By Paul Goldfinger reporting .

Recently  a resident complained that  it was inappropriate to refer to homes in this park as “trailers.”  We must, she says, say “manufactured homes.”    She was upset that I called it a “trailer park” in my blog down here in Fla-la-land.  Her complaint was lodged in the Park’s Facebook page.

Shakespeare  said, “What’s in a name?”  and I have written about that before as it pertains to word manipulators in the Grove.

With regards to the Tropicana community in Ft. Myers where we have a home, in the last 10 years it has undergone a number of name changes including :  Tropicana Park or Manor or Co-op or just Tropicana, or most recently Tropicana Sands.  These name changes reflected the ownership of that 470 unit immobile home park. People here like to refer to these houses as “manufactured homes.”

So I posted an essay (below) down here about this topic .  Although I did not mention her name,  she became furious in an email to me saying that I “humiliated” her by reacting to her criticism.  Her  bizarre reaction reflects a modern-day practice of attacking free speech if the language seems to offend somebody.

Here is that essay with minor modifications for clarity:

Let’s face it, a pig is a pig, even with lipstick on.  So what’s in a name?

When I talk to my friends and relatives I tell them that I live in a “trailer park,”  albeit a beautiful one, but they understand the language.  If I say “manufactured home,” they will be clueless.  I also tell people that I live in an “immobile home.” Even Shakespeare liked a little humor once in a while. I doubt that he had to worry about word police in the 16th century.

Calling my home here a “trailer” is OK, in my opinion, because even though it doesn’t do any trailing  (it has no wheels,) most people understand what it is.

A park resident looked into this language issue and was told that the industry proclaimed  that if your home was made before 1980, it was a “trailer”–after that it is a “manufactured home.”  But this is a phony distinction designed to somehow help the industry sell “manufactured” houses.

The name “manufactured home” is confusing because all homes are manufactured to some degree. We have friends who built a Timberpeg  house in  Pennsylvania.  It was totally built in a factory, shipped in pieces, and assembled on site.  It is precisely aligned  down to the last millimeter.  The quality is superb and the architecture amazing. It is a manufactured home, but not like ours.

We live in a society where the use of certain words or phrases are not appreciated and sometimes not allowed, as in the classrooms of certain public and private schools and universities.

As far as we are concerned,  political correctness has run amok in America, and although this Tropicana debate is not political, it is an attempt to control speech.  It may seem to be trivial, but we will object whenever we can.

I surveyed many of the news articles which appeared regarding  the recent Iona Tornado.  Below are published quotes by professional news people who referred to our park in different ways.  I doubt that anyone complained about the variety of ways that “mobile home” communities are described in news sources:

“A tornado, triggered by a powerful winter storm… tore through trailer parks in Fort Myers and surrounding areas of Florida on Sunday,..”

“An EF-2 storm plowed through the Tropicana RV Resort in Lee County …”   Quote by a Florida official.

“John Finelli, a resident of the Tropicana Mobile Home Park in the Iona area of Fort Myers, Florida, moves damaged material after a tornado destroyed his home on Sunday .”

” A tornado with winds of up to 118 mph severely damaged several parts of Fort Myers, Florida, including the Tropicana Mobile Home Park.”

“A tornado tore through Florida trailer parks, destroying over 30 homes and causing minor injuries”

“A  tornado driven by a powerful winter storm ripped through trailer parks in Fort Myers”

“Damage From Tornado At Tropicana RV Resort In Fort Myers Is unspeakable

“The tornado moved through three separate mobile home communities including including Point Breeze, Tropicana, and Century 21.”

“Manufactured homes, sometimes referred to as mobile homes or trailers,….”

In reviewing what we have been doing on our blog down here (Tropicanaforum.com) we usually refer to  Trop. houses as “homes.”   It is rare that we say “trailer” or “manufactured  homes.”

But when I talk to people about our home, I find it pretentious to say “manufactured home”  because it is just trying to use words to convey an inflated meaning in order to mislead others.

I will not be intimidated to change my words because I don’t use words that are hateful or disingenuous or false.

So I still like the word “trailer” because it is honest.  And you should call it whatever you please and have the courage to stand up for your words and not let the word police intimidate you.

ARTHUR PRYSOCK AND COUNT BASIE:     “I Could Write a Book” from Pal Joey.