Here's
a (small) sampling of words educators would like to see essentially
removed from the English language for one hair-brained reason or another.
These are currently banned by various states, Universities,
etc.:
**Dialect (banned as ethnocentric,
use sparingly, replace with "language")
**Differently abled (banned as offensive, replace with "person
who has a disability")
**Dirty old man (banned as sexist and ageist)
**Disabled, the (banned as offensive, replace with "people with
a disability")
**Dissenter (ethnocentric, use with caution)
**Distaff side, the (banned as sexist)
**Dogma (banned as ethnocentric, replace with "doctrine",
"belief")
**Doorman (banned as sexist, replace with "door attendant")
**Down's syndrome (banned as offensive, replace with "Down syndrome")
**Draftsman (banned as sexist, replace with "drafter")
**Drunk, drunken, drunkenness (banned as offensive when referring to
Native Americans)
**Duffer (banned as demeaning to older men)
**Dummy (banned as offensive, replace with "people who are speech
impaired")
**Dwarf (banned as offensive, replace with "person of short stature")
**Heretic (use with caution
when comparing religions)
**Heroine (banned as sexist, replace with "hero")
**Hispanic American (use with caution as some groups object to the term's
suggestion of a shared European cultural heritage, replace with "specific
nationality")
**Homosexual (banned, replace with "person", "child") --HUH?
**Hordes (banned as reference to immigrant groups)
**Horseman, horsewoman (banned as sexist, replace with "equestrian")
**Horsemanship (banned as sexist, replace with "riding skill")
**Hottentot (banned as a relic of colonialism, replace with "Khoi-khoi")
**Houseman, housemaid (banned as sexist, replace with "servant",
"housekeeper")
**Housewife (banned as sexist, replace with "homemaker", "head
of the household")
**Hussy (banned as sexist)
**Huts (banned as ethnocentric, replace with "small houses")
**Pollyanna (banned as sexist,
replace with "optimist")
**Polo (banned as elitist)
**Pop (banned as regional bias when referring to soft drink, replace
with "Coke", "Pepsi" [however, note that brand names
are banned by California social content review guidelines])
**Postman (banned as sexist, replace with "mail carrier")
**Postmaster, postmistress (banned as sexist, replace with "post
office director")
**Pressman (banned as sexist, replace with "press operator")
**Primitive (banned as ethnocentric when referring to racial, ethnic,
religious, or cultural groups)
**Primitive man (banned as sexist, replace with "primitive peoples")
**Profoundly deaf (banned as offensive, replace with "person with
loss of hearing")
**Provider, the (banned as synonym for husband)* * *
**Sect (banned as ethnocentric
when referring to a religious group, unless it separated from an established
religion)
**Senile (banned as demeaning to older persons)
**Senility (banned as demeaning, replace with "dementia")
**Senior citizen (banned as demeaning to older persons)
**Serviceman (banned as sexist, replace with "member of the armed
services", "gas station attendant")
**Showman (banned as sexist, replace with "showperson", "entertainer",
"producer")
**Sickly (banned as demeaning reference to person with disabilities)
**Sightless (banned as offensive, replace with "people who are
blind")
**Sioux (banned as inauthentic, replace with "Lakota", "Dakota",
or "Nakota")
**Sissy (banned as demeaning)
**Sissified (banned as demeaning)
**Slave (replace whenever possible with "enslaved person",
"worker", or "laborer")
**Sneaky (banned when referring to Asian Americans)
**Snow ball (banned for regional bias, replace with "flavored ice")
**Snow cone (banned for regional bias, replace with "flavored ice")
**Snowman (banned, replace with "snowperson")
**Sob sister (banned as sexist, replace with "exploitive journalist")
**Soda (banned for regional bias, replace with "Coke", "Pepsi"
[however, note that brand names are banned by California social content
review guidelines])
**Songstress (banned as sexist, replace with "singer")
**Sophisticated (banned when it refers to religious practices or beliefs)
**Soul food (banned as regional or ethnic bias)
Foods to Avoid in
Textbooks
Why? No one
we know has a clue.
Gravies
Gum
Honey
Jam, jelly, preserves
Ketchup
Juice drinks
Pickles
Pies
Potato chips
Pretzels
Salad dressings, mayonnaise
Salad oil, shortening
Salt
Well,
doesn't it all just make one want to puke barf
upchuck hurl vomit
expel partially digested food matter.
Gun Control
"Language
control" is like gun control. It can be, and often is, taken to
extremes.
We say, how
about knife control? Knives kill people every day---that is to say people
wielding knives kill people with knives every day. The knives themselves
don't jump up off the chef's counter and stab folks---not this side
of a Halcyon Dream, anyhow.
So let's get
rid of them. Or at the very least, let's regulate knives so that only
people (food service companies, government agencies, etc.) who really
have a legitimate need to own and use a knife, can have access to them.
Steaks could be sold pre-cut, string could be sold in short lengths,
then tied together if a longer piece is needed. There could be "cutting
stations" situated around your community---need something cut?
Take it to a government approved "cutting facility" where
they'll do it for a minimal fee.
No more knives.
Think of the lives that would be saved, not to mention all the accidentally
cut fingers and whatnot.
Of course there's
a problem with this proposal. Evil-doers would soon be making home-made
knives (the horror). For instance, it is reported that you can take
a hunk of steel and rub it back and forth on an abrasive surface, and
sooner or later make it pointy and sharp. So? All the hunks of metal
in the world which might conceivably be fashioned into a sharp and pointy
device will need to be cleaned up and regulated. But think of all the
lives that would be saved.
We're advised,
of course, that pieces of wood (a naturally occurring fibrous substance
that comes from trees) might also be sharpened into a device with which
to inflict harm on another. These pieces of wood can be turned into
weapons (or tools) by scraping them back and forth on a rock. It might
prove difficult to outlaw, regulate and remove from public access all
materials and surfaces upon which a hunk of wood might be made into
an illegal cutting or poking object. The best society might hope to
accomplish would be to remove all sharp rocks which could
be used in lieu of a sharpened stick.
Okay, enough
ranting. We're just tired of the mentality which seems to think the
world can be made into a perfect place, devoid of anything which might
even remotely cause harm or be used for harmful purposes. It's said
the pen is mightier than the sword, and we believe this to be true.
Words may be weapons, and words may be a balm. Words can take lives
and save lives and influence lives. Words can be true or false, spoken
or conveyed fiercely, hatefully, lovingly, artfully, humorously, deceitfully,
beautifully, poorly, outrageously, insultingly---just as a rock may
be polished and displayed in a case, or thrown through a window. A gun
may be used to protect, or to harm. A knife may be used to kill or to
cook. A sharp stick may be used to point to a word, to teach the meaning
of a phrase, to poke someone in the eye, or to scratch out wisdom upon
a rock.
Unfortunately,
society needs guns, and it needs knives, and it needs sticks, and it
needs words. We'd like to see more intelligent use of all of the above,
not the removal of them from the world.
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