Lib Dem-run Spelthorne Borough Council in Surrey has decided ‘he’ and ‘she’ are too much for some people and is telling staff to use ‘they’ and ‘them’ instead. The Telegraph has more:
The authority has a list of recommendations in the guide to make people feel “welcome, seen, heard and respected, regardless of their backgrounds”.
It claims that using language such as “them” or “they”, rather than “he” or “she”, plays a powerful role in diminishing stereotypes and making employees feel comfortable.
The document, which was last updated in June last year, was criticised as “authoritarianism” at the time after it claimed that terms like “manpower”, “blacklist” and “ladies” were offensive.
There is no explanation given in the updated guide for why terms are deemed “non-inclusive”, but the list features several gender-related phrases.
The guide discourages the use of “husband or wife”, instead encouraging “spouse or partner”. It also suggests using “chair or chairperson” instead of “chairman/chairwoman” and “Too many cooks in the kitchen” instead of “Too many chiefs”.
Elsewhere in the guide, Spelthorne encourages people to say “alcohol-use disorder” instead of “alcoholic”, “gay, lesbian or LGBTQ+” instead of “homosexual” and “developing countries” in place of “third world”.
There is also guidance against words such as “ninja”, “rockstar” and “bossy”, suggesting “multi-tasker”, “fast learner, talented” and “driven” respectively as alternatives. …
Within the advice sheet, which encourages readers to “relax and be yourself”, is advice that asks those communicating with “ethnic groups where English is their second language” to “speak at a slower rate” and use “short sentences”. …
The updated guide continues to advise against terms relating to physical disabilities, such as “blind spot”, “tone-deaf” and “lame”. It recommended that these be replaced with “problem area”, “doesn’t listen at all times” and “not enjoyable”, respectively.
It also warns against the phrase “slaving away”, encouraging “working hard” in its stead.
Worth reading in full.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to the Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
The “long march through the institutions”as advocated by Rudi Dutschke in the 1960s. The working class failed to support the extreme left and its revolutionary program. So the extreme left decided to gain control of society by burrowing into its elite sectors and achieving radical change in government. Our civil bodies, academia and legal system are now fully indoctrinated.
The control of language is part of marxo-fascist “coordination” – the attempt to merge the whole of society into the totalitarian utopia that the madleft thinks it can construct. As we know from the great leftwing tyrannies of the 20th century, the idea is to make make the things which our self-appointed moral guardians disapprove of unthinkable.
This is why we have to carry on using the words “Mr”, “Mrs”, “wife”, “husband”, “manpower”, “blacklist”, “ladies”, “blind spot”, “tone-deaf”, “lame”. And thousands of others. This is why we have to keep insisting that, yes, men can’t get pregnant.