‘AMERICAN’ IS AN OFFENSIVE TERM, EXPLAINS US COLLEGE’S NEW STYLE GUIDE

It’s a situation we’ve all found ourselves in at some time or another: it’s a dark night in a strange part of town; you’re lost and slightly afraid, when suddenly – the horror – you find yourself surrounded by a menacing gang of crop-haired lesbians. Or people with Long-John-Silver-style peg legs and hooks where their hands should be. Or people with like, really old wrinkly skin and gray hair. Or people who aren’t necessarily white or cis-gendered. Or Americans.

And the question you ask yourself in every case is, of course, this: “What’s the best way of addressing these people without giving offence?”

Or maybe: “How do I avoid unwittingly provoking them through my unconscious microaggressions?”

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