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Re: Antwort: "master" and "slave" banned in Los Angeles County
Subject:Re: Antwort: "master" and "slave" banned in Los Angeles County From:Shankar <ss_rajanala -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 27 Nov 2003 20:31:32 -0800 (PST)
The larger question here appears to be whether
the correct use of words, new or old, should be
left to the specialists in lexicography and
linguistics; needless to say, legal eagles will
have a say too, on editorial boards of
dictionaries. If various governments get into the
act of enacting laws to determine use of words,
there could be utter chaos. Where one county bans
masters and slaves, another might punish boss and
subaltern.
People or governments could take issues with the
dictionary definitions, and have them modified or
removed, as it apparently happened with "kaula
lumpur" in a '90s edition of webster (am really
sorry if I got the facts wrong here). Or
currently, with re. to macjobs.
On our part, we could add to our document
conventions a line about the dictionary we take
to be standard for the docs we deliver. Or a
bunch of dictionaries sourced by a website.
Come to think of it, 'master' and 'slave' are not
quite accurate; both are slaves, so to speak, in
the hands of the admin who configures them?
While at it, is 'menial' kosher, pc-wise? I once
had a senior editor say: "I don't like this
word", without saying why not...
shankar
=====
blessed indeed are the meek
for they shall inherit the earth
when the mighty migrate to mars
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