Interesting piece.

I recall more than a quarter of a century ago, shortly after arriving in the UK, using the expression 'calling a spade a spade." I was then told not to use it because it was offensive to black people.

Yet, in 1959, when we were learning idioms in English class, it simply meant to be blunt.

To monkey something up has always meant to mess things up, and it never had anything to do with race. Monkeys just did funny things (I come from Africa).

Over the years, I have watched people throw their panties out the window over all sorts of words. Women appeared to get upset with terms like chairman and wanted to use chairwoman. 'Madam Chairman' didn't seem good enough.

Then there is the intire category of offensive words. So people weren't allowed to refer to blacks in certain terms? So people switched to using 'the indigenous.' Did using that term lesson the contempt?

No.

I have no answers, but I think this constant effort to adjust language is a fight in the wrong direction. People just invent/find other terms to express their feelings about something.