I was taking a group of building service engineers through the 18th. We were discussing the use of Appendix 5. One chap was very exercised about the BA3 category which is described as utilization-capability-handicapped. He claims the latter word was exorcised from common parlance years ago and would be offensive to many. I am not that politically correct but maybe he has a valid argument,.
...saying sorry implies you (as in The IET) meant to offend someone ....
I would disagree with that (though I am also that there was no intent to offend). It is perfectly in order to say sorry for an unintended offence or even for a potential unintended offence. As a corollary, if you are stepping backwards to try to get the right photograph and bump into someone, I would hope an apology would be forthcoming, even though it was unintended. You would also apologise if you suddenly realised you were about to bump into someone and avoided it at the last minute.
I also think that Mark's proposal is absolutely right - if there is the possibility of offence, look at what alternative wording might be possible, even though there is no malicious intent in the wording.
This is an example of words changing in perception, since back in 1981 this would not have been seen as offensive, but as I said earlier, perceptions change with (social and PC) context.
...saying sorry implies you (as in The IET) meant to offend someone ....
I would disagree with that (though I am also that there was no intent to offend). It is perfectly in order to say sorry for an unintended offence or even for a potential unintended offence. As a corollary, if you are stepping backwards to try to get the right photograph and bump into someone, I would hope an apology would be forthcoming, even though it was unintended. You would also apologise if you suddenly realised you were about to bump into someone and avoided it at the last minute.
I also think that Mark's proposal is absolutely right - if there is the possibility of offence, look at what alternative wording might be possible, even though there is no malicious intent in the wording.
This is an example of words changing in perception, since back in 1981 this would not have been seen as offensive, but as I said earlier, perceptions change with (social and PC) context.
