Dormitories, residence halls. Residence halls, dormitories. Let’s call the whole thing off.

I want someone to tell me just what is the difference between a dorm and a residence hall. The only difference I notice is that dorm is simpler to say.

The same goes for frat and fraternity.

Can you believe someone in a class I once took complained that he didn’t like it when the professor described Bedouins as “nomadic?” He felt it portrayed them in negative or backward light.

But nomadic is what they are. It’s the word used to describe a traveling group of people.

Let’s consult Webster’s:

no*mad: a member of a people with no fixed residence but wandering from place to place — nomadic.

The professor has to use some word to describe to the other students in the political science class just who the Bedouins are, and it is easier to say “nomadic” than “they wander from place to place without a fixed residence.”

I do not think it was the professor who conjured up the negative connotation of the word “nomadic,” but, instead, it was the student.

The burden of political correctness is put much too squarely on the shoulder of the speaker, when, in fact, it belongs to the listener. The listener should be aware of the point being said and squabble less over the individual words.

Not only are Bedouins nomadic, but so were many of the Grateful Dead fans before Jerry Garcia died. (Some still are.)

Several individuals, cultures and subcultures on this planet are nomadic. It’s the word used in the English language for such things.

It cracks me up how people at this university argue over political correctness. When I get into a PC discussion, I remind people that we are living in a fish bowl unlike the lingo used outside our beautiful, little, white-collar community of Ames.

I called two, 20-year-old females “girls,” and they were quick to remind me I was to say “women.” So I asked them if I could say “ladies.” Nope. Only “women” would do.

I said most women over 40 wouldn’t mind being called “girls,” but they said it was different for them. They don’t go around calling males “boys,” they said. But I retorted with the fact that they do call us “guys,” and “girls” is like the opposite of “guys” because we Midwesterners don’t say “gals.”

They still didn’t agree, but they didn’t have a comeback, so I gave them one. I reminded them that many people consider “guys” a gender-neutral term. They said, “So what do you think about about that?”

I had argued myself into a PC corner, so I played the fish card. Ames is a fish bowl and no matter how we argue over what we speak, the general population will continue to speak incorrectly and use slang and play with the ever-changing language.

The real world will always call you “girls,” I said, and my Grandma will always say to my uncle and I when we wrestle, “Boys, knock it off.”

I guess what I was wanting to say was I think Randy Alexander, the new director of residence, is doing a great job. (Really, that’s what I wanted to talk about.)

Not only did he push to put soap back into the dorms that didn’t have any, but he is also bravely pushing for free speech on dorm doors.

If you remember, door decorations were banned in 1992 after one dude had Nazi crap on his door and ruined it for everybody else. Now during a time of racial tension at ISU, Alexander is trying to find a door policy which will be comfortable for most.

This push for freedom of speech is a brave effort by a guy who has the students’ creativity and feelings in mind. It’s good to see some positive action for students by the administration.

Now let’s see the Committee on Naming of Buildings and Streets rename the stadium after Jack Trice. But let’s leave the statue where it is. Sure, refurbish it, but Trice was a student as well as an athlete, and somehow I think it is not only scenic where it is (the stadium has no trees), but it is somehow fitting that he stands right outside of Beardshear Hall. I remember the day I walked up to the statue and read the plaque. It just wouldn’t seem right to see that spot without Jack in cool summer shade and the sunlight raining down on his figure in splotches between the leaves.

The GSB should spend money on better projects, like Music Fest during Veishea.

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Tim Frerking is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Pomeroy. He is university editor of the Daily.