Reply to Colorado State: don't use American

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Colorado State: don't use American"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Language, as someone else in this thread put it, [i]evolves.[/i]

I think the reason so many people bristle at this document is that it does not feel like a helpful explanation of an ongoing evolution -- in many cases, it feels [b]prescriptive[/b].

Terms like "gyp" have clearly racist origins and they are, indeed, fading, because more and more people are learning of their etymologies. That's a natural evolution.

Terms like "rule of thumb" are being problematized through the active spread of untruths by institutions like this university. As someone else noted, the etymology provided by this document for "rule of thumb" is actually false. That the phrase is still proscribed here DOES ruffle my feathers. I trust in institutions of higher education to be careful with their citations and sourcing. That didn't happen here.

Thus this document is strengthening the claims attached to a fallacy. And now I will worry when that phrase comes out of my mouth that someone else was mis-educated about the origin of the phrase, and take offense based on an untruth perpetuated by an institution of learning.

The claim that miss/ma'am/mister is problematic is similar but even more concerning. These are common titles of address that are being reconfigured by an authoritative source (a university) as indicative of gendered discrimination.

This isn't evolution, it's ideology. And yes, I think ideologies demand criticism and scrutiny before they are swallowed wholesale.[/quote]

You are misstating the purpose and intent of the document. Besides, your objection to these documents seems to be that people need to lighten up and not get so upset over these words. But the level of overwrought, hysterical reaction to this document suggests that only one set of people gets to be upset over “just words”.   They are just words that according to the other have to be taken in the context of the individual. Yet the trumpists on the board, more upset that they can’t [b]go around insulting people[/b], turn this into something it’s not.   [/quote]
If you think using hip hip hooray, takes the cake, freshman, hold down the fort, long time no see, no can do, Ms./Mrs./Mr., rule of thumb, grandfather clause, etc. = going around insulting people, then you need to make an appointment with the psychiatrist ASAP. 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics