Has anyone read the charity Oxfam's 92-page document titled, The Inclusive Language Guide?
The charity said it was produced to help its employees use language that would,
"support people in our sector who have to communicate in English to think about how the way they
write can subvert or inadvertently reinforce intersecting forms of inequality that we work to end."
I said it was produced to help. Help was my word, but according to this document a word to be avoided along with such words
as, mother, father, and elderly. Now, I am 77 years old, and if someone described me as an elderly person, that would be a perfectly reasonable
thing to say as far as I'm concerned. I would not be offended. It's not as though I was being called senile.
Lots of other words have been rejected by this document. It even started out by apologizing for using the English language,
It stated, "We further recognize that this guide has its
origin in English, the language of a colonizing
nation."
Much of the vocabulary used in the report is just so much nonsense as far as I'm concerned. The word standing is to be avoided as it might
alienate those who are unable to stand. Does this mean I shouldn't say that I'm going for a walk as I might alienate those who cannot walk?
There are many more words that this document says should be avoided.
And to think I thought that Oxfam's purpose was to help feed and shelter those in need anywhere in the world!
I would be interested to hear what others think. Google Oxfam's Inclusive Language Guide.
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You're right to point out the ridiculousness of this. Policing speech is a slippery slope.
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"For a man to be happy, he has to follow his calling".
It should be clear to everyone that this statement applies not only to men, but to women as well. Getting upset over the words "man" and "his" used here indicates one's inability to think about sentences as embeddings in a larger structure as opposed to isolated pieces of raw information. There are languages in which you would not use the word "man" here - in Russian, for instance, the most natural word to use would be "human" - but English is not one of them.
As for the English being a "language of a colonizing nation"... That is straight from a madhouse. It is like apologizing for selling bananas because Hitler liked bananas.
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ANTI-CHOICE
The term ‘pro-life’ is emotive and
misleading. Anti-abortion is accurate
and avoids negative connotations
that cause discrimination against
people that need or choose to have
abortions.
WE AVOID
pro-life"
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@Dreamer
The only up I'll be giving Oxfam's guide is the middle finger!
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@Dreamer
Yes, language matters, and because it matters I will have no truck with
anything that tries to tell me what words I should use and what words I shouldn't use.
You asked if I have read the guide. Of course I have read the guide. I started this debate.
It's a guide to help snowflakes navigate their way through life by avoiding saying and doing things that most
people consider normal. As for normal, that's one of the many words this Oxfam guide says you shouldn't use.
If you think this Orwellian speak document will cause me to change the way I communicate with others, then dream on Dreamer!
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How do people like you navigate life without being deeply wounded and offended every day ?
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Those who ascribe some divine powers to the language and believe that saying "man" instead of "person" is an offense... I have a language guide of my own on how to interact with them. The guide is an empty book.
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