Politically Correct Language

When David Cameron was recently criticised for using the word “swarm” to describe illegal immigrants entering Britain, a fuss followed. For many, the use of the term is politically incorrect while for others it is neutral. Cameron had told ITV News that the immigration problem had worsened because “… you have got a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain because Britain has got jobs, it’s got a growing economy, it’s an incredible place to live”.

Human rights groups, including the Refugee Council, were the first to object, referring to the language used as “dehumanizing” and “extremely inflammatory”;  Labour leadership candidates described the usage as “disgraceful” and “not prime ministerial”; and Labour’s interim leader remarked that Cameron should remember “he is talking about people, not insects”. On the other hand, some people, such as Brian Maloney, citing the Merriam-Webster dictionary, found the term neutral, commenting that the incident was used to “fan the flames of anti-Conservative Party anger”. To back his claim, he cited examples of usage from the dictionary, which were not necessarily derogatory, such as “swarms of sightseers” and “a swarm of tourists” (“David Cameron Under Fire for Using ‘Swarm’ to Describe Illegal Immigrants’”).

Jeremy Butterfield, a lexicographer, has questioned the usage of “swarm” to describe immigrants, on both his personal blog and that of the Oxford Dictionaries. He notes that while many dictionaries do not indicate a pejorative sense for the word, the OED does (“A very large or dense body or collection; a crowd, throng, multitude. (Often contemptuous)”). Butterfield concludes that the connotations of the word are as follows:

 ■a large group;

 ■a compact group;

 ■a group in energetic motion;

 ■(perhaps optionally) confused motion; and

 ■ the group is undesirable.

 

Butterfield finds the critics’ reactions understandable though, to him, the possibility that Cameron did not mean the word in the pejorative, inflammatory sense is plausible. In any case, the example shows the importance of word choice in the public sphere, the language of politics, while illustrating the politics of language, especially in critics’ reactions.