Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 30, 2014

Willy sits atop Mt. Proper.

Little Willy, go home.

BTW, this strip didn’t appear in the Washington Post; a strip from 2008 was run in its place.:What are the editors afraid of?

Both Goat and Rat agree on this one.So it must be politically correct.

There always changing the polysyllabic euphemisms.I hate people who call a spade a “manually-operated excavating implement”.

Goat should have seen this coming: if you “behold” you’re going to get stung.

Does he do online grammar/spelling corrections too?

Height-challenged has a nice ring to it.

Seems pretty BOSSY to me.bite me michelle.

“Don’t be smartless” or shirtless {unless you are a farm animal).

There are kids now in high school who have been brought up to believe that “stupid” and “shut up” are swear words right up there with George Carlin’s list of seven.

Ahh; Willy the Smartless Word Decider! Just another PC guru preaching from on high. Fie!Don’t be smartless, kiddies! Down with Willy!

Political Correctness = 1984’s “Doublespeak”

It’s high time to eliminate it… and prosecute anyone who perpetuates it!

There is nothing in our Bill of Rights that says you have the right to NOT be offended. It’s probably the root cause of the tearing of the fabric of society.

Instead of compelling others to remove themselves from common reality to keep him company in isolation from it, wouldn’t it be less smartless for Willy to just come down from his superiority complex and join the human race?

Reminds me of old ailments that got new names (made up diseases) along with commercials for the new drugs to fix them. Ask your doctor if this pill is right for you.

Would this guy’s full name be “Willy Nilly”?

Willy’s next task is to ban bossy.

I think Stephan should have put “Don’t be a smartless” (as in smartass) but I bet the censors would have nixed that.

I was hoping Rat would tip the desk down the side of the mountain. It looks like it’s balancing a bit precariously there.

You never hear politicians talking about hunger in America anymore. What we have now is “food insecurity”.

It’s no longer “illegal aliens”, it’s “Undocumented Democrats”!!

@rshive, I much prefer vertically challenged. Add to the list horizontally challenged and folically (sp.?) challenged.

Not ALL of what people call political correctness is bad. Some of it reflects positive social realities, like no longer dividing jobs into “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs.” Thus “policeman” becomes “police officer.” This is a good thing.

And some of it is simple politeness: call people what they wish to be called, not a name they have told you is insulting. That is just basic good manners. A lot of people who complain about “political correctness” are simply complaining about the horrible burden of having to think of other people’s feelings and not be a rude a-hole. I have no sympathy for them.

But then there are certainly the ridiculous terms that are often intended to obscure real meaning — I think my favorite was hearing a hospital talking about “negative patient outcomes” rather than “deaths.” Really?

In all communication, context matters.

I agree….time to do something about Willy.

Willy must be related to Gwyneth Paltrow. She made up a new term for divorcing – “Conscious Uncoupling”. eye roll

Pastis: your Willie is showing.

And don’t call them stewardesses. They’re “trolley dollies.”

@WaitingMan, that’s because there is no hunger in America. “Food insecurity” means that a person never actually goes hungry, but doesn’t know from one day to the next where his meals will be coming from. That’s stressful and distressing, but a far cry from hunger. People who know actual hunger would be delighted to merely be insecure about their food supply.

Little Willy, Willy won’t go homeBut you can’t push Willy round, Willy won’t goTry tellin’ everybody but, oh noLittle Willy, Willy won’t go home

@calliopejane, nobody has the right to dictate what other people call him. Just because you wake up one morning and decide to take offense at what people call you is no reason for them to change their language. If you choose to feel offended, go right ahead; you have nobody to blame but yourself.

“Smartless” describes Rat perfectly!xxx

Reminds me when he local disabled aid group changed their name to community living. Disabled people who moved to the city never knew for years there was an aid group for them in town. Many still don’t.

Dead on. Or should I say unliving.

And this is what ex-lawyers do… this or become congressmen.

Smartless sounds like it comes from someone stupid who has fooled enough of the population into giving him a position he does not deserve to be in. And he fooled them again into letting him keep that position.

And I’d be doing that Willy Nilly!

I don’t see why anyone would think gender neutral job titles are stupid.

i don’t think short people would be offended by this, since stephan has done multiple strips about short people without angering anyone.that said, i’m not sure why the washington post nixed this strip. i never found “midget” to be a derogatory word.oh well.

70.

I still say midget and secretary.

Maybe they thought the strip was to smartless.

Regardless of one’s opinion of the language changing over time, I’m at least familiar with all the before and after ‘terms’ used in this strip, save……SMARTLESS?? I’ve never heard that word used before. Was it invented for this strip?

Little person sounds so childish…