A crash course in politically correct English

Over dinner four nights ago, my 28-year-old son Ed hissed “Politically incorrect!” when on GMA News TV, “State of the Nation” reporter Bam Alegre used the term “illegal settlers” to describe scores of Metro Manila waterway dwellers recently put at risk by the winds and floods spawned by Typhoon Glenda.

My wife Eleanor and I were so taken aback by Ed’s strong reaction that our interjection came almost simultaneously: “Why, isn’t ‘illegal settlers’ what ‘squatters’ are called in polite society?”