>Still, it is only a symptom. Whenever I saw language manipulated, there was a manipulator with an agenda completely outside of the linguistic area. The language is just a tool. And the whole PC speech is just an excuse for not really doing the right things. It gives polite names to real problems, and serves just as a pretext for not doing a thing about them.

Some of my favorites:

hobos, bums -- homeless
swamp -- wetlands
jungle -- rain forest
criminal -- victim of some childhood or fetal malady like parental alcoholism