Body & Soul1 min ago
Now The Word Leper Is Unacceptable
52 Answers
used a a five letter solution to a crossword clue 'outcast' as in an edition of 'Life and Work', the protest coming from the CEO of the Leprosy Mission in Scotland, she saying that she was 'somewhat dismayed' and that the use of the L-word should be banned, summarising 'in fact, we should have a campaign entitles "Delete the L-word",
Daily Telegraph page 2 today.
Purleeese - this is taking things yet another step too far. What next, a purge of disease names and any associated adjectives?
Views?
Daily Telegraph page 2 today.
Purleeese - this is taking things yet another step too far. What next, a purge of disease names and any associated adjectives?
Views?
Answers
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I can understand, tbh, why using medical words, which actually mean something specific, should be used accurately, rather than is insults" and why people want to reclaim their own words for accuracy.
Lots of words... psycho, spastic, schizo, homo, mental, demented... and so on, were turned into "derogatory" words and have been claimed back. Accuracy is good.
Lots of words... psycho, spastic, schizo, homo, mental, demented... and so on, were turned into "derogatory" words and have been claimed back. Accuracy is good.
eve - // But leper is someone who has leprosy. Can’t see what they cld replace it with? //
As I interpret the point, it is not the use of the word leper, which is you correctly point out, is the adjective for someone suffering from leprosy.
I think the problem is the association with the notion of exclusion from society - which was accurate in times gone by, when lepers were shunned and excluded from society, but not accurate now, when it is a treatable condition dealt with in the community.
Clearly it would be utterly pointless and OTT, not to say achingly right-on, to try and airbrush the word, either from history, or from modern usage, since its meaning is perfectly clear, and that, after all, is the point of language in the first place.
As I interpret the point, it is not the use of the word leper, which is you correctly point out, is the adjective for someone suffering from leprosy.
I think the problem is the association with the notion of exclusion from society - which was accurate in times gone by, when lepers were shunned and excluded from society, but not accurate now, when it is a treatable condition dealt with in the community.
Clearly it would be utterly pointless and OTT, not to say achingly right-on, to try and airbrush the word, either from history, or from modern usage, since its meaning is perfectly clear, and that, after all, is the point of language in the first place.
Good old Daily Telegraph , doing what it does best - preserving past prejudices.
The papers proprietor Sir Frederick Barclay could perhaps be regarded as an Outcast, having settled on the island of Brecqhou in order to protect his enormous wealth from UK taxes. But we don't want him being called a leper do we ?
The papers proprietor Sir Frederick Barclay could perhaps be regarded as an Outcast, having settled on the island of Brecqhou in order to protect his enormous wealth from UK taxes. But we don't want him being called a leper do we ?
It's all steeped in history, fear and mistrust and such long standing terms can be hard to shift.
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