That virtue-signaling paragon of writing excellence,
the AP Stylebook, recently tweeted: “We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing ‘the’ labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled,
the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental
illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.” (But never write
or say, “the people with mental illnesses,” as that would be offensive!)
You know you’ve gone too far down a road that ought
not have been traveled when the word “the” is verboten. The AP Stylebook is now
to language as Michael Moore is to NASCAR racing.
The
Ap Stylebook’s advice is mindful of a comment Winston Churchill supposedly made
when a young Foreign Office
secretary-- who had the job of “vetting” the then Prime
Minister’s peerless speeches-- decried the P.M.’s habit of ending
sentences with prepositions. Churchill, tiring of the functionary’s
didactic assaults on his magnificent writing and oratory, allegedly sent a “correction” back to the Foreign
Office with a notation in red ink stating: “This is the kind of pedantic
nonsense up with which I shall not put!” (The job of “vetting”
Churchill’s writings/speeches would be akin to one requiring the “vetting”
of Beethoven’s composing.)
The
woke abuse of the English language has gone too far. The
word “the” is “dehumanizing?”
What the hell?
How dumb are the folks at the AP Stylebook? This is
the last straw!
And the dumbest thing I’ve ever
heard of.
No comments:
Post a Comment