View Full Version : University of New Hampshire's Bias-Free Language Guide
University of New Hampshire's Bias-Free Language Guide
Example:
Glossary of Language
Preferred: Black or African American
Problematic: negro, negroid, colored person, dark
Preferred: U.S. citizen or Resident of the U.S.
Problematic: American
Note: North Americans often use “American” which usually, depending on the context, fails to recognize South America.
Let's see, a Black person can be called African American but I can't call myself just an American?
LINK: http://www.unh.edu/inclusive/bias-free-language-guide
There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them. -- George Orwell
Pat
A work in progress - semantics noodling out loud at the university level.
Starting a Conversation about Word Choice
The following bias-free language guide is meant to serve as a starting point about terms related to age, race, class, ethnicity, nationality, gender, ability, sexual orientation and more. It is not meant to represent absolute requirements of language use but, rather, offer a way to encourage us to think critically and reflectively about the terms and phrases that many people use regularly in conversation and writing.
Our hope is to encourage thoughtful expression in terms that are sensitive to the diverse identities and experiences in our community. Language is an incredibly complex phenomenon that often reflects and affects our identities. There is wide diversity among us in usage and understanding of language based on our age, place of origin, culture and class, among other identities. This guide is not a means to censor but rather to create dialogues of inclusion where all of us feel comfortable and welcomed.
We invite your feedback, including suggestions, edits and additions. Thanks for reading and thanks for careful consideration when you speak.
And so it goes...
Richard
A work in progress - semantics noodling out loud at the university level.
And so it goes...
Richard
And that's a good thing? :rolleyes: Just how much taxpayer grant money goes towards "noodling" over thought control?
Pat
Surf n Turf
07-29-2015, 19:43
And you thought it was fiction :eek:
SnT
The Appendix of 1984 stands as Orwell’s explanation of New-speak, the official language of Oceania. Although Orwell felt that these ideas were too technical to completely integrate into the novel, they support the novel’s stance on language and thought in relation to the public’s acceptance of governmental control.
Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, scheduled for official adoption around 2050, and designed to make the ideological premises of Ingsoc (Newspeak for English Socialism, the Party’s official political alignment) the only expressible doctrine. Newspeak is engineered to remove even the possibility of rebellious thoughts—the words by which such thoughts might be articulated have been eliminated from the language. Newspeak contains no negative terms. For example, the only way to express the meaning of “bad” is through the word “ungood.” Something extremely bad is called “doubleplus ungood.”
Newspeak’s grammar is arranged so that any word can serve as any part of speech, and there are three different groups of vocabulary words. The A vocabulary contains everyday words and phrases, as Orwell says, “for such things as eating, drinking, working” and so on. In comparison with modern English, these words are fewer in number but more rigid in meaning. Newspeak leaves no room for nuance, or for degrees of meaning.
The B vocabulary of Newspeak contains all words with political or ideological significance, specially tailored to engender blind acceptance of the Party’s doctrines. For example, “goodthink” means roughly the same thing as “orthodoxy.” The B vocabulary consists entirely of compound words and often compresses words into smaller forms to achieve conceptual simplicity: the English phrase “Thought Police,” for instance, is compressed into “thinkpol”; “the Ministry of Love” becomes “miniluv.”
The C vocabulary encompasses words that relate specifically to science and to technical fields and disciplines. It is designed to ensure that technical knowledge remains segmented among many fields, so that no one individual can gain access to too much knowledge. In fact, there is no word for “science”; as Orwell writes, “Ingsoc” covers any meaning that such a concept could possibly have.
The particularities of Newspeak make it impossible to translate most older English (oldspeak) texts into the language; the introduction of the Declaration of Independence, for instance, can be translated only into a single word: crimethink. Furthermore, a great many technical manuals must be translated into Newspeak; it is this bulk of translation work that explains the Party’s decision to postpone the full adoption of Newspeak to 2050.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/section11.rhtml
Peregrino
07-29-2015, 21:10
I think PSM and S&T have accurately interpreted the intent of the UNH tome.
