University of New Hampshire's Bias-Free Language Guide

PSM · 07-29-2015, 16:27

University of New Hampshire's Bias-Free Language Guide

Example:

Quote:

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

Richard · 07-29-2015, 18:35

A work in progress - semantics noodling out loud at the university level.

Quote:

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

PSM · 07-29-2015, 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard

A work in progress - semantics noodling out loud at the university level.

And so it goes...

Richard

And that's a good thing?

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

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

**Box** · 07-30-2015, 07:29

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peregrino

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.

Guy · 07-30-2015, 09:42

Send these so called African-American over to Africa for month...

SOBs will come back yelling: "I'M AMERICAN!!!!!!!!!"

**Box** · 07-30-2015, 10:04

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by DinDinA-2

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!

Trapper John · 07-30-2015, 11:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy L-bach

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!

SF_BHT · 07-30-2015, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guy

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......

**Box** · 07-30-2015, 14:03

Quote:

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trapper John

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!

I am American, in the clear, my KL-7 is deadlined.

There. Did I make it onto another list yet?