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Microsoft Word Censors Politically Incorrect Language

by Toby Young
30 April 2022 8:44 PM

An ‘inclusive language tool’ launched by Microsoft has been criticised for advising writers to type “assigned female at birth”, instead of “biologically female”. The Telegraph has more.

Critics say it amounts to censorship of an individual’s writing and makes a mockery of language, flying in the face of the biological and linguistic meaning of the word “woman” or “female”.

It comes after the Telegraph reported that Google has also started telling users not to use particular words because they are not inclusive enough.

The online giant is rolling out an “inclusive language” function that prompts authors to avoid using certain words and suggests more acceptable replacements.

Microsoft Word has introduced a similar tool, prompting users of the editing function to avoid certain words. Users can opt in or out of the function.

As well as advising people to steer clear of the term “biologically female”, it urges them to change phrases such as Postman Pat to “Postal Worker Pat”, as the former “may imply gender bias”.

It also recommends amending Mrs. to Ms., including changing “Mrs. Thatcher” to “Ms. Thatcher”. In addition, it proposes that users change the word “mankind” in Neil Armstrong’s famous phrase “one giant leap for mankind” to “humankind” or “humanity”.

Critics have objected in particular to the biological definition of a woman being flagged as potentially offensive.

Helen Staniland, a software developer and feminist activist, told the Telegraph: “Microsoft appears to be trying to influence how people discuss social issues, but not really know or understand what they are suggesting.

“What do they mean by gender bias? Why are they suggesting that the perfectly descriptive phrase ‘biologically female’ might imply a gender bias? Why would they presume that ‘assigned female at birth’ might be better?

“It seems that they are trying to jump on the bandwagon of attempting to prevent discussion of ‘biological females’, but their suggestions don’t help them.”

Worth reading in full.

Tags: Biological FemaleCensorshipInclusive Language ToolMicrosoft Word

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49 Comments
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Newest Most Voted
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civilliberties
civilliberties
3 years ago

yep

external-content.duckduckgo.com - Copy.jpg
48
-2
Hopeless - "TN,BN"
Hopeless - "TN,BN"
3 years ago

Moronic.

9
-1
Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  Hopeless - "TN,BN"

Well that’s unkind, Hopeless – “TN, BN”. Would you like to think about those you are excluding? Nobody at Microsoft, obviously.

Perhaps we need to go further. Why should “inclusivity” be confined merely to matters of gender and sexuality?

In the spirit of being “inclusive”, we should no longer use terms referring to personal wealth or implying any distinctions on those grounds. Let’s think of how offensive the terms “billionaire” and “beggar” are. We’re all as one, after all.

Terms implying differences in attractiveness are not at all inclusive: so away with beauty – of appearance, or language.

But mostly, away with ideas that your choice of words is your business and your responsibility. Away with crafting your own sentences, thinking your own thoughts.

24
-1
Star
Star
3 years ago

What proportion of people turn the nagging squiggly-underline function off in Word?

MS Word used to be good, but Libre Office Writer, which is free, is at least as good nowadays.

18
-1
Gregoryno6
Gregoryno6
3 years ago
Reply to  Star

LO gets my vote.

5
-1
JohnOh
JohnOh
3 years ago
Reply to  Star

Libre Office is just as good, can do everything and is free. It’s open source and anyone who is still using Word should give it a try. I’ve been using it for years and many of my colleagues have also switched.

6
-1
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
3 years ago
Reply to  JohnOh

I use WPS Office. Its Chinese but then i’m not writing or storing anything of note. I wouldn’t use it for my new patent application, but its fine for the odd letter and spreadsheet. Microsoft are overstepping the mark, defund them.

4
-1
rockoman
rockoman
3 years ago

They are preparing the way for their own defeat.

When the backlash comes, and it will, not only this stuff will be swept away, but also many things which they currently think they have in the bag for ever.

Last edited 3 years ago by rockoman
39
-2
Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  rockoman

I bloody hope you’re right.

17
-1
Nymeria
Nymeria
3 years ago
Reply to  Alter Ego

So do I.

10
-1
FrankFisher
FrankFisher
3 years ago
Reply to  rockoman

Try explaing why it’s insane to a 16 year old. You will find they cannot grasp one plank of your arguments.

2
0
thorsteinn@sjonarrond.is
thorsteinn@sjonarrond.is
3 years ago

I’m surprised they would even allow the word “female”. It implies the word “male” has meaning too. I thought they wanted to abolish the two genders altogether.

