- More political correctness running amok.
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I'm told English is the most difficult language to learn as it is chock full of colloquialisms, slang, jargon, and expletives. There is even disparity among the English speaking countries of the world, causing the famed playwright George Bernard Shaw to observe, "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language."
I never truly understood why we like to reinvent the wheel every so often, but we do. Perhaps it is nothing more than naiveté but more likely it is just plain foolishness. Take for example, the recent effort at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana where a writing guide has emerged discouraging the students from using the word "Man" as it is considered to be sexist. Instead of saying "Mailman" for example, they want you to say "Mail Carrier." Instead of "mankind" they want you to say "people" or "humanity" (which happens to have "man" hidden within it). To follow the guide properly means we have to avoid such words as "Freshman," "Chairman," "Gentleman," "Craftsmanship," "Management," and many others.
This could also lead to some serious problems in diplomatic relations as we must change the names of countries such as Germany, Oman, and Romania to Gerpersony, Operson, and Ropersonia. I'm sure these countries will understand and follow suit. Let us also not forget Personila, the capital of the Philippines, and Kathpersondu, the capital of Nepal.
Come to think of it, all of the Latin based languages observe the masculine/feminine tense, including English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Gerperson. Instead of saying in Spanish something like, "Donde esta la Casa de Musica?" we'll have to say, "Donde esta persona Casa de Musica?"
Instead of using the Spanish words of "el" or "la" to denote the sexual orientation of an object, we'll have to drop the word "the" from the Spanish language, likewise for the others. I still don't know what to do with "Hombre" as I'm sure this will offend someone. Nonetheless, this change shouldn't affect too many people.
By the way, we can no longer refer to these various tongues as "Romance languages" as they originated from the language spoken by the Ropersons.
Recently, there have been efforts to reinvent math through the "Common Core" program, as well as rewriting American history to make us feel more guilty about ourselves, and now we are trying to reinvent the fundamental structure of the English language. I can't wait for them to change physics whereby I'm sure they will contend, "What goes up, must be shared."
I lectured at Purdue years ago in their business school, a fine institution. As we all know, the school's nickname is the "Boilermakers," a reference to the train steam boilers built there years ago. By the way, a "Boilerman" is a person who tends to boilers; I guess this will all have to be changed as well.
I don't know why Purdue is pushing this effort, as it sounds like political correctness running amok. Purdue is also well known for agriculture and producing first-rate engineers. I just wished they would stop trying to re-engineer the English language.
Keep the Faith!
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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 40 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com
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