When I started university in Britain in 1988, political correctness didn’t exist. If a woman tried to speak at a students’ meeting, the cry would go up, “Get your tits out for the lads!” The ritual climax of bar conversations was a double entendre about homosexuality. But, in 1993, I went to study in the US and discovered PC. The American students I met didn’t make racist, sexist or homophobic jokes. When I returned home and told British friends about this strange new world, they explained that it was because Americans were humourless. This wasn’t actually true. The Americans were much funnier than the Brits with their eternal gay jokes.
1988年我在英国刚上大学那会儿，还不存在政治正确。如果一位女士想在学生集会上发言，底下就会嘘声四起，“胸露出来给哥们瞧瞧！”酒吧聊天的一个固定高潮就是有关同性恋的下流双关语。但是1993年我去美国求学时，我第一次知道了政治正确。我遇到的美国学生不会开种族主义、性别歧视或忌惮同性恋的玩笑。而当我回到英国，向朋友们讲述这个奇怪的新世界时，他们说那是因为美国人没有幽默感。这当然不是真的。美国人的同性恋段子比英国人的好笑得多。