase whiter than white is often used, purer than pure or cleaner than clean are alternatives which do not infer that anything other than white should be regarded with suspicion.' Marie Clair, of the Plain English Campaign, said: 'Political correctness has good intentions but things can be taken to an extreme, what is really needed is a bit of common sense.' yes the rarest of brain functions in quangos that we the British tax payers pay for, it is incredible to think that somewhere someone else is supping tea in an office thinking up more of this nonsense!