Objectionable phrases may be widely used,but Oxford Dictionaries has a responsibility to define them by other meansA Canadian anthropologist, Michael Oman-Reagan, and tweeted Oxford Dictionaries final week to put a question to it why “rabid feminist” is its Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO) usage example for the word “rabid”. Oxford Dictionaries responded by suggesting Oman-Regan may be a rabid feminist. It has since apologised for the “flippant” response and is reviewing the example sentence.
Other sexist ODO sample sentences,according to Oman-Regan, include those for words such as shrill, and nagging and bossy. Oxford Dictionaries has explained that these sentences reflect common usage – which I do not doubt – and do not represent the views of the publisher Oxford University Press. But they also,of course, reflect an editorial decision.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com