Monday, December 8, 2008

watch your language

Words change according to their daily use, and over time what was once the common language sounds not at all like itself anymore. Ever read Beowulf? Chaucer? Language is an organic, evolving thing - you could say it has a life of its own.

So in an attempt to reflect a modern, multicultural, multifaith society, Oxford University Press has removed a large number of words from their children's dictionaries. Many of these words relate to Christianity or the countryside. Religious words like "sin" and "bishop" have been deemed useless or unacceptable.

But perhaps worst of all, and serving as a clear indicator of Great Britian's imminent demise, they have also abolished the word "bacon."

25 comments:

West, By God said...

This is sacrilege! Break out the tar and feathers!

Anonymous said...

This sounds rather "ungood"...

Anonymous said...

No matter what they say, I still believe there is sin. And bacon.

Anonymous said...

maybe they are replacing the word bacon with the phrase: "smoked meaty goodness"

As for removing words associated with Christianity from the dictionary; it seems to be the liberal ostrich viewpoint...that which we ignore does not exist.

Lissa said...

Mmm, I haz some bacon. . . .

NOOOOO! They be takin' my bacon!!!!

Mike W. said...

They probably removed bacon to avoid offending the muslims.....

West, By God said...

Justin: doubleplusungood if ya ask me.

Mike W: removing bacon offends people who work in the bacon industry, but I guess a bacon-packager is less likely to become violent because a word is or is not used in a dictionary.

Weer'd Beard said...

Newspeak: the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year!

Thanks George Orwell, you called it well!

Anonymous said...

"Cultures die from suicide, not murder." I wish I could remember who said that.

Turk Turon said...

By Jove!
Man's a madman.
Bacon? Little children's bacon?

Anonymous said...

Just 'coz they ignore it doesn't make it go away. 'tards!

The Remittance Man said...

Believe me, we genuine English chaps (as opposed to the pc-fixated, Scottish bolsheviks temporarily in charge of our homeland) are decidedly dischuffed, if not to say miffed.

Unknown said...

So now what do they call bacon? Pig strips of smokey, fatty goodness?

Anonymous said...

If English has a life of its own, then it lives on usage, not the whim of some arrogant dictionary editor. Refusing to include relevant often-used words will not change the language, but will push the Oxford University Press itself towards obscurity as people have less and less use for their incomplete dictionary.

Heath J said...

No doubt sacrificed on the alter of Euro multiculturalism...

Gee, I wonder who they were going out of their way not to offend?

phlegmfatale said...

Sacrilege!

aepilot_jim said...

They can pry my bacon from my cold dead... well, you get the idea

CGHill said...

God forbid the kids should ask who wrote The New Atlantis.

Christina RN LMT said...

Who cares, anyway? Dictionary.com is probably in much greater use. And I bet it still has "bacon", too.

Anonymous said...

PeterFF--

As long as there's "sin" there will be "bacon". (Or is it the other way around?)

Anonymous said...

Sir Francis sure will be disappointed! He is now nameless.

Angry Monkey said...

So what are kids going to call those chess pieces that go diagonally? "Pointy hat guys?" To say the removal of those words is "ludicrous" would be an understatement along the lines of calling beer "okay."

Anonymous said...

>> "Cultures die from suicide, not murder."

I can't find that exact quote, but James Burnham wrote a whole book about it, entitled "Suicide of the West."

Anonymous said...

Big deal. Eventually, all books in England will be prohibited, since the Koran is all inclusive and meets every need.

I hope we can make a deal to disinter Churchill and rebury him in the US before England joins the Caliphate.

Ride Fast said...

I read a American military analysis / report from 1947 just this week. I kept having to re-read sentences because they seem phrased oddly. Not wrong, just a little weird. It was not written in military-ese, either.

Sixty years and our language has evolved quite a bit.