Re: It did happen on a Friday...

[Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

I find it interesting that it's politically incorrect to use 
"master/slave," but it's okay, almost humorous to some, to use 
"chief/indian."  Many of my friends are Alaskan Native or Native 
Americans and, before I met them, I would have probably laughed at the 
joke.  My wife is also part Cherokee and many of my friends are also 
African American or at least part African American.  Before I knew these 
people, I didn't understand the insensitivity some words have on 
non-German American cultures.  Then I learned of the genocide, ethnic 
cleansing (read the book "Trail of Tears"), broken treaties and land 
theft that non-native Americans did to aboriginal peoples of North 
America.  Now I do.  I do agree that there are limits to political 
correctness, but, as writers, we also need to understand the impact of 
our words, unintentional or not and regardless of how long they have 
been the conventional way to describe things.  Master/slave became the 
convention at a time when there were few non-white engineers.  Times 
have changed, we need to change with them.

I like Diane's suggestion of "primary" and "secondary." 

karen_otto -at- agilent -dot- com wrote: