Patricia Cornwell: I use woke terms like 'fisherfolk' in my books, to avoid offending my readers

Best-selling crime writer Patricia Cornwell has confirmed she has begun saying 'fisherfolk' rather than 'fisherman', so she doesn't offend her readers.

The Kay Scarpetta novelist said she is regularly concerned about the words she uses.

Cornwell conceded to using an alternative vocabulary in her writing, noting that 'fisherfolk', a gender neutral term, had replaced “fishermen” as public sensibilities regarding acceptable language change.

The US writer said: “I deal with this all the time, like you can’t say a vehicle is ‘manned’. It has to be ‘crewed’.

“I spent about 45 minutes yesterday trying to figure out the politically correct way to refer to people who fish for a living. Can’t call them ‘fishermen’. So I called them fisherfolks.

“Everybody’s so worried about offending everybody.”

Speaking to The Sunday Times, Cornwell said of the changing landscape of acceptable language: “I mean, when are they going to say you can’t call them black holes any more? What will it be, a non-white hole?”

Cornwell has claimed that social media is to blame for worsening social divisions saying: “Instead of pulling everybody together, it’s divisive. They keep saying we are different.

“We’re treated different because I’m a woman, or I’m gay or I’m black or I’m white, or I’m Hispanic or trans or whatever it might be. And that is a real shame. This has got to change, or the planet won’t survive.”