“He who controls the language controls the masses”. – Saul Alinsky in Rules for Radicals
So would it be bad to call someone a fat, old, lazy, crippled, gender confused, gay, homeless person?
...just curious
Trapper John
07-30-2015, 07:53
I think PSM and S&T have accurately interpreted the intent of the UNH tome.
“He who controls the language controls the masses”. – Saul Alinsky in Rules for Radicals
Absolutely Correct! I keep hoping that I will awaken to realize this is all just a bad dream. :(
Send these so called African-American over to Africa for month...
SOBs will come back yelling: "I'M AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!";)
I found out that I am now able to hyphenate !!!
Ladies and Gentlemen, according to new political correctness guidelines...
...I am now a European-American
On a related note:
isn't it neat that the word, "non-hyphenated" has a hyphen
...the word "hyphenated" does not?
Sort of sets the stage for the spirit of hyphenated-aMEricans
DinDinA-2
07-30-2015, 10:34
The slippery slope of speaking my mind, has become the slippery cliff.
Trapper John
07-30-2015, 11:06
The slippery slope of speaking my mind, has become the slippery cliff.
It's off to the re-education camp for you! We'll get your mind right. No more of this individual-speak, it's only good-speak and collective-think from now on for you buddy! :D
Trapper John
07-30-2015, 11:11
So would it be bad to call someone a fat, old, lazy, crippled, gender confused, gay, homeless person?
...just curious
Well, until you got to the homeless part I thought you'd just call 'em Hillary! :D
Send these so called African-American over to Africa for month...
SOBs will come back yelling: "I'M AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!";)
You are so right!!!!!!
I refuse to use that term. If they call me white I will call them black.
We are all supposed to be Americans..... No need for color labeles.
I am just stupid as I try to look at people as the same until they show that they are pieces of shit then they get a label......:eek:
Well, until you got to the homeless part I thought you'd just call 'em Hillary!
I beg to differ....
...Hillary IS homeless right now. She was booted from her family residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by the Bush family and has been trying to get back into her house ever since.
Badger52
07-30-2015, 17:22
It's off to the re-education camp for you! We'll get your mind right. No more of this individual-speak, it's only good-speak and collective-think from now on for you buddy! :DI am American, in the clear, my KL-7 is deadlined.
There. Did I make it onto another list yet?
:D
How about me. I am tired of being called a Hillbilly, I prefer the term Apppalation
I had a 6th Group teammate from West Virginia, educated to a GED , he preferred
"Mountain William" :D
[QUOTE=Brush Okie;589080]How about me. I am tired of being called a Hillbilly, I prefer the term Apppalation
I had a 6th Group teammate from West Virginia, educated to a GED , he preferred
"Mountain William" :D
In today's world, educated TO a GED no longer applies...
A delighted House Education Chairman Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth will be on hand at noon today when Gov. Nathan Deal signs House Bill 91, which retroactively grants high school diplomas to an estimated 9,000 Georgians who did not earn one because they failed a portion of the now discarded Georgia High School Graduation Test.
The House Ed Committee allowed ex members to vote on a critical measure this week.
Today, the governor signs a bill enabling 9,000 Georgians to qualify for their high school diplomas.
Coleman sponsored HB 91 bill, saying it would be the most important piece of legislation his committee passed this year.
The test dates to 1991, when the Legislature voted to phase in an exit exam that would put some teeth into the rising rhetoric of holding students accountable for basic academic achievement. But the exam was eventually deemed inadequate and was replaced by the End of Course Test (which is being replaced this year by Georgia Milestones).
There was also doubt the test meant anything in terms of what students learned or didn’t learn in high school.
I guess today, if you feel like you earned something, it should be given to you.
FWIW, the bias free language guide referenced in the OP seems to have disappeared from the UNH website.
