Some words are clearly meant to be racist, hurtful and demeaning and should never be used. Many words that are an integral part of the English language and have been used for a long time are now considered too racist or offensive to remain in common usage. Yet many now want to delete words whose usage is reasonable, and any perceived slight is minimal and unintentional.
“Rule of thumb” is a phrase that has been in general usage since the 17th century. It was used by various trades to indicate that a measurement was approximated through a comparison to the size of a thumb. Concern is raised by its possible use by a single misguided judge to indicate that a man could beat his wife with a rod no thicker than his thumb.
William Safire was a gifted New York Times columnist who wrote brilliantly about the correct use of language, saying that, “At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.” Sometimes words are purposely used to be hurtful to some degree when the author wants to emphasize a point and to trouble those whose pompous bubbles need to be punctured. Maureen Dowd, one of my favourite columnists, said, “Zingers should glow with intelligence as well as drip with contempt.
Welcome to the Wide World of Woke, & we have seen nothing yet.
And yet Ryerson University was renamed to the most bland name imaginable. And the Toronto City Council voted to rename Dundas Street, costing 10s of millions, while also increasing property tax by more than 5%. Post-modernist claptrap abounds.