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If I held off writing just because I thought "anybody" might be
offended I might as well unsub from the list and retire right now.
I'm sure that over the years any number of people have been
offended by something I've said, whether it involved any phrases
whose real meanings had been co-opted by someone with an
agenda or not. If we all follow the guidance to avoid something
because someone, somewhere might take offense, we reduce
language to its lowest common denominator in the same way
that certain groups want to reduce everything else in the world.
No thanks. If someone is offended by something I say or write
that is not offensive except to someone who doesn't know what
they're hearing or reading, I'll just have to live with the knowledge
that someone ignorant doesn't like what I have to say.
> Many people seem to have missed the point that I was invited to list my pet
> peeves; my pet peeves include the use of sexist and racist language by
> people who have hung out their shingles as knowing better. I simply pulled
> two simple examples from recent list posts and common usage.
>
> Phrases that are specifically listed in "how to avoid offensive language"
> texts because _anybody_ has identified them as offensive should be avoided.
> As professional writers it might be a good idea to spend an hour or two out
> of our lives reviewing such texts.
>
> As I stated with my first post, it is the receiver of the message who
> determines whether or not it is offensive. If one person has said they
> don't like a phrase, I need to remove it from my lexicon and not argue with
> them about the legitimacy of their feelings.
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