Although slavery isn't mentioned in the song, it still makes people think of the Old South, where every white person owned African-American slaves. 

"Dixie" is definitely a politically incorrect piece of music. Even the word is offensive to some, and I apologize to those who are offended by my use of it. 

But I'm proud to say my alma mater, the University of Georgia, whose current football team has come down with a major case of fumbleitis, years ago rid itself of any connection with the song or the word you-know- what (see, I didn't use the word that time, as I despise offending people). 

The Georgia band used to play the song at football games. But not anymore. The only place they still play the song is at the University of Mississippi. 

They also wave Confederate flags and they allow prayer before a football game. 

I'm not certain how long it will be before members of the Speech Police move in and shut down such reprehensible behavior, but it could be any day now, or at least a couple of days after President Clinton's inauguration. 

Georgia not only stopped playing the song, it even changed the name of the band, formerly known as the Dixie Redcoat Band. It became simply the Redcoat Band. 

That prompted my stepbrother, Ludlow Porch, the famous radio talk show personality, to fire off a letter to the editor suggesting the following: 

"I applaud the dropping of `Dixie' from the name of the University of Georgia band, but let us not stop there. 

"How can we allow the word `red,' which stands for communism? And the word `redcoat' itself is an affront to the memory of all those Americans who fought againt the redcoats of England in the Revolutionary War. 

"And `band.' Poncho Villa had a `band' of desperadoes and we had to send brave young soldiers into Mexico after him. So `band' should go, too, and that just leaves `The,' which is a dumb name for a large number of musicians, so I guess they're just out of a name altogether." 

I believe if we really try we can wipe away all symbols of the Old South forever. 

There's a company in Savannah that makes Dixie Crystal Sugar. Sorry, it's just Crystal Sugar from now on, and don't give me any grief about it. 

And there's even a Dixie Highway in the South. It should be referred to from now on only as Highway. As in, "Well, you take Highway, then go down three blocks and . . . " 

There are even some people named Dixie, believe it or not. They will have to get new first names, or go by their middle names. And if anybody named Dixie lives on Dixie Highway, the Speech Police will likely demand they be shot. 

And if the song and word "Dixie" are symbolic of the Old South, I guess we ought to stop using "Old South" as well. 

Instead of saying "Old South" perhaps we can refer to it as "Back Then," and we can roll our eyes when we use it so everybody will know we aren't talking about when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but when slaveholders used to go around singing songs like "Dixie" and "Eating Goober Peas." 

But wait. "Eating Goober Peas" is a song from Back Then, too, so don't anybody dare play that at a football game. 

Rap songs about killing innocent people, incidentally, are just fine.