Politics of Language - the issue with "brainstorm"

Politically correct? Or just plain ridiculous?

"'Brainstorming', the buzzword used by executives to generate ideas among their staff, has been deemed politically incorrect by civil servants because it is thought to be offensive to people with brain disorders."

"Now brainstorms are off the agenda" (McDonald, Henry.  The Guardian, June 26, 2005).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PODCAST: Radiolab - Translation

" How close can words get you to the truth and feel and force of life? That's the question poking at our ribs this hour, as we wonder how it is that the right words can have the wrong meanings, and why sometimes the best translations lead us to an understanding that's way deeper than language. This episode, 8 stories that play out in the middle space between one reality and another — where poetry, insult comedy, 911 calls, and even our own bodies work to close the gap." Translation
Read more

The NewYorker - THE POWER OF LOOKING, FROM EMMETT TILL TO PHILANDO CASTILE

In this piece,  Allyson Hobbs ( journalist and assistant history professor at Standford), explores her personal views on using graphic historical images in the classroom - " Early in my teaching career, I made a conscious choice not to include photographs of lynchings in my course materials...  My concern was that, if we merely looked at photographs of lynchings, we risked being complicit in those terrible acts, in their attempts to rob their victims not just of life but also of dignity, honor, and, above all, privacy. I worried that we couldn’t help but be voyeurs, observing spectacles rather than bearing witness to atrocities." Hobbs' article discusses how in two key US lynchings - the murder of 14-year old Emmett Till in 1955 and the recent murder of Philando Castile, whose death was captured on video and went viral - decisions were made to force people to "look" at what had happened.  Hobbs presents her realization that there is a definite emotional and ra...
Read more

BBC Travel - The language at the end of the Earth

Image
"To speak our language is to preserve who we are. It is the most profound expression of our Rapa Nui and Polynesian spirit.”  - Rapa Nui linguist Viki Haoa Cardinali Easter Island remains a remote island quite isolated from the world around it and as it was formed less than a million years ago, it remains one of the youngest inhabited areas of the world.  "Over centuries, Polynesian explorers braved the Pacific Ocean in search of new worlds. By 1200 AD, settlers had reached Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, bringing crops, customs and language with them.... Clues to the complex society that emerged on Rapa Nui can be found everywhere; the island’s volcanic landscape boasts one of the richest collections of rock art in Polynesia. But barely a trace remains of what is Rapa Nui’s most tantalising cultural legacy: a mysterious form of writing called Rongorongo." Efforts to decode the language have been met with frustration and failure.  Since the ...
Read more