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Is It Really Un-PC to Congratulate Someone for Losing Weight?
I approve of tweaking language to minimize the risk of offending people, but it’s easy to go overboard.
The last two years have been arguably the most confusing ones of our lives. Amid COVID, heightened racial unrest, and Tiger King, we’ve seen toilet paper get upgraded to the hottest supermarket commodity, watched the loser of a US presidential election go on to be crowned king of his political party, and witnessed the transformation of health from personal goals into the most explosive political grenade.
A few years ago, I wouldn’t have dreamt face masks and vaccinations could ever rival abortion, guns, and race as divisive topics. For me, it would have been equally unfathomable that someone could actually question the sensitivity of someone who congratulates a person for losing weight. But times change, and here we are.
I recently found myself, for once, on the unexpected side of an argument over how words can hurt people. In this case, the allegedly offensive word was “congratulations,” one that normally elicits a feeling of pride and joy: “Is it PC these days to congratulate someone on losing weight?” I heard someone ask me.
