This goes for mainstream journalists, professional victims, charity mavens and academics, not just lefty politos: read this very, very carefully…
‘If the language appears fine to you, it is probably best not to use it.
You are an activist, and by definition, you are out of the mainstream.’”
***
When I worked at the United Way, the new thing was calling “immigrants” “newcomers”, because the word “immigrant” had taken on, er, unsavory connotations. (Shocka!)
Trying to explain to all the MSWs that a) ordinary people wouldn’t understand that expression and therefore wouldn’t give us money, and b) the trouble is with immigrants, not the word we use to describe them, went absolutely nowhere, as you had guessed.
As you’ll have noticed when glancing at the many charity and social services ads on the Toronto subway, “newcomers” it is.
