A few weeks ago I saw a list of forbidden words from Stanford. Most of them were completely absurd. It struck me that there are a lot of people who will dutifully follow such lists and will sound like complete idiots, and this at the recommendation of a university that costs $70,000 a year to attend,
A few weeks ago I saw a list of forbidden words from Stanford. Most of them were completely absurd. It struck me that there are a lot of people who will dutifully follow such lists and will sound like complete idiots, and this at the recommendation of a university that costs $70,000 a year to attend,
I have no desire to electively hurt others’ feelings but this stuff has gone way too far. And when it extends to abhorrent grammar like “they” for a single person, I absolutely refuse to go along. Yet there are workplaces where I could be fired for that.
It was in 1967 living in Spain that my mother remarked about Spaniards referring to a “disabled” person as a “cripple.” This stuff didn’t start all that recently.
A little of this is okay; I have never used the N word, never will, but rigorous application of these silly rules deprives language of texture.
A few weeks ago I saw a list of forbidden words from Stanford. Most of them were completely absurd. It struck me that there are a lot of people who will dutifully follow such lists and will sound like complete idiots, and this at the recommendation of a university that costs $70,000 a year to attend,
I have no desire to electively hurt others’ feelings but this stuff has gone way too far. And when it extends to abhorrent grammar like “they” for a single person, I absolutely refuse to go along. Yet there are workplaces where I could be fired for that.
It was in 1967 living in Spain that my mother remarked about Spaniards referring to a “disabled” person as a “cripple.” This stuff didn’t start all that recently.
A little of this is okay; I have never used the N word, never will, but rigorous application of these silly rules deprives language of texture.
If not meaning.