11
-1
eyesee
eyesee
3 years ago

Microsoft avoids English and established, common-use definitions. Because it’s stupid.

7
-1
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
3 years ago

Word word word word word word.

Parsed by Microsoft Word for clarity

4
-1
coppelledstreets
coppelledstreets
3 years ago

I’m confused.

Maybe that is what they want but this attack on language is bizarre, like it is from a foreign entity.

I had my first email with some twat telling me his pronouns, i wont ever accept his/her rubbish. Next time I reply to he/him I will send my adjectives.

18
-1
Alter Ego
Alter Ego
3 years ago
Reply to  coppelledstreets

Yes – I got one of those a short time ago, too. I translated it to “Idiot”.

5
-1
Moderate Radical
Moderate Radical
3 years ago

Once again, Nineteen Eighty-Four was a warning, but these deranged leftists treat it like an instruction manual.

If only Orwell could see this absolute horror show.

74506cbc-658c-4f41-b802-6e5595a8c279.jpg
25
-1
civilliberties
civilliberties
3 years ago
Reply to  Moderate Radical

it has made me wonder if 1984 and orwell has served an alternative purpose as when pointing out the stark similarities to many people the response is “yeah but that was fiction, not real” its like the predictive programming nature of both covertly popping ideas into people’s heads and when challenging them they are discredited with “that was just a film” as if because the theme was in a book or film it could not happen in real life even though it blatantly is.

Last edited 3 years ago by civilliberties
11
-1
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
3 years ago
Reply to  civilliberties

This occurred to me, too!

4
-1
thorsteinn@sjonarrond.is
thorsteinn@sjonarrond.is
3 years ago
Reply to  Moderate Radical

They aren’t leftists. They’re corporatists.

1
-2
Moderate Radical
Moderate Radical
3 years ago
Reply to  thorsteinn@sjonarrond.is

The two are not mutually exclusive. Regardless, they are fundamentally leftist. Seeking to dismantle and replace (though the dismantling is the primary aim) established norms, whether they be moral norms, cultural norms, or norms of language, is the essence of neo-leftism. To call them corporatists, while this is not necessarily untrue, is to woefully miss the truly subversive elements in play.

2
-1
czerwonadupa
czerwonadupa
3 years ago
Reply to  Moderate Radical

Mark Zuckerberg amazingly of Facebook & the tech billionaires of Google, Twitter & Youtube are following the blueprint laid out by the German Reichminister from the Ministry for Propaganda Dr Joseph Goebbels who has the look of a proud grandparent on his face

0
0
tom171uk
tom171uk
3 years ago

I’ve not upgraded since Word 2003. That poxy paper clip thing was annoying enough for me.

12
-1
civilliberties
civilliberties
3 years ago

“microsoft word 2025, automatically sends any unauthorised writings to the police”

bill gates approved.

11
-1
Gregoryno6
Gregoryno6
3 years ago
Reply to  civilliberties

Only 41 years late.

2
-1
Annie
Annie
3 years ago

Read this story:

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

1
-1
twinkytwonk
twinkytwonk
3 years ago

I’m glad that as everything is so perfect in the world that we can all concentrate on such important matters as this😜

3
-1
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
3 years ago

Uninstall button.

Paper maps, magnetic compass.

Books.

Rivers. Mountains.

Enjoy the real things.

Last edited 3 years ago by Marcus Aurelius knew
16
-1
Nymeria
Nymeria
3 years ago

Enough of this fucking nonsense already.

9
-1
Woodburner
Woodburner
3 years ago

When will this utter tripe cease?

8
-1
rockoman
rockoman
3 years ago

Looking back in history, wokery reminds me most of the Jacobins during the French revolutionary period, as they also aimed to overturn all traditional conceptions of life.

One is also reminded of the 1930s when Fascists and Communists also aimed to do the same.

What all three periods – including our own – also have in common is a financial system with impossibly high debts leading to the destruction of the previous monetary system, leading to these political cults, authoritarianism and war,

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

-Voltaire

Last edited 3 years ago by rockoman
11
-1
Gregoryno6
Gregoryno6
3 years ago

LibreOffice, folks.

8
-1
DodosArentDead
DodosArentDead
3 years ago

“Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.

“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone, “so I can’t take more.”

“You mean you can’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.”

“Nobody asked your opinion,” said Alice.

Lewis Carroll, Alice In Wonderland

20220501_001554.jpg
Last edited 3 years ago by DodosArentDead
5
-1
Gregoryno6
Gregoryno6
3 years ago
Reply to  DodosArentDead

Alice in Wonderland, FFS?
That’s a downtick too far!

