Dead-End Discussions (was the/Ukraine)

[Edyta Bojanowska]

Dear All,

I too have been following this debate with a sinking heart, though I agree with Robert Chandler that it has had its illuminating moments. But I also share Vitaly Chernetsky's and Eliot Borenstein’s sentiments as to what the right thing to do is.

They got it right: whether or not one accepts Ukrainians’ rationale for wanting their country to be referred to a certain way, we should honor this and all such requests.  This is the only kind, respectful, and plainly decent thing to do.  But beyond that, in this of all lists, I would expect to see a wide consensus that particular uses of language have cultural, social, and political implications.  These implications are very real for Ukrainians, especially recently.

To Jules Levin I would submit a useful analogy with a transition to non-gendered language.  There was a time when the masculine was the default pronoun.  Women in the English-speaking world started to demand a revision of this immemorial linguistic custom, finding it disrespectful.  We all came around to the new way of using language.  Gripes about women’s insecurities, calling them “hypersensitive teenagers,” and otherwise advising them to “man up” were as inappropriate then as your comments about Ukrainian sensibilities are now. 

Regards to the list,
Edyta Bojanowska
Rutgers University

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