[Ads-l] diverse-owned Re: ADS-L Digest - 8 Sep 2022 to 10 Sep 2022 (#2022-225)

[Geoffrey Nathan]

Agreed.
And, FWIW, I’ve actually heard 'a diverse student' (used by an
enrollment management official at a university).

Geoff


Geoffrey S. Nathan
WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/an6993
geoffnathan at wayne.edu

From: Z Sohna<mailto:zrice3714 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 9:04 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: diverse-owned Re: ADS-L Digest - 8 Sep 2022 to 10 Sep 2022 (#2022-225)

[EXTERNAL]

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Subject:      Re: diverse-owned Re: ADS-L Digest - 8 Sep 2022 to 10 Sep 2022
              (#2022-225)
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Regarding the following:

     "a group that has been oppressed, marginalized, or underprivileged"
      (and "underprivileged" right there is similarly problematic)"

It doesn't even seem to have that meaning (in my opinion); otherwise, I
would expect that the Irish and eastern Europeans would fall into that
category of "diverse", but they do not (in present-day US speech / thought).

It seems more to me as if it is a euphemism for "colored" / "of color",
"other", or "non-white".

Regards,
Zola Sohna


On 9/11/22 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
>* Date:    Sat, 10 Sep 2022 09:10:25 +0200
*>* From:    Z Sohna<zrice3714 at GMAIL.COM
<https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ads-l>>
*>* Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 7 Sep 2022 to 8 Sep 2022 (#2022-224)
*>>* "diverse-owned"??
*
Eeeyup. I see this as another instance of the use of "diverse" for
"minority" or whatever euphemism is being used to stand for "a group
that has been oppressed, marginalized, or underprivileged" (and
"underprivileged" right there is similarly problematic).

You've no doubt heard things like "this neighborhood is very diverse,"
which sometimes means that yep, there's a lot of different types of
folks who live here, and other times is being used to mean that there
are a lot of folks from "minority" groups living here. (And "minority"
is problematic.)

The only thing that makes me crazier is the use of "ethnic" as a
euphemism, also: "My, this neighborhood is so . . . ethnic." And I
apologize for using the term "euphemism," which isn't quite right
either. Perhaps what I really should be saying is "shorthand." It's a
stand-in, a replacement for . . . . I don't want to say "code," but
maybe I should?

---Amy West

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