2
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
3 years ago
Reply to  Gregoryno6

Typical unthinking response from robotic down-ticker.

2
0
rtj1211
rtj1211
3 years ago

There’s a very, very simple solution to this. Don’t use Microsoft- or Google products.

Tell them why. Tell them they lost your business due to their irredeemable wokeness.

Then tell them that you won’t be coming back.

7
-1
Judy Watson
Judy Watson
3 years ago

What a load of bolleaux.

3
0
imp66
imp66
3 years ago

Another cock and balls story?

3
0
debwestsussex
debwestsussex
3 years ago

How about c*%t? That’s gender neutral

2
0
godders
godders
3 years ago

It is heartening to see so many posters take Microsoft to task for kowtowing to the trans cult and trying to ‘nudge’ us all into distorting our language to accommodate their societally damaging and scientifically untenable ideology.
However, I would wager a lot of Daily Skeptic fans inputted their critical comments using the very software package they are railing about!
One doesn’t have to be a hypocrite (and an unwitting tool of the trans high priests, who, research shows, don’t even reflect the general views of the community they claim to represent), when it takes only minutes to download an alternative equivalent package.
Several years ago, underwhelmed by how Word performed, I switched to a free version of some software called TextMaker, which has proved more than adequate for my (albeit fairly limited) purposes.
Voting with your feet is the best way to avoid having your words (and, by implication, thoughts) policed, while simultaneously hitting wannabe Big Brother Microsoftit where it hurts most – in the wallet.
It is heartening to see so many posters take Microsoft to task for kowtowing to the trans cult and trying to ‘nudge’ us all into distorting our language to accommodate their societally damaging and scientifically untenable ideology.
However, I would wager a lot of Daily Skeptic fans inputted their critical comments using the very software package they are railing about!
One doesn’t hve to be a hypocrite (and an unwitting tool of the trans high priests, who, research shows, don’t even reflect the general views of the community they claim to represent), when it takes minutes to download any one of several equivalent packages.
Several years ago, underwhelmed by how Word performed, I switched to a free version of some software called TextMaker, which has proved more than adequate for my (albeit fairly limited) purposes.
Voting with your feet is the best way to avoid having your words (and, by implication, thoughts) policed, while simultaneously hitting wannabe Big Brother Microsoftit where it hurts most – in the wallet.

Last edited 3 years ago by godders
2
0
FrankFisher
FrankFisher
3 years ago

None of this is silly or trivial, please do not make that mistake. This is organised, intricate, carefully crafted and near universal. This is war. We are at war, and have been for some decades. We are at war and we are losing badly.

4
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
3 years ago

Why would anybody pay for these programs when there are perfectly capable free open source alternatives like Libre Office, which as a bonus, don’t nag.

2
0
NeilofWatford
NeilofWatford
3 years ago

One of Windows 10 latest updates overides your freedom to stop MS from updating your OS.
Since Win 98 I’ve switched off the updates and never had a security issue. But now MS has slipped their ‘update medic’ into your machine and overridden this on Win 10, so even if you delete updates, or disable the update in services, it simply resets itself.
The standard cure was to set your internet to ‘metered’ which, until recently stopped tne download. This too is now ignored as MS pours its unnecessary and bloated updates into your home.
This of course then places a machine in your home over which MS has control for such nonsense as woke spellcheckers.
I’m now trialling use of the firewall to foil them. Time will tell.

3
0
Idris
Idris
3 years ago

Doesn’t human contain the word man?

3
0
iane
iane
3 years ago
Reply to  Idris

Yep, and person is equally insidious!

0
0
Richard
Richard
3 years ago

I would join the discussion but I would find it impossible to describe this nonsense without using ‘profanity and abuse’ towards the idiots behind this shite!

2
0
10navigator
10navigator
3 years ago

There’s an excellent meme doing the rounds. It’s 30 seconds of frankly weird individuals ‘self-identifying’ (no males of females), followed by Billy Conolly’ full-face close up. He simply shouts: “Just Eff off! Just Eff right off!” Perfick response!

2
0
lorrinet
lorrinet
3 years ago

This is very Brave New World. Limit the words in a language and there won’t be any way to talk back against the tyrants in charge.

1
0
Epi
Epi
3 years ago

What about manhole or manipulation or manifold, manifest etcetera etcetera?

Last edited 3 years ago by Epi
0
0

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