In German the other day we came across the word Indianer, which one of the students translated as "Indian." The teacher made clear that this stood only for "Native American" and a South Asian Indian would be Inder. Being distanced from the situation, he said that there was no need for political correctness for the Germans. That, and the phrase "Native American" is way too long.

I stopped him right then and there: "Are you seriously telling me 'Native American' is too long for you to say? What about your word for pollution? Umweltverschmutzung. Declaration of independence? Unabhängigkeitserklärung. Speed limit? Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung. There's no way 'Native American' is too long for you guys."

Thank god the Germans had already removed the longest word in their language from the dictionary — Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz or "law delegating beef label monitoring" — so I wouldn't have to repeat that in class.