'Oral sex' definition prompts school district to pull dictionaries

Los Angeles Times ^ | January 24, 2010 | 7:49 am | Shelby Grad

[granite]

A school district in Riverside County has pulled the Merriam-Webster's 10th edition dictionary from school shelves because it includes the term "oral sex."

The Menifee Union School District took the action last week after a parent complained about the dictionary.

The Press-Enterprise reported that some parents are angry about the move and want the dictionaries returned to classrooms.

"It's just not age-appropriate," said school spokeswoman Betti Cadmus told the newspaper. "It's hard to sit and read the dictionary, but we'll be looking to find other things of a graphic nature."

The school board will decide later whether to return the dictionaries to the classrooms. One board member told the Press-Enterprise that there are probably more objectionable terms in the dictionary.

[granite]

Insanity.

[null and void]

Cliton supporters?

[Sacajaweau]

We all looked up the doggie word...and the illegitimate word....and then we used the dictionary for regular stuff!! That’s the way kids are!!

[ninonitti]

Are these the same nuns who used to cut out pictures in National Geographic?

[SampleMan]

Research materials should be age appropriate.

I don’t really want my fourth grader to find a photo of genital warts, as they are trying to find genital condition.

[billorites]

School blew it.

[svcw]

So they have homosexual activist in the school teaching anal sex and pull the dictionary because it defines oral sex.

[docbnj]

That was a close call. If the students had read that definition, they would all have tried it — perhaps in class.

Now that they have been protected from the definition, they will never know, and will never, ever experiment with such things.

Now what do we do about the folks in the town who withdrew the dictionary? Perhaps they were influenced by reading a definition of “stupidity” in a dictionary at an early age, and it predisposed them to act it out in later life.

[MortMan]

Merriam Webster clearly blew it.

[napscoordinator]

The world is gone crazy and we are worried about dictionaries? Who uses dictionaries anyway? With spell check and google there is no need.

[jz638]

Several questions come to mind:

- how did the parents find out? Was there a dirty word list that gets scanned with every book or was there a sticker on the front of the dictionary that advertised “featuring the definition of oral sex”

- they’re still buying new versions of hard copy dictionaries for schools?

[wardaddy]

schools are typically a local matter with some state influence...and too much Fed injection on occasion...busing for example

they should be local run wholly

if enough parents object then so be it

folks should try to live in areas that reflect their sensibilities especially if with children

anyone here with children in public school knows what a battle it is to fight the disinformation

[jackibutterfly]

THAT does NOT need to be in a dictionary - oral and sex, yes, but separately. Who’s “genius” idea was to put those words together in a dictionary, of all places - and then to give a definition!!! What perverted minds! Unreal.

[Georgia1]

I thought book burning was a socialist thing.

Ooops, I forgot, This is a government school.

[discostu]

Yeah that was one of our “hobbies” in elementary school. Go to the big unabridged monster in the library and brainstorm dirty words to look up. Within 3 or 4 words we’d be giggling too loud and the librarian would kick us out.

[mefistofelerevised]

Stupid to complain about the dictionary and stupid to pull it. I’ve got feeling it was religous zealots who complained, not libs. Now every kid at the school will look up oral sex.

[w1andsodidwe]

Reminds me, years ago I was working with handicapped children and one called the other the B-word. My tact was to ignore stuff like this, but the person called that name made an issue of it.

So I said "Do you know what that word means? He just called you a lady dog and you like dogs, don't you?"

Well they denied that could be possible, so I got the dictionary and we looked it up and of course I was right. Took all the fun out of that word.

Dictionaries should include these words. Censorship is always stupid.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

When I was a teen, about 1970 to 1971, I clearly recall my friends and I getting a big chuckle out of the word “cunnilingus” in the Webster Dictionary.

[MSSC6644]

Since I haven't seen the particular dictionaries they are discussing, I may be incorrect; but it's my understanding that the "10th Edition" is called the Collegiate. As a former high school English teacher, I recommended it for use as a source when studying etymology; and I always gave it as a graduation present for young relatives attending college.

Merriam Websters are good dictionaries; like everything else, people have to know what they're doing. Same principle as guns and shooters.

[dalereed]

Any kid that doesn’t know everything that they are complaining about by the time they are 9 has been living in solitary confinement.