Friday, March 18, 2016

"Irish Person of Year" - Political Correctness Strikes Again

Image Courtesy of RetiredinDeleware.blogspot
This Middletown Press article reports Matt Lockwood was named "Middletown Elks Irish Person of the Year".

Irish "person"? The grammatically correct and proper term is "Irishman". This "person" business is unnecessary and meaningless political (in)correctness.

For those who failed or forgot basic English 101, the English language is Germanic in nature, (as opposed to Romantic), wherein the masculine is understood to include the feminine, when the context so requires.

This is even codified in US Code 1, Sec. 1: "In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise— . . . words importing the masculine gender include the feminine as well; . . ."

I can see the Femi-Nazi heads spinning, now: time to grow up and get over it and use the English language in the manner in which it is designed.

9 comments:

  1. Why do we care that a private entity chose to use the word person? There are legitimate times where complaints of an overly PC culture can be made, for instance a health professional telling someone to lose weight to help with their health is now complained of being body shaming, because people should be proud of their bodies. This is just the Elks club trying to be inclusive. Now, instead of honoring a person that has helped with charity around the city, you have switched the focus to an argument that minimizes the award both on this page and the Middletown Press page.

    Also, the Act of Congress only speaks to the language in the US Code. They could have said the word "stapler" stands for "man" if they wanted it to. It has nothing to do with how a private entity chooses to name their award.

    Finally, you would know that the English language is flexible, with multiple words meaning the same thing. They are called synonyms, a word of Greek origin. Using the word "Person" is interchangeable with using the word "Man" in this instance. Therefore, you would be the one not allowing the English language to be used as it was designed.

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  2. Germanic languages have been spoken since the pre-Roman iron age; before 500 BC. English was first spoken in early medieval England and is today spoken in nearly 60 countries. It has developed over the course of 1,400 years; the earliest form being referred to as “Old English”.

    It was codified for the purpose of clarity within the law, not as a matter of establishing proper grammar. The understanding that the masculine shall "include" the feminine when the context so requires was established centuries ago. How much more "inclusive" could it get?

    "Person" is not interchangeable with "man". It is a fundamental and unnecessary alteration and transformation of centuries of grammatical rules. I argue that it is itself grammatically incorrect. It takes one word, "congressmen", and turns it into two words, "congress person". It takes more letters to write it, it is awkward to say it and it just plain sounds queer.*

    We care because it is part of a trend that is weakening society and the culture. All this "inclusiveness" and "sensitivity" crap has given us a generation of young people like those at Yale who demanded "safe zones" and who seek to stamp out speech that "upsets" them.

    This generation defines "inclusion" as anything so long as it doesn't offend them. When they are offended by something, they initiate their own form of intolerance and condemn it and seek to quash it. You will note that anti-Trump rioters forced the cancelation of a Trump speech in Chicago; "unpopular" speech, suppressed by a mob.


    Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages

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    Replies
    1. *"queer" has more than one meaning. If the PC police are reading this: Don't get your britches in a bunch.

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  3. The Middletown Insider becomes the Grammar Nazi? Oh, the irony is too much. Are we now going to see the familiar barely literate rants marked up by the editor's red pen? Or does grammar only matter when it supports your world view?

    It is also ironic that you warn the PC police not to get their britches in a bunch over your decision to use the word "queer" while your knickers are clearly twisted over the entirely appropriate use of the word person.

    But, consistency has never been your forte.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your thoughtful and well reasoned comment, MK, and for the great Twitter tag line! Achtung, baby!

      Delete
  4. Lockwood is owner of Matty's Pub, which us known to comp cops & alike food & whose owners chase out local republicans. Connect the dots. Its charity pay to play in Middletown

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    Replies
    1. I have to disagree that this is a pay to play thing. The Elks decision to select Lockwood as Irishman of the Year has no bearing on your assertions, and your assertions have no bearing on Lockwood's selection; they have nothing to gain from it.

      I've never been to any of Lockwood's establishments, so I can't speak to having any knowledge of him or his business practices. But, I can speak of my experiences with the Elks Club.

      In all my dealings with the Middletown Elks, they have been non partisan. I've organized and attended events,there. Everyone has been friendly and helpful. The Elks have been great community partners for decades.

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  5. I was told that Jerry's promised to feed the Emergency Management crew, which had been activated because of a snow storm a few years ago; then they reneged on the promise.

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  6. How about that, almost 2 yrs to the day since Matt's brother, John, had that little St. Patty's Day fender bender, up on Highland Ave. http://www.middletownpress.com/general-news/20140326/matt-lesser-former-fire-chief-involved-in-minor-crash-on-st-patricks-day

    ReplyDelete

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