The American language is getting an overhaul, at least in woke universities. Cancel culture and social justice warriors are bent on making sure any word or phrase that can be misconstrued or imagined to be racist or insulting will be replaced, and some of the words on the list have infuriated the public. Because how can “American” and “brave” be considered offensive?
Woke Universities’ Ban List
The University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Social Work has announced in a letter that the department is banning the use of the word “field.” Instead, “practicum” is to be used in its place. “This change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that could be considered anti-Black or anti-immigrant in favor of inclusive language,” according to the missive. It continued:
“Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘field work’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign.”
The University of Washington last year distributed an IT guide for inclusive language that removed “words that reflect racial or discriminatory bias.” The school’s woke guide included the word “mantra” because it is a spiritual term for Buddhist and Hindu communities. The phrase “no can do” is also inflammatory because, as the Daily Mail reported, “it is apparently an imitation of Chinese Pidgin English, dating from the mid-nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries – an era when Western attitudes towards the Chinese were markedly racist.”
Stanford University in the Golden State really takes the cake (if we can still use that phrase), though, with its published harmful language index. Here are just a few of the “don’t say” words and sayings with their replacements.
American
Who can find this discriminatory? The university said “This term often refers to people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas (which is actually made up of 42 countries).” Instead, students are instructed to say, “US citizen” instead of “American.”
Brave
“This term perpetuates the stereotype of the ‘noble courageous savage,’ equating the Indigenous male as being less than a man,’ the school explained. Unlike other words on the woke hitlist, this one does not have a replacement. Instead the school says “do not use.” There are quite a few synonyms that could be used instead, such as “courageous,” “valiant,” or “heroic,” but perhaps those are somehow racist or offensive as well.
Trigger Warning
It’s a bit hilarious that a woke term is considered defamatory now. “The phrase can cause stress about what’s to follow,” Stanford’s index clarified. “Additionally, one can never know what may or may not trigger a particular person.” That is vastly understated, and, ironically, one of the reasons there are so many movements to change this, ban that, and so on, as progressives think they can soothe the crocodile tears of the “triggered” generation. So, instead of calling it a trigger warning, the school says to use “content note,” which really doesn’t have the same meaning.
Grandfather
“This term has its roots in the ‘grandfather clause’ adopted by Southern states to deny voting rights to Blacks.” The institution instead said students should use “legacy” in its place. Does this apply to Grandpa Jones? Would he instead be called Legacy Jones? We’re going over to Legacy’s house for dinner this Sunday. It seems silly, of course, but in this case perhaps the school is referring to the term “grandfathered in.”
Guru
Much like the University of Washington, Stanford has said no to the word “guru” because, “In the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, the word is a sign of respect. Using it casually negates its original value.” Instead, the substitutions include subject matter expert, leader, expert, teacher, guide, and primary.
Whitespace
(Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)
It doesn’t take much thought to figure out that this term is considered racist by woke folks. The university said it “Assigns value connotations based on color (white = good), an act which is subconsciously racialized.” Instead, it’s time to swap out the term with “empty space.”
Prostitute
How, you wonder, does this have racialized meaning? The school says to use “person who engages in sex work” instead because “Using person-first language helps to not define people by just one of their characteristics.” Does this mean all professions will need to be redefined? A post/mail person should be “someone who delivers mail” so that they are not known just as a mail carrier, right? A teacher, then, should be “someone who instructs others on various subjects.” We could go on and on here.
Killing Two Birds with One Stone
A shout-out to PETA, maybe? “This expression normalizes violence against animals,” the index explained and offered the substitute “accomplish(ing) two things at once.”
These are just some of the words and phrases Stanford insists be removed from its IT systems and websites. The index has ten sections where harmful language may be found and listed them under the headings: ableist, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriative, gender-based, imprecise language, institutionalized racism, person-first, violent and additional considerations, as the Daily Mail advised.
The Orwellian destruction of language appears to be running apace.
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