Free Republic

The turn language is taking in politics calls to mind that controlling language to control thought was a prime goal of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s ‘1984.’Back in the 1990s, an adjunct English professor at Bakersfield College used to start first-day freshman composition by writing the F-word on the whiteboard in big capital letters. She’d then turn around and explain the word’s etymology, point out that its moral connotation was entirely a construct, and tell the students in no uncertain terms that any scandal they felt was due to their parochial ignorance. She would disabuse them of this...

Amid a nationwide movement to remove statues, symbols, and words in the name of inclusion, Campus Reform rounded up recent examples of words that have been banned on college campuses.1. MSU eliminates the terms 'foreign' and 'alien'Michigan State University announced it would no longer use the terms “foreign” and “alien” in order to create a more inclusive environment. In October, Provost Teresa Woodruff addressed the Associated Students of MSU general assembly to announce the new “non-pejorative” language. Woodruff stated that moving forward, international students should be referred to as “non-domestic” or “international” to help “create a culture of not us...

Expression Origins: In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' (Artists know hands and arms are more difficult...

The Biden administration wants to root out and eliminate what it believes to be an offensive word from every federal law. The immigration bill President Joe Biden is sending Congress aims to appease progressives and illegal immigrants who want to be called something more pleasing to the ear than the current federal definition. The word “alien” has peppered laws concerning those who are not American citizens since the 1798 Alien and Sedition Act. “The bill further recognizes America as a nation of immigrants by changing the word ‘alien’ to ‘noncitizen’ in our immigration laws,” a Biden transition team news release...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-MA) unveiled the rules for the 117th Congress on Friday, which contain “future-focused” proposals, including the elimination of gendered terms, such as “father, mother, son, and daughter.” “This package, which will be introduced and voted on once the new Congress convenes, includes sweeping ethics reforms, increases accountability for the American people, and makes this House of Representatives the most inclusive in history,” said the House Committee on Rules in a statement.

It seems like, year after year, the number of words we Americans are allowed to say continues to shrink. That trend is particularly evident on college campuses, where almost once a month there’s a newly deemed offensive or non-inclusive word students and faculty are encouraged to avoid. Over the last 12 months The College Fix has chronicled several examples, striving to keep tabs on the ever-expanding list of verboten words and phrases, according to the campus PC police. ================================================================ Low-hanging fruit: At an event led by Elgin Community College’s Multicultural and Global Initiatives Committee, it was explained that the term...

The University of Michigan has been blasted as 'moronic' for launching a task force which has branded the words 'picnic,' 'brown bag' and 'blacklist' as offensive terms which could harm morale. The 'Words Matter Task Force' - set up by the school's Information and Technology Services department - listed more than two dozen words and phrases that could be perceived as offensive to some people, and provided an alternative term that could be used instead. 'To effectively communicate with customers, it is important for ITS to evaluate the terms and language conventions that may hinder effective communication, harm morale, and...

 by Chuck NessEver here the joke about the husband who was looking through the paper when he came upon a study that said women use more words than men? There was a married man who read in a magazine that, "Men use about 7000 words per day, but women use 20,000". Excited to prove to his wife that he had been right all along when he accused her of talking too much, he showed her the study results. The wife thought for a while, then finally she said to her husband, "It’s because men never listen so we have...

It feels like we're at another turning point with the COVID pandemic. After weeks of declining coronavirus case numbers nationwide, we've had a change of luck and cases are now climbing in 32 states across the U.S., The New York Times reports. But it's not all bad news, according to Anthony Fauci, MD. In a conversation with Wired editor at large Steven Levy published on Sept. 30, Fauci actually sounded optimistic, particularly when discussing the COVID vaccine. In fact, Fauci said the positive words you've likely been waiting to hear: "This outbreak will end." He added, "We will get a...

Professor Greg Patton teaches at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. During a recent online lesson, he spoke about how different words can sound in different languages. Without any apparent harmful intent, he pointed out how something sounds in Chinese, and some people heard a racist word. He has since been placed on temporary leave...

Google will keep its employees working from home for at least another full year. Staff at the search giant — who were first sent home in March due to the coronavirus pandemic — are not expected to return in a large capacity until at least July 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai was reportedly “swayed in part by sympathy for employees with families to plan for uncertain school years that may involve at-home instruction, depending on geography.” Silicon Valley’s tech titans have signaled that working from home may be the new norm moving forward. Twitter CEO...

