[WillowTheWhisp]

I think I know what you're saying Stanaccy and in an ideal world I would agree with you. I'm sure that the majority of people never set out to offend anyone but end up being offended by people trying to prevent other people being offended. This despite the fact the most of the time the people perceived to have been, or feared to potentially be, offended haven't actually been. nor would be. offended by the thing which is perceived by some to be offensive.

For example the renaming of Christmas by some well-intentioned body to 'Winterfest' so as not to upset those who do not celebrate Christmas when in fact those who do not celebrate Christmas have no objection to those who do celebrate Christmas from calling it that. Or the avoidance of describing things as 'black' which are black in order not to offend people with dark brown skin. (Silly nonsense about 'rainbow sheep' comes to mind)

If black is a colour then so is white, but I was always told that neither are colours they are both shades. People (even pale pink pathetic people like yours truly) come in shades of brown ranging from deep and dark to the palest of beige. We are all far more alike than some of us think.

I'm short. I describe myself as short. Why should I describe myself as vertically challenged? In fact sometimes I describe myself as "a little squirt" when I can't reach things on high shelves, or a "dumpy little squirt". If someone wants to be offensive they can do it even using the most politically correct terminology. I think it's the intention which really matters.

I don't think the person who failed to do accurate research on black puddings intended to offend Barbra Streisand - do you?