Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 8 down vote favorite

I have recently seen "fair-skinned" written to mean the opposite of "dark skin".

In other contexts, "fair" usually sounds to me as judgemental, implying it is better.
Example: fair weather

Is "fair-skinned" politically correct?
Should I prefer another term?

Here is an example of the term being called questionable: First comment by heltonbiker to this question.

share|improve this question
1  
I'd say you shouldn't be choosing which terms to use on whether they're "politically correct" in the first place. ;-) – Jez Jul 13 '12 at 10:18
3  
The question really means "will this term be considered offensive by someone?" I wish more people asked that sort of question before saying something. – Christi Jul 13 '12 at 10:32
@Christi: That's it, I basically want to know if that would offend someone. – Nicolas Raoul Jul 17 '12 at 2:41

3 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

In this context "fair" means "light." You could use light-skinned instead (which in recent years has begun to vastly exceed fair-skinned in use).

The more important point, however, is that if a term is taken as problematic, let's say racist in this case, by a vulnerable group, then it does not really matter what the dictionary definition is ("fair" meaning "light" as opposed to "just") -- what matters is the way the term is perceived by that group. I suspect that the increase in use of "light-skinned" compared to "fair-skinned" in recent years has at least in part to do with this.

share|improve this answer
1  
I absolutely agree with your general point that what really matters is whether offense is actually caused, and to whom! However, I’d be surprised if the increase in light-skinned is due to this; I’ve never heard of anyone being offended by or misunderstanding fair-skinned. Or have you come across that? – PLL Jul 13 '12 at 11:47
@PLL - just a hunch. What do you think? – JAM Jul 13 '12 at 14:34
Fair-skinned is slightly narrower in meaning. A person may be called light-skinned if their skin color is a light brown, but not fair-skinned. – Charles Jul 17 '12 at 16:18
up vote 12 down vote

The term fair-skinned is common enough that it's very unlikely to be deemed as political incorrect. I did some corpus searches, and found these excerpts, which I think would be fairly safe from being labeled as racist:

The transmission of UVA into the dermis of an untanned fair-skinned individual is approximately 50% of the impinging flux. Even-pigmented persons with brown skin transmit a significant amount of UVA radiation (30-35%).1

Non-melanoma skin cancers occur more frequently than any other type of cancer in fair-skinned populations, and their incidence has been rising rapidly for several decades.2

However, if you were brazen enough to say:

I'm much more likely to do my business dealings with fair-skinned individuals.

then that probably would be considered politically incorrect – but not because you used the word fair instead of light. In fact, if you swapped the word light for fair, I doubt the perceived unfairness of the statement would change.

1(Phillips and Verhasselt, 1994)
2(N.J. Lowe, 1997)

share|improve this answer
up vote 4 down vote

adjective. Fair: (of hair or complexion) light; blonde.

is not related to

adjective Fair: treating people equally without favouritism or discrimination

"Fair-skinned" actually has a positive connotation, in comparison to saying "pale-skinned," or "light-skinned." The positive connotation is likely the result of the Old English meaning:

O.E. fæger "beautiful, lovely, pleasant,"

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fair

share|improve this answer
The problem is with people who are not fair-skinned misunderstanding the intended first definition with the third definition. They will take that to mean that their own skin is not beautiful or pleasant. – dotancohen Jul 17 '12 at 3:13

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.