OK, I Can Understand Some of These Words being Taken Out

Oxford University Press has come out with a new Junior Dictionary. & while removing some of the words from the approximately 10000 words it gives definitions to, others make no sense at all, even with the so-called multicultural excuses given.

Some of the words removed include monarch (I thought they still had 1), minister, altar & bishop. Others like blog & broadband have been added.

According to the article I read: "The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society. But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage." & when you see the list you will understand why the outcry. Many more words were taken out than added in. (Full list below) & the fact that a huge number of them refer to Christianity reeks of more than just inclusiveness. It reeks of PC run amok. Some of the new words were included simply because they are the current PC terms being used to brainwash our children, not because they should be.

Professor Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment at Buckingham University: "We have a certain Christian narrative which has given meaning to us over the last 2,000 years. To say it is all relative and replaceable is questionable. The word selections are a very interesting reflection of the way childhood is going, moving away from our spiritual background and the natural world and towards the world that information technology creates for us."

Professor Smithers makes a good point, but there is more than a simple moving, like the EU Constitution this strikes me as an intentional attempt to eradicate Christianity & the role it played in creating the society that is now trying to erase it.

Lisa Saunders, mother of four from Co Down, Northern Ireland, noticed that words she needed to help her son (moss & fern) were no longer in the new edition. "I decide to take a closer look and compare the new version to the other editions. I was completely horrified by the vast number of words which have been removed. We know that language moves on and we can't be fuddy-duddy about it but you don't cull hundreds of important words in order to get in a different set of ICT words."

She also said: "The Christian faith still has a strong following. To eradicate so many words associated with the Christianity will have a big effect on the numerous primary schools who use it."

BINGO!!!!! This gets at the root of it. Like Stalinist USSR this is an attempt to erase history in the name of multiculturalism. I agree with Vineeta Gupta, the head of children's dictionaries at Oxford University Press that certain words like Whitsun are no longer used & should be removed. But do words like bungee jumping need to be added to a children's dictionary? Esp since the fad isn't the big thing it used to be?

Anthony Seldon, the master of Wellington College, a leading private school in Berkshire,makes some good points. He said this about the changes: "I am stunned that words like "saint", "buttercup", "heather" and "sycamore" have all gone and I grieve it. "

He went on to say: "I think as well as being descriptive, the Oxford Junior Dictionary, has to be prescriptive too, suggesting not just words that are used but words that should be used. It has a duty to keep these words within usage, not merely pander to an audience. We are looking at the loss of words of great beauty. I would rather have "marzipan" and "mistletoe" then "MP3 player."

Pander is the right word to use to describe what they are doing, pandering to the anti-Christian bias that the PC moonbats want to make the norm.

Again, I can see the removal of some of the animals, as well as some of the plants. But to remove words that are clearly still in use about the monarchy & Christianity looks to me like there is a different motive behind it. Why remove words that they still need to know & use unless you are trying to eradicate something? Like Christianity? or the monarchy?

C.S. Lewis warned us that this was the direction education was heading when he wrote Screwtape Proposes a Toast. He would be horrified to find that 45 years after his death things have gone far beynd anything he ever imagined.

(Humorous postscript: I wonder if the reaction of Queen Elizabeth when she found out that they didn't think that corgi (the type of dogs she owns) was relevant that she commented: "We ARE NOT amused!!!!?)

Anyhow, here is the list. I have hilighted the words that I think it made sense to remove as well as the words added that make no sense to be put in. As I said, note that more words were removed than added. Why? If the older version was of a size that ensured it met the requirement that (as Ms. Gupta said) "little hands must be able to handle it" then why were so many more words removed than added?

Words taken out:
Carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe
Dwarf, elf, goblin
Abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, christen, disciple, minister, monastery, monk, nun, nunnery, parish, pew, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin, devil, vicar
Coronation, duchess, duke, emperor, empire, monarch, decade
adder, ass, beaver, boar, budgerigar, bullock, cheetah, colt, corgi, cygnet, doe, drake, ferret, gerbil, goldfish, guinea pig, hamster, heron, herring, kingfisher, lark, leopard, lobster, magpie, minnow, mussel, newt, otter, ox, oyster, panther, pelican, piglet, plaice, poodle, porcupine, porpoise, raven, spaniel, starling, stoat, stork, terrapin, thrush, weasel, wren.
Acorn, allotment, almond, apricot, ash, bacon, beech, beetroot, blackberry, blacksmith, bloom, bluebell, bramble, bran, bray, bridle, brook, buttercup, canary, canter, carnation, catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, clover, conker, county, cowslip, crocus, dandelion, diesel, fern, fungus, gooseberry, gorse, hazel, hazelnut, heather, holly, horse chestnut, ivy, lavender, leek, liquorice, manger, marzipan, melon, minnow, mint, nectar, nectarine, oats, pansy, parsnip, pasture, poppy, porridge, poultry, primrose, prune, radish, rhubarb, sheaf, spinach, sycamore, tulip, turnip, vine, violet, walnut, willow
Words put in:
Blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail, attachment, database, export, chatroom, bullet point, cut and paste, analogue
Celebrity, tolerant, vandalism, negotiate, interdependent, creep, citizenship (What is this word doing here & why was it just added? I would have thought this would be 1 they want to remove.), childhood, conflict, common sense, debate, EU, drought, brainy, boisterous, cautionary tale, bilingual, bungee jumping, committee, compulsory, cope, democratic, allergic, biodegradable, emotion, dyslexic, donate, endangered, Euro
Apparatus, food chain, incisor, square number, trapezium, alliteration, colloquial, idiom (again this is just being added?), curriculum, classify, chronological, block graph (Some of these make sense for older children, but 1st graders?)

Source: Words associated with Christianity and British history taken out of children's dictionary