Originally Posted by Strange Famous

I disagree, although like anything else it can be carried too far.

There is a lot of language which used to be freely used that was derogatory. For example, it used to be acceptable to call educationally disabled children "retards"... it is no longer acceptable, and I think that's good. Words that are hurtful or offensive should become unacceptable and removed from the public domain. On the margins, there will always be these stories... I looked into this particular one, and all I could find was the same thing that the original poster picked up, from a opinion column in a Scottish tabloid called the Daily Record... and a few blogs quoting it.

I think most people can tell that "black coffee" is not offensive... I think many people do feel - for example - addressing unmarried women as "Miss" is insulting. You have to trust the common sense of the people.