[Ads-l] Clark University students told they can't say 'you guys' because it might be sexist | Daily Mail Online

[Jonathan Lighter]

As a lexicographer who's probably written more about "guy" than any other
(see HDAS I, and an update or two here), may I help clarify the issue with
a considered opinon? This particular caveat is not just bullshit; it is
pernicious, intolerant, priggish, psycholinguistically dubious bullshit.

For starters.

JL

On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 9:23 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 9, 2016 at 8:54 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Word of the day is "microaggression". It's the Daily News [sic], but the
> > report
> > isn't inaccurate, just sensationalized.
> >
> > http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3779932/College-
> > students-told-t-say-guys-sexist-t-ask-Asian-strangers-help-math.html
>
>
> This is a rehash of a New York Times article:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/us/campuses-cautiously-tra
> in-freshmen-against-subtle-insults.html
>
> Since microaggressions are old hat, I'd say the most interesting lexical
> item here is "microinvalidation" -- a subspecies I had not previously
> encountered.
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org