patriotically correct

English

Etymology

Coined as a counterpart to politically correct, due to the perception that patriotism is a right-wing trait. Popularized by Robert Hughes's 1993 book Culture of Complaint.

Adjective

patriotically correct (comparative more patriotically correct, superlative most patriotically correct)

1. (derogatory) Synonym of conservatively correct
   • 1991 June 9, Anna Quindlen, “Instant Replay, Confettied”, in Wall Street Journal:

     [W]e only mumbled our objections [to the wars], then and now, because we feared being caught by the patriotically correct.

   • 1993, Robert Hughes, Culture of Complaint:

     The obsessive subject of our sterile confrontation between the two PCs ― the politically and the patriotically correct ― is clumsily labeled "multiculturalism".

   • 1993, John F. Alexander, The Secular Squeeze‎^[1]:

     I was someone who felt passionately about the suffering of others, and I was dedicated to fighting that suffering, especially if the sufferers were poor and oppressed [, and] Christians who didn't share [that view] disgusted me. (In others words, I was being politically correct and despised those who were patriotically correct ... .)

   • 2005, Edwin L. Battistella, Bad Language: Are Some Words Better Than Others?:

     An amusing recent example of patriotically correct language was the proposal in 2003 ... to rename french fries and french toast as freedom fries and freedom toast on cafeteria menus in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Related terms

• patriotic correctness