NY Times Crossword Puzzle Increasingly Problematic

“So the crossword is old and white. So what? Well, it’s in the Times, and thus it should be inclusive, and that means abandoning terms that Young Persons of Color don’t get, or, if they do get them, don’t find them appropriate for the newspaper. Eskimo, for example. The term is no longer used – therefore it should not be referenced. Cultural literacy thus shrinks to only the common terms deemed acceptable by the Word Judges, until we have a generation unaware that the term Eskimo ever existed.”

Remember: The following books were not intended by their authors to be how-to guides.



http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/17/0817/082517.html

LowDown said:

“So the crossword is old and white. So what? Well, it’s in the Times, and thus it should be inclusive, and that means abandoning terms that Young Persons of Color don’t get, or, if they do get them, don’t find them appropriate for the newspaper. Eskimo, for example. The term is no longer used – therefore it should not be referenced. Cultural literacy thus shrinks to only the common terms deemed acceptable by the Word Judges, until we have a generation unaware that the term Eskimo ever existed.”

Remember: The following books were not intended by their authors to be how-to guides.


LILEKS (James) :: The Bleat 2017 MONDAY

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Oh, I'm sure that all of these non-PC terms will be recorded in a history book somewhere...language changes...something afternoonified people are bricky enough to accept, versus bubbling around. Certainly we don't need to have collie shangles and mafficking and cop a mouse over such podsnappery.

( http://mentalfloss.com/article/53529/56-delightful-victorian-slang-terms-you-should-be-using )

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Those are the covers I have on my copies of both of those books.

LowDown said:

“So the crossword is old and white. So what? Well, it’s in the Times, and thus it should be inclusive, and that means abandoning terms that Young Persons of Color don’t get, or, if they do get them, don’t find them appropriate for the newspaper. Eskimo, for example. The term is no longer used – therefore it should not be referenced. Cultural literacy thus shrinks to only the common terms deemed acceptable by the Word Judges, until we have a generation unaware that the term Eskimo ever existed.”

Remember: The following books were not intended by their authors to be how-to guides.

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http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/17/0817/082517.html

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Do you talk exactly like people in 1822?

LowDown said:

“So the crossword is old and white. So what? Well, it’s in the Times, and thus it should be inclusive, and that means abandoning terms that Young Persons of Color don’t get, or, if they do get them, don’t find them appropriate for the newspaper. Eskimo, for example. The term is no longer used – therefore it should not be referenced. Cultural literacy thus shrinks to only the common terms deemed acceptable by the Word Judges, until we have a generation unaware that the term Eskimo ever existed.”

Remember: The following books were not intended by their authors to be how-to guides.

View attachment 67221850

http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/17/0817/082517.html

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Is the crisis in the US that "Eskimo" is in a crossword puzzle? Is so, utopia achieved.

Jacksprat said:

Is the crisis in the US that "Eskimo" is in a crossword puzzle? Is so, utopia achieved.

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Nobody considers this to be a crisis.

Deuce said:

Nobody considers this to be a crisis.

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ok

Jacksprat said:

ok

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Conservatives will often spring up in this and act like liberals are losing their minds over some woke nonsense, tearing our hair out and screaming in anger. In reality, it's "hey this is an old term, this is the correct one you should use." Nobody is furious. Nobody is being canceled. There's no boycott happening. The fury comes from the right. The "anti-woke" or "anti-PC" people. They lose their minds when someone dares tell them to change, even in the slightest way.

"This word that people used to be ok with, now they're not ok with it!?"

Things change. Preferences change. Humor changes. Words and language change. People used to be ok with a lot of things that they don't accept any more, and lots of things are acceptable now that weren't acceptable before. That's how time works. Most of these people would never call a black person the N word to their face. And yet, their grandfather was probably completely comfortable doing that. It was a socially acceptable norm a hundred years ago and now it isn't. Work it out.

Languages change over time.

LowDown said:

“So the crossword is old and white. So what? Well, it’s in the Times, and thus it should be inclusive, and that means abandoning terms that Young Persons of Color don’t get, or, if they do get them, don’t find them appropriate for the newspaper. Eskimo, for example. The term is no longer used – therefore it should not be referenced. Cultural literacy thus shrinks to only the common terms deemed acceptable by the Word Judges, until we have a generation unaware that the term Eskimo ever existed.”

Remember: The following books were not intended by their authors to be how-to guides.

View attachment 67221850

http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/17/0817/082517.html

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Considering Eskimo is a slur, it would be good if people forgot it and just used the proper term: Inuit.

joluoto said:

Considering Eskimo is a slur, it would be good if people forgot it and just used the proper term: Inuit.

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Inuit isn't actually right, either. It's like calling the O'odham "Papagpo". You're using someone else's language and someone else's terminology.