MOO, the discussion of the guide in this thread represents the types of lost opportunities that are occurring with increasing frequency in circles frequented by the American political right.
Specifically, IRT the passage quoted in post #2, above.Our hope is to encourage thoughtful expression in terms that are sensitive to the diverse identities and experiences in our community. Language is an incredibly complex phenomenon that often reflects and affects our identities. There is wide diversity among us in usage and understanding of language based on our age, place of origin, culture and class, among other identities. This guide is not a means to censor but rather to create dialogues of inclusion where all of us feel comfortable and welcomed.
IMO, the passage is an invitation to all Americans to reflect upon how language is used to marginalize groups whose lives and careers afford them sensibilities and mindsets that are outside of more common/shared experiences.
Americans have a centuries' old tradition of marginalizing economically, socially, culturally, and politically members of the armed services following wars--especially ones that were unpopular and costly. In the face of unremitting vitriol that is exemplified by many comments in this thread toward "diverse identities and experiences," will more civilians be motivated to take a more thoughtful approach to the ways they write, talk, read, and think about members of the armed forces and veterans?
RE: Sigaba
I believe I understand the intent of your post; discussions regarding the sudden explosion of "identities" and how to refer to them in such fashion that they do not feel marginalized.
I can understand the academic pursuit of such discussions. The disconnect between what you suggest we should do, and actually doing it is that I, for one, am not open minded enough to care whether its OK to use the word "queer" or "fag" this week or not. For me, I have no desire to look beyond "dude" or "chick", "sir" or "mam" and to try to discern whether to use post-trans, pre-trans, trans-woman, hermaphrodite etc... Furthermore, I assert that by allowing all these weighted and contextually sensitive adjectives into popular language actually hinders what could have been otherwise valuable debate. How much time and money have we spent attempting to shift the popular conservative/right leaning mindset into "tolerance" all the while shoving that same group of people into the category of "intolerant" and "bigoted"?
Tolerance and acceptance works both ways. You can't call folks "bible clinging, gun toting, hillbillies" while appealing to their logical side to accept and EMBRACE things that disgusts them.
I welcome your thoughts.
Tolerance and acceptance works both ways. You can't call folks "bible clinging, gun toting, hillbillies" while appealing to their logical side to accept and EMBRACE things that disgusts them.
I welcome your thoughts.
While you may not be open-minded enough to have these types of discussions, I think you did a pretty bang-up job over all. Especially considering the duplicitous hypocrisy of the opposition that you so well laid out in the above quote.
The problems is that dope smoking, smelly, hippie liberals will zealously derail, discontinue, or redirect a discussion on solving the mystery of the universe to correct a perceived wrong because one scientist called a tranny "dude"...
...and they do it ALL the time.
Solving our nations ills has stopped being the problem in favor of ensuring that the larger problem of social justice is fixed first. Peoples acceptance of ONE-SPECIFC-TRANSLATION of our nations ills trumps all other issues.
...it is no longer about "solving for 'X'" the issue is simply to advance "the" agenda and most people (especially the pseudo-intellectuals that litter this aMErican continent) don't even have a clue what the agenda is; they just trumpet whatever they hear from Arianna Huffington or whatever they hear from the nearest collegiate liberal watering hole.
So...
...lets look at this "problematic" term, "AMERICAN"
It might cause grief with those from "South America" really?
...how?
Did Pele ever identify as south American?
...or did he ONLY embrace his "Brazilian-ness" because he was confused about which America he came from?
...where exactly is the country of "South America" located?
At least "African" confusion between the continent and the country can be explained by the COUNTRY of South Africa.
Africa = continent
South Africa = country
...are all Africans black?
No - because not every country in Africa is populated by the same race.
Are all south Americans any one specific color?
No - because ITS A CONTINENT
Its not because of racism, or a hatred of the poor, or a dislike for immigrants, its because Africa and South America are continents.
