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- June 2016 Newsletter
June 2016 Newsletter
When Coming Out Puts People in the Closet
I want to discuss the term coming out, but to set the stage, let’s look at a promising new entry in the 2016 Associated Press Stylebook, which was released a few days ago.
According to this edition of “the journalist’s bible,” the word claim “implies doubt, and its use in stories—Smith claimed—can imply the reporter does not believe something. Generally, said is a better term.” This guideline aligns with the claim entry in the 2015 edition of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, which says, “Claim is not a neutral synonym for say. It means assert a right or contend something that may be open to question.”
Both stylebooks dissuade us from selecting a presumptuous word when we have no support for the bias. Extending this logic to other loaded language uncovers numerous examples: Request is neutral, whereas demand carries the expectation of compliance. Conclude is neutral, whereas determine suggests that the conclusion is true.
So is coming out neutral? Far from it. Read more
In other news:
CSG Articles: An article that I wrote for Copyediting as its style columnist is up on the CSG site. “Disability Style Guide Expands Coverage” has basic guidelines for covering the disability community.
Q&A Series: In case you missed it, check out our “Conscious Language at Work” interview with Dr. Sarah M. Vitorino about conscious language and its fundamental role in her work with LGBTQ youth.
Over and out,
Karen YinFounder
“Children must never be forced to show affection.”
Disabling Ableist Language | Copyediting
“Ableist language is any word or phrase that devalues people who have physical or mental disabilities.”
This Rugby Team Wants to Recruit New Players…With Anti-Gay Slurs | The Huffington Post
Another vote for having power over words instead of words having power over you.
Conversation on Assault Has Gender Problems | The Ithacan
“The conversation on how to prevent assault is, more often than not, misguided. Prevention strategies revolve mostly around what women should do to mitigate their risk and not enough on cultivating a respectful culture.”
“The argument that any feminist screenwriter must refrain from putting the word ‘cunt’ in the mouth of a character whom audiences might find appealing is an argument in favor of bad art.”
Conscious conversations about food and cultural appropriation.
The Word “Marijuana” Versus the Word “Cannabis” | The Stranger
“No matter how you slice it, the rise of the term marijuana is suspiciously contemporaneous with its popularity in racist screeds.”
What You Should Say—and Shouldn’t Say—to Sexual Assault Survivors | Wear Your Voice
“Because we need to be there for each other.”
“It’s still a slur, and it’s tied to discrimination against Asians, and it always has been. Shouldn’t people know this by now?”
“The way reports are framed can decide whether or not recommendations are implemented.”
“New research shows that [bilingual people] can also view the world in different ways depending on the specific language they are operating in.”
“Stigmatising their everyday speech can be harmful.”
Rebranding Anthropology Textbooks | Dori Tunstall
Turning the Western “anthropological gaze,” which dehumanizes as it exoticizes, back on Western culture.
“Terms such as ‘Asian American,’ ‘African American,’ and ‘Pacific Islander’ will now be used instead.”
The Unbearable Whiteness of Sports Journalism: The Houston Chronicle’s Blunder Is Reflective of a Larger Problem | All Digitocracy
“Why is there not yet a media policy with best practices for how to quote a player who is not a native English speaker?”
“According to [NYU medical anthropologist Emily Martin], textbook writers have imbued the sperm and egg with gender stereotypes. The egg is often portrayed as less worthy than sperm, and so women are depicted as less worthy as a consequence.”
A Heated Linguistic Debate: What Makes “Redskins” a Slur? | The New York Times
“But the widespread acceptance of the term as a pejorative—’now considered by many to be an offensive term,’ according to Webster’s New World College Dictionary—has apparently been tossed into linguistic uncertainty by a recent Washington Post poll that centers on the name of a certain Washington-based professional football team.”
A bot for gender-neutral alternatives to “Hey, guys.”
“Graphic details included the temperature and condition of the deceased, how the death occurred, and the dredging up of the man’s old legal run-in and mental illness.”
“I was just answering their questions honestly as they came up, the same way I answered their other questions about plot ideas or thinking of book titles or how to get published.”
“In Chinese, for example, words like ‘rape’ and ‘gossip’ include the female radical, which [linguist David Moser] says encourages a deep-rooted negative bias toward women.”
“Designing ‘A Bill You Can Understand’ seems like a modest goal, but it could transform our experience of the healthcare system and relieve one of the greatest frustrations of being a patient.”
How Can a Stereotype You Don’t Believe Affect You? | The Brains Blog
On stereotype threat, implicit bias, and hermeneutical injustice.
Singular They, Them, Their, And… | Copyediting
“According to Catherine Soanes at the Oxford Dictionaries Blog, not only is ‘themself’ a word, but it predates ‘themselves’ by about 150 years and was even used to refer to plural antecedents.”
Deaf DWTS Winner Nyle DiMarco Brought to Tears After Judge Carrie Ann Inaba Signs to Him in Finale | People
When “inclusive language” means something more.
The Conscious Style Guide newsletter rounds up the best news and blog posts from the world of kind, compassionate, mindful, empowering, respectful, and inclusive language. Note: Spotlighting an opinion is not intended as an endorsement. Please send news tips to [email protected].
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