First it was 'rainbow sheep' instead of that famous nursery rhyme. Then it was swapping the term unemployed to 'unwaged'.Oh, there have been many more - but today a new example of "political correctness gone mad" (the stock phrase wheeled out for times like these) caught my eye and is currently the sixth most read thing on the BBC website (beating the divorce of Katie Price and Peter Andre, no less!)
The much-loved (not by me, but by many others I'm assured) pudding, Spotted Dick, has been taken off the menu of a council canteen in Wales - and replaced by the less-accurate and more-tricky-say-quickly Spotted Richard. Oh, and the even-less-impressive Sultana Sponge too. Apparently childish comments by 'a small number' of staff members led to the change.
A local councillor is outraged, calling the decision 'ludicrous' and claiming decision-makers would be 'frightened by their own shadow' - a little OTT and harsh, methinks.
It's crazy that we've turned into a country where people are so concerned about frightening others by what is said or written. You're never going to please all the people all of the time, so why - in this case - even contemplating changing the name of a pudding that's been called a certain name for 150 years - just in case some people (whoever they are!) are offended in some way. Dicks refer to 'dough' in this case and have nothing to do with men's genitalia.
Why don't we go through every element of the English language and English culture to come up with new words and new phrases that are meaningless and dull? We don't because all of this is so, so trivial. It's fodder for terrible newspapers like the Daily Mail and dangerous organisations like the BNP.
In fact, why am I spending so much time writing this and thinking about it... (because I find the whole situation hilarious, that's why!) And your comments are welcome please - as long as you don't offend me and that you PC-spellcheck every word!
(Photo credit: Chuck Coker)
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