Add <i> Hillbillies</i> to the List of Dirty Words

Although your article “When Friendship Is the Only Thing That Matters” (Aug. 24) about one man’s gay World War II comrade made its anti-discrimination point beautifully, it only made more jarring the use of the word hillbillies , an outdated regional slur in the text that described the soldiers in the unit.

Appalachian inhabitants haven’t been in vogue as a print-worthy cause since the ‘60s. Maybe it’s time to reassess the sensitivity index and delete the H-word from modern newspaper usage.

CHRISTINA M. ADAMS

Manhattan Beach