DD, As to predictors of future behavior ... well, if a test is designed to test the kinds of future behavior that a society has set up as important, then of course that test is going to predict success at those kinds of behaviors. The behaviors that earn rewards in a society such as high-paying jobs, stock portfolios, and so forth, are shaped by the ideology of a particular culture. A capitalist society has different values from a socialist (and I mean socialist, not communist and not totalitarian) society. Different societies value different kinds of behavior. Just as one small example, many societies value improvised oral verbal performance as much as or more than high-level literacy skills. Our schools do not acknowledge or give credit to such skills. If they did, we might graduate better oral communicators. I find that my students are not good at explaining orally what they know or what they learn. In my experience, "political correctness" is a phrase used by those who don't believe one should be careful of one's language, looking out not to offend. If you knew your language would offend, you could have added a mitigating bracket, such as "as we called them in those days". "Nubile chick" (note, nubile means "fertile") can be phrased as "good-looking girl". As to "dummies", why don't you ask the parents of a "dummy" what they would like their child to be called? As this is a grammar list, may I politely point out that you need to review comma rules? Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D. Associate Professor, Linguistics Linguistics Minor Advisor English Dept. Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184 Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596 Dept. fax: 805-756-6374 E-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/