Rarely do we get political here at the last word, but this is really too much.
I know, I know. FOX News. Some of you are likely snickering already. So read the column yourself. It’s on page 8. What we have here is a State Department bureaucrat telling us that the “historical validity” of etymologies doesn’t matter. If someone’s offended by what you’ve written or said, by golly, you’re a bigot.
Is it me, or is this creepily Orwellian? A taxpayer-funded “Chief Diversity Officer” is using language as a cudgel with which to beat us into submission. That Nike didn’t have the cojones to tell people to put on their big-girl pants and shut up is distressing enough; that Mr. Robinson tacitly approves of the “public relations nightmare” the shoe company faced over a sneaker called a “Black and Tan,” well…wow.
Yes, language evolves. I’m a writer; I see it happening almost daily. But this isn’t about language at all. It’s about the professional grievance crowd smugly dictating what’s off-limits. Screw ’em.
by Susanna