The Language Police Are At It Again!

By Mark Morgan Ford · January 12, 2020 · 2 min read

“Be careful that what you write does not offend anybody or cause problems…. The safest approach is to remove all useful information.” – Scott Adams

The Language Police Are At It Again! Last year, according to Dictionary.com, we were no longer allowed to say “committed suicide.” This year, they’re taking aim at some “problematic” words and phrases that might “hurt some groups of people.” A few examples from an article titled “Stop Using These Phrases in 2020 (Use These Synonyms Instead)”: * Guru – “Throwing the term around casually – as in referring to yourself as a marketing/love/business guru – is disrespectful because it diminishes the importance of the title and its [Buddhist and Hindu] origins.” * Binging – “The word… originates from serious eating disorders… and should be reserved for discussions about them.” * Scalp – “Using it to say someone ripped you off or to infer that you got robbed is making light of what was a very gruesome act….” * Hysterical – “Far too often women are dubbed hysterical for being outspoken or showing their feelings. That wades into… sexist territory due to the history of the term…. Hysteria comes from the Greek hysterikós, which means ‘suffering of the womb.’ [And] the ancient Greeks believed that when a woman was behaving irrationally… it was because her uterus was literally wandering around her body causing trouble.” Lest you continue to unwittingly offend, the (anonymous) author of this article officiously offers alternatives. Doyen, virtuoso, authority, and maestro instead of guru… indulging, satiating, being on a spree, and wallowing instead of binging… and so on. You can read the entire ridiculous thing here.

The Language Police Are At It Again!

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