Plimoth Plantation will change its name to better incorporate the history of the Native Americans who have long lived in the region. A new moniker that will be “inclusive of the Indigenous history that is part of our educational mission” will be unveiled later this year, the living history museum said.

Recently, I ran across a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer that lays out four racist words and phrases that should be banished from the English language. It begins like this: "Editor's note: Please be aware offensive terms are repeated here solely for the purpose of identifying and analyzing them honestly. These terms may upset some readers." Steel yourself, brave reader, here they are: Peanut gallery Eenie meenie miney moe Gyp No can do The same grammarian who authored the piece had previously confronted the "deeply racist connotation" of the word "thug," noting that President Donald Trump "wasn't the least bit...

It's totally fine to use 'decimate' as a synonym for 'devastate'. This is why. The issue that many people have with the decline and fall of the word decimate is that is once upon a time it had a very singular meaning, a meaning that is in danger of being lost forever to the vandals and barbarian hordes who are manhandling the English language through using this word to mean “to destroy a large number of.” The specific complaint is that decimate had the specific meaning, in ancient Rome, of killing one of every ten soldiers, as a form of...

A new “inclusive language guide” compiled by Colorado State University asserts that the word “America” is “non-inclusive” and should be avoided.“CSU lists both “American” and “America” as non-inclusive words “to avoid,” due to the fact that America encompasses more than just the U.S. By referring to the U.S. as America, the guide claims that one “erases other cultures and depicts the United States as the dominant American country.” The school suggests using “U.S. citizen” or “person from the U.S.” as substitutes,” writes Ethan Cai.Other words to avoid include the following;– Male and female/ladies and gentlemen/Mr./Mrs./Ms (these words are gendered yet we don’t know...

One of my favorite 1960s anecdotes comes from legendary broadcaster Larry King, who tells of attending his first roast at New York City’s Friars Club. There, French actor Maurice Chevalier dared to utter the F-word live on stage. King was practically blown out of his seat. “I thought I’d die,” he recalls. Today, as King himself has noted, the F-bomb — once known as the ultimate forbidden verbal lightning bolt, the Utterance That Must Not Be Named, or at least the word of last resort to use when you’re really hopelessly mad — might as well be growing out of...

(CNN) Bondieuserie. Bewusstseinslage. Ayacahuite. Most of us wouldn't even know how to pronounce those words, let alone spell them. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a week away and it is sure to be filled with a plethora of problematic words. An international team of linguists from the language-learning app Babbel partnered with Merriam-Webster to analyze a decade's worth of words and find out what knocked out Bee contestants in the final round. Bondieuserie [bohn-dyooz-ree]: banal and often shoddy religious art (almost all religious art) Zenaida [zen-eye-da]: any bird of a genus of tropical American pigeons (know of some Mexican...

Lost Words from our childhood: Mergatroyd!… Do you remember that word? Would you believe the spell-checker did not recognize the word Mergatroyd? Heavens to Mergatroyd! The other day a not so elderly (I say 75) lady said something to her son about driving a Jalopy; and he looked at her quizzically and said “What the heck is a Jalopy?” He never heard of the word jalopy!! She knew she was old…. But not that old. Well, I hope you are Hunky Dory after you read this and chuckle. About a month ago, I illuminated some old expressions that have become...

(National Sentinel) PC Police: New York University professor and former Marxist Michael Rectenwald described for radio host and The Blaze founder Glenn Beck on Thursday how the modern Left uses what we say as a political weapon in order to create societal “chaos.” During Thursday’s program, Rectenwald talked about the postmodern concept of “logocentrism,” which means to center on words. “The idea is language as a form of domination over people. That’s why deconstruction comes in because it wants to undo that domination of language,” he noted. “[Postmodernism] is a toolkit for dismantling all power structures without bombing the building.”...

George Will once described the phrase "That's Not Unmeaningless" as "My Favorite Triple Negative." In the spirit of clarifying some of the dishonest drivel that passes for political discourse these days, I offer here a brief sample of my favorite less than meaningful expressions and brainless blather.