Politically correct—or just plain kooky?

“Sex,” “garlic,” “money” are all magic words for grabbing people's attention—and so is “ban.” Two weeks ago we banned the word “accident”—to highlight the reality that most events that injure people have a whole series of antecedents that are susceptible to intervention and prevention (BMJ 2001;322:1320). A flood of rapid responses on bmj.com has berated us for political correctness (bmj.com/cgi/eletters/322/7298/1320#EL1).

We'll publish some of these responses in the print journal in due course, but it's fun to watch the evolving debate on the website. People urging the “daft political correctness” …