LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is often accused of being a "control freak," meaning someone who places the emphasis on presentation rather than content, but the accusation that he and his colleagues have become obsessed with "political correctness" is closer to the mark.
Words and phrases that were once perfectly acceptable and were not intended or considered as pejorative are condemned and banned from official publications. In this Britain is not unique: Japan too has banned many simple words. In both countries circumlocutions are preferred for "blind," "deaf," "dumb" or "cripple."
In Britain the term "Negro" has to be replaced by "someone of Afro-Caribbean origin" and if anyone inadvertently uses the old phrase "nigger in the woodpile" meaning, to quote the Oxford English dictionary, "hidden cause of trouble or inconvenience" he will be howled down and made to apologize. "Jap" for "Japanese" used to be regarded by Japanese as well as Westerners in the 19th century as perfectly acceptable, but no one would dare to use the term today in public, although it is worth noting that most British people are quite happy to refer to themselves as "we Brits!"