Sometimes, people who are trying to use appropriate terminology are worried about accusations of being 'politically correct' (or PC). This is usually done to undermine the accused's confidence, even if done in a light-hearted way.
Many of its origins lie in media scare stories in the 1980s about apparently not being 'allowed' to say such things as 'white or black coffee' but having to say 'coffee with or without milk'. To use such word association was allegedly offensive to black people.
These attacks were intended to demean people who were trying to address various aspects of racism. Their efforts were belittled by the media as being ridiculous and PC nonsense. Indeed, the stories themselves were nonsense, because they were not founded on fact. No organisation had officially banned such word association, although some individuals may have been trying to raise issues about terminology in training courses.
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