Complaint #10 - Offensive Descriptors

It's easy as hell to offend people.  Did you know that midgets don't want to be called midgets?  It's true.  I understand that, but I'm not sure what to call them.  "Little people" seems just as offensive to me, like they are somehow less of a person?  Dwarf is correct, but I read a lot of fantasy fiction, so it seems odd.  I'm thinking, "Where's your axe, Gimli?"

What if I have to describe a criminal midget to authorities?  He was, uh...really short.  The way to go is to just not describe people much at all or be more exact.  The perp was about 3'10", 4'3" counting the purple mohawk.

Yeah, I know each of us is on more of a sliding scale with any descriptor.  Skin color, weight, buoyancy...whatever.  But it's just more convenient to use short-cut terms sometimes.

Everyone's favorite person with dwarfism.