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correct will embarrass himself and no further action is needed. The more fuss that is made, the more attention that is drawn to the offender. With a world that is flipped upside down economically, how important is it to fire, fine, or castigate someone who used a poor choice of words just once? It could be that the person wanted attention and we played right into their hands. It could also be that the person does not associate any negative meaning with the word and had no intentions of offending. At any rate, how grown-up does it look when adults begin crying, "Mr. Media, he called me a bad word. Make him apologize."

Of course, I know that some words are used to incite riots. I am simply suggesting that, if we ignore the politics of language, we remove the politics from language. There are, after all, more serious grievances when it comes to using certain words. Such as the fact that someone will use a sophisticated word in the media, like the word caveat, and everyone else will say, Ouuu, I like that word. I will use it every chance I can find to stick it in, even if it does not really fit." We should be more concerned over the grammatically incorrect use of words as we speak publicly. Ever notice how many intelligent people have no idea when to say, "You and I, or you and me"? Not sure if you know? I gave you a clue. Look at the capitalization of the Y in You and I. Use "You and I" when it is said or written in the subject of the sentence and "you and me" when it is used in the predicate part of the sentence. No, this isn't politics, this is good grammar.

Poor grammar offends me, especially when I hear it from the lips of well educated people. Because we can never be too sure when using certain words, there will always be someone who is offended. Those who were not offended yesterday, may be tomorrow. So, be careful when referring to the indigenous tribes of people who inhabited the lands we now call America, before we called it America, because you may offend someone like me, whose ancestors were Native American. Please do not use the word "Cajun" when referring to my other ancestors who migrated to our Southern Coastal Waters from Acadia in Canada when Canadians threw us out. I would appreciate it if you did not refer to my Royal ancestors from the United Kingdom as "those inbreds". Be kind when you mention my ancestors from Normandy, and for pity's sake, do not refer to me as "one of those hillbillies from the North Georgia mountains". In fact, to be sure you do not offend me, maybe you should just keep your mouth shut. I hope I did not offend you.

Learn more about this author, Barbara Stanley.
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