Continent = A large land mass - not a single country
But the idiotic self loathing, addicted to their own mental-masturbation, liberals that make up "AMERICAN" academia can't make it past their first cup of decaffeinated-soy-latte without finding some sort of sort of Marxist conflict theory attached to every facet of AMERICAN life...
...and before I forget, go fuck yourself, University of New Hampshire. Fuck you very much.
There is even a country of the south American continent with "America" in its name.
...not even as much as a territory.
The ONLY country in the entire western hemisphere with "America" in its name is....
...wait for it
..........waaaaaiiiiit for it
The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
'Murica mother fuckers.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
...its where "Americans" live.
...its not where Brazilians or Argentinians or Chileans or Peruvians or Venezuelans because they all have THEIR OWN FUCKING COUNTRY
Limousine Liberals should spend a few dollars on a fucking globe before they try to convince everyone how smart they are.
...we know liberals are intelligent. I'd never argue that.
Ever.
Liberals are insanely well educated. In fact, their ivory tower educations will eventually be the downfall of this great nation.
...but they are a hapless band of idiots that couldn't hit water if you threw them out of a boat. They are a breed that knows the price of EVERYTHING, but understand the value of nothing.
Just my opinion.
Peregrino
08-03-2015, 11:30
Entire post.
Spot on - in fact, a dead center X. Could not agree more. And I have ZERO interest in engaging individuals or groups with opposing viewpoints in discussion - meaningful (highly unlikely) or not; especially in light of their penchant for redefining reality to match their delusions.
Trapper John
08-03-2015, 11:37
They are a breed that knows the price of EVERYTHING, but understand the value of nothing.
Billy, that is perfect and I am going to be using that one often. :lifter
With all due credit to you of course. ;)
Badger52
08-03-2015, 13:21
...it is no longer about "solving for 'X'" ...
That's what they said 50 yrs ago about "the New Math" - "it's to make you think." That didn't work out so well either. Hell, if I wanted to think I could sit & ponder Ms. Tuccinardi, the girls' gym teacher.
Money quote for me from Hand that MR2 cited above.
Now back to aiding & abetting oppression.
Surf n Turf
08-03-2015, 16:01
MOO, the discussion of the guide in this thread represents the types of lost opportunities that are occurring with increasing frequency in circles frequented by the American political right.
IMO, the passage is an invitation to all Americans to reflect upon how language is used to marginalize groups whose lives and careers afford them sensibilities and mindsets that are outside of more common/shared experiences.
Americans have a centuries' old tradition of marginalizing economically, socially, culturally, and politically members of the armed services following wars--especially ones that were unpopular and costly.
In the face of unremitting vitriol that is exemplified by many comments in this thread toward "diverse identities and experiences," will more civilians be motivated to take a more thoughtful approach to the ways they write, talk, read, and think about members of the armed forces and veterans?
Sigaba,
You sure had reach realllllllly far to include "the armed services" in your post....... keeping it real I guess. :rolleyes:
What did your 3rd paragraph have to do with this discussion, other than to adding the "armed forces "makes it an acceptable branch into a Military Discussion Board, and pray-tell what" unremitting vitriol" is included or excluded from your latest.
I am captured by the thought of all the Naval History research lost forever when you are forced to use you time to issue your well reasoned, and on point commentary.
SnT
Sigaba,
You sure had reach realllllllly far to include "the armed services" in your post....... keeping it real I guess. :rolleyes:
What did your 3rd paragraph have to do with this discussion, other than to adding the "armed forces "makes it an acceptable branch into a Military Discussion Board, and prey-tell what" unremitting vitriol" is included or excluded from your latest.
I am captured by the thought of all the Naval History research lost forever when you are forced to use you time to issue your well reasoned, and on point commentary.
SnT
He and his academic buds are working on re-writing history, section 8 housing and many other methods of CHANGE.