IGM Word deletions

Intergalactic-Memo

To: Interested parties
Fr: W. Leavitt
Re: The non-existent pogrom on religion


There is an interesting article in the London Telegraph this morning. The headline reads:

Words associated with Christianity and British history taken out of children's dictionary
It seems that a venerable British children’s dictionary has been systematically deleting words that have anything to do with England’s Christian heritage, as well as it’s ancient past. They are replacing the “old, outdated words” with word which reflect Britain’s role in the twenty-first century.
Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled.
According to some unnamed nitwit, the changes are being made to reflect the fact that England is a “modern, multicultural, multi-faith society.” Which is true, but the implication in his remarks is that by virtue of their contemporary identity, England’s historical identity is somehow irrelevant, which is, of course, nonsense. One wonders why the editors would not add new words and expand the dictionary, rather than delete perfectly good words relevant to England’s rich, and famously cookoo history.
Lisa Sanders, a concerned mother and therefore no one important or qualified, has done an exhaustive comparison of old and new editions of the dictionary and is “horrified” at the number and quality of words deleted. She says it is clear that England’s Christian heritage is being eradicated. More importantly, a rich collection of descriptive words like “buttercup”, “heather” and “sycamore”, as well as “bishop”, “Chapel”, “Empire” and “Monarch” are being purged from the English language.
It’s sad. The human mind is capable of inputting and storing an infinite supply of words. (my own personal theory). Language is everything. It provides us with civilization, culture, and all the wonderful ideas theories and discoveries by which we grow and progress. To simply delete a portion of it is criminal. Certainly words fall out of favor, and die natural deaths bases on the “evolution” of cultures and movements, but that is different, unless the deaths are the result of Political Correctness, which is as artificial and mindlessly bigoted as this current debacle in England. In fact, one could argue that the deletion program currently underway on the Children’s Dictionary is part and parcel with the worst instincts of our own childish attempt to remake the world based on an irrational fantasy of utopian nonsense.
To my mind, words cannot become useless. To believe so is tantamount to believing that humans can be useless. This is a concept that seems to be gaining favor in some circles, and one which I categorically reject.
Perhaps someone is making the argument that the deletions are merely a matter of necessary expediency—that it is simply too expensive to continue to add words and their definitions forever. That one I get. But it’s still a shame. And it’s still curious that the majority of words being disappeared are religious (Christian) in nature. Oh, and having to do with the Monarchy. I have no interest in Monarchies at all. But The language they engendered is often beautiful. I’d hate to lose the rich variety and colorful, descriptive lexicon just because there isn’t room, or it costs to much, or someone considers them inappropriate in today’s “society”.