Political Correctness
The avoidance of verbal expressions or actions that may be interpreted
as prejudicial or offensive to minorities or groups considered to be
disadvantaged by race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, social
class, or appearance. As a consequence of political correctness, some epicenewords have become commonplace (for example, flight attendant in preference to air stewardess and firefighter in preference to fireman), but certain other manifestations of political correctness
have been ridiculed, as when a US television reporter, referring to the
South African president Nelson Mandela (born 1918) and wishing to refer
to the fact that he was black without uttering the word black, referred to him as African American.