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- September 2018 Newsletter
September 2018 Newsletter
CSG in the News
“There’s only so much you can expect from a single, annually updated book. That’s where the Conscious Style Guide comes in. The guide is fluid, ebbing and flowing along with changes in culture and language. The guide is especially great for honing in on more inclusive and empowering terms.”
From the World of Conscious Language
Note: The authors’ viewpoints are not necessarily shared by Conscious Style Guide.
“The term has gained popularity as a gender-neutral and trans-inclusive alternative among LGBTQ Spanish-speaking circles.”
Owning “Yellow”: How “Crazy Rich Asians” Singer Turned a Coldplay Song Into a Mandarin Anthem | The Washington Post
“We’re going to own that term. If we’re going to be called yellow, we’re going to make it beautiful.” —Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians”
The “Appa-lay-shun” pronunciation is “frowned upon by actual residents of the area. They prefer ‘Appa-latch-un.’”
The Long, Long History—and Bright Future—of the Genderless “They” | The Boston Globe
“The nonbinary ‘they’ isn’t even the first pronoun shift that English has gone through: During the 17th century, ‘you’ underwent a similar change that has also been attributed to the politics of respect.”
“As unsatisfying as it might be, the upshot is that these things have to be decided on a pretty individual basis.”
How to Email Someone You Haven’t Talked to in Forever | Harvard Business Review
“The last thing any of us want is to be seen as the person who reaches out to someone only when we need something from them…Changing the way you view your outreach to this person can make the initial contact feel a little less uncomfortable.”
Why You Should Put a Little More Thought Into Your Out-of-Office Message | Harvard Business Review
“Sometimes, all it takes is adding in one extra line to the standard OOO message to make it go from adequate to advantageous.”
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Positive examples of conscious language, with a focus on YA books and kidlit.
How to Use Gender-Neutral Words | Teen Vogue
“Shifting to gender-neutral language is of benefit not only to those who are nonbinary but to many others in society who feel that binary terms are inaccurate ways of describing them.” —Dara Hoffman-Fox, mental health counselor
The Problem With “Hey Guys” | The Atlantic
“The alternatives to ‘guys’ tend to have downsides of their own…No one term can do it all.”
Subtle Sexism in Political Coverage Can Have a Real Impact on Candidates | Columbia Journalism Review
“A woman politician described with masculine-coded adjectives was seen as almost 10 percent more qualified and 7 percent more competent than a woman described with feminine adjectives. These effects…might have serious implications for elections, especially at the local level.”
“Even people who use ‘he/she’ pronouns can do their part, like calling out whatever pronouns they prefer in LinkedIn profiles or adding them to workplace directories and email signatures.”
A recent study “confirms what researchers have long thought about the use of the term ‘fake news’—that it’s been far too weaponized for journalists to continue using it indiscriminately.”
“In the past three years, at least four TV series and short films have responded either directly or indirectly to their revelations…But while the TV series have made the struggles of manicurists more visible, only the short films have successfully empathized with their experiences.”
Nut Milks Are Milk, Says Almost Every Culture Across the Globe | Smithsonian.com
“Linguistically speaking, using ‘milk’ to refer to the ‘the white juice of certain plants’ (the second definition of milk in the Oxford American Dictionary) has a history that dates back centuries.”
New addition to our Appearance section:“Self” magazine’s new online style guide covers sensitivity around weight, diet, appearance discussions, imagery, and photography.
Disability Writing & Journalism Guidelines | Center for Disability Rights
New addition to our Ability + Disability section: “Disability Writing & Journalism Guidelines” from the Center for Disability Rights provides help for avoiding stereotypes, including intersectional representation, knowing what kinds of stories to avoid, and understanding person-first vs. identity-first language and the social model vs. medical model.
In Case You Missed It
Christine Ma Joins Conscious Style Guide’s Advisory Council | Conscious Style Guide
We’re excited to add longtime book editor Christine Ma as the newest member of Conscious Style Guide’s advisory council! Her perspective as a fiction editor is particularly welcome as we launch our new Creative Writing and Design + Images sections.
Disability in sci-fi, diversity in period drama, LGBTQ+ words in indigenous languages—we’ve gathered these stories and more for you in the August newsletter.
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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