Language
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George Orwell’s classic essay “Politics and the English Language” was […]
February 28, 2024
10 mins
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The real innovatory value of mastering -- apologies for the inherent sexism of 'master' -- the Inclusive tongue in which Victoria's public servants are being immersed lies in its application to gender sensitivity, which, along with climate, is now considered the most pressing moral issue of our time
October 24, 2019
8 mins
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Time and again language originally designed to be consensually descriptive is taken hostage by vested interests. Consider, as just one example, the Al Jazeera news editor who banned the word 'migrant'. In its place, the loaded term 'refugee' was ordered to be used in every instance
October 13, 2019
36 mins
The latest
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People burble away, but give little thought to what they’re saying, or, more precisely, how they’re saying it. Take weather, for example, which once simply happened. Now the weather and elements of it are described as events, as though deliberately staged
March 21, 2019
27 mins
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Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, a French-speaker […]
May 31, 2017
10 mins
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The spoils of war are the understanding of who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. Thus, victory for the terrorist is role reversal. The terrorist becomes the victim and the victim deserves everything that is coming to him. The terrorist is not bad, he or she is 'radicalised' and, therefore, the real victim
October 5, 2016
4 mins
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It is one thing to observe that meanings change, and can even reverse over a couple of centuries, but quite another to encourage a current misuse, invariably based on ignorance. People paid to use words really should make the effort to set a good example
February 20, 2015
30 mins
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When the storm over misogyny—a word many Australians had never […]
December 1, 2012
20 mins
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Moral anthropology at a crossroads In his article “Relativism and […]
December 1, 2011
37 mins
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Many people speaking publicly and a significant proportion of those […]
August 26, 2011
13 mins
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Climate change is one thing, but how about a new […]
August 26, 2011
15 mins
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Derek Bickerton has two goals in Adam’s Tongue: first, to […]
November 1, 2